This story previously listed Sabey Corp. as having an existing datacenter in Quincy. The company has plans to build a datacenter on property it owns in Quincy, but no structure yet exists. The error has been corrected in this version.

QUINCY — Outside, swans nestled in a sun-drenched field. Inside, the city of Quincy learned that it, too, was sitting pretty.

Experts at an economic summit here Thursday agreed Quincy had done everything right in providing key infrastructure to lure high-tech industries and the resulting payoff of millions of dollars in tax revenues.

“They’ve taken the right steps towards ensuring their future,” said state Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake. “Quincy is to be envied.”

Nearly 80 government officials and tech industry leaders gathered at Cave B Inn at Sagecliffe, a resort and winery on cliffs above the Columbia River, for the Port of Quincy’s first Rural Economic Development Summit. A 10-speaker roster for the daylong event included some of the state and region’s top economists, educators, tech industry leaders, PUD engineers and civil servants.

“We wanted to draw some of our state’s decision-makers to this very spot,” said Patrick Boss, a marketing specialist for the Port of Quincy. He pointed to Cave B’s vineyards sloping down to the river’s steep basalt cliffs. “We wanted to show them that this is a special area — not only beautiful but full of good ideas and opportunities.”

In the last three years, Quincy surged economically as high-tech datacenters for a handful of major companies — including Microsoft and Yahoo — took shape on nearby farmlands. The expansive computing facilities joined the city’s existing food processors and vegetable and fruit growers in taking advantage of the area’s cheap electricity and ready water supply.

Peripheral construction soon followed. High-end housing at Sunserra in Crescent Bar, several in-town housing developments and new commercial buildings have sprouted in the last two years.

“Five years ago, we were in the same situation as everyone else,” Quincy Mayor Jim Hemberry told summit attendees. “We were looking at our economy and wondering: ‘What can we do?’ ”

The answer, he said, was to invest early in improving power, water, streets, sewer and — important to tech industries — fiber-optic computer connections. Companies building datacenters would be drawn by low electrical rates, he added, but other amenities — including improved city services such as police and fire protection — would seal the deal.

Hemberry said the payoff, compared to city revenues in 2001, was an eight-fold increase in sales taxes by 2007 and a tripling of property tax revenues by 2009. “No question, those datacenters had an impact,” said the mayor.

The city is using the money to improve city services, Hemberry said, including aiming some of the funds to build or improve the library, senior center, museum, playground equipment and a public services building. Tax revenues have also been earmarked for equipment for police, fire department and emergency medical services, along with partial funding of a new closed-loop recycled water system to help data centers cool their stacks of computers.

Quincy’s revenue success comes in stark contrast to the state’s own financial woes, said Rogers Weed, director of the state Department of Commerce. Dropping revenues and rising costs have left the state with a $2.6 billion shortfall, he said, that could result in cuts in education, health care and prisons. Also, thousands of jobs have dried up since 2008.

“Quincy’s the bright light on the state’s economic landscape,” Weed said. “It’s proof that businesses create most jobs and innovations, not government.”

Lew McMurran, a vice-president for the lobbying group Washington Technology Industry Association, agreed with other presenters. “Obviously, this is an area on the move,” he said.

Quincy and Grant County may never become as dominant in the high-tech world as Seattle or Silicon Valley, said McMurran, but it’s clear that the area offers the right mix of infrastructure and services to become a tech “cluster” — a smaller concentration of tech companies that can have huge benefits for a community.

“What we can see (about Quincy),” he said, “is that this high-tech growth is real, that this area has become a real hub for strong economic activity.”

Mike Irwin: 665-1179

irwin@wenatcheeworld.com