The Huntsville city council on Thursday approved a $320 million incentive package for the Toyota-Mazda plant coming to the Rocket City.

The incentives are an investment in a project that's projected to yield a $5.6 billion return over 20 years, according to the city's urban and economic development director Shane Davis.

He outlined the incentive package in a Power Point presentation to the council, which then approved it in a 4-0 vote. Councilman Bill Kling missed the meeting because of a health issue.

"We can't invest any wiser to get that return," Davis told the council.

The city's incentives make up a chunk of what Mayor Tommy Battle said was a total incentive package of between $800 and $900 million - which includes almost $400 million from the state and yet-to-be-announced incentives from local governments in the Huntsville area.

Madison County Commission Chair Dale Strong said Thursday he would ask the commission to approve $3 million in incentives for the plant, which will be located on Huntsville-annexed land in Limestone County.

The Huntsville incentive package was broken down into 12 direct and indirect items in Davis' presentation to the council. The largest item was $107 million in property tax abatement over 20 years, which is permitted under state law. Toyota-Mazda must still pay property taxes earmarked for schools.

Huntsville is also giving the land for the plant site to Toyota-Mazda, a $68 million value, according to the city's incentive package.

The city also included $100 million in indirect costs for the completion of Greenbrier Parkway and improvements to Alabama Highway 20, which provides the southern border for the plant site.

City finance director Peggy Sargent said the city will sell bonds to secure the funds upfront for the investments.

In return for the incentives, Davis said Toyota-Mazda is required to make the $1.6 billion investment into the plant site. The project is expected to create 4,000 jobs at the plant and a total of more than 10,000 jobs altogether when the community builds out around the plant.

"If there was ever a slam-dunk deal, this is a great one," Battle said.

Davis said requiring the full investment from Toyota-Mazda gives the city financial protection in the deal.

"We always protect the community's investment," Davis said. "We're not providing the company 2,400 acres without some stipulation. They must make that $1.6 billion capital investment. The terms of our deal is that if they do not, we get a maximum recovery. So that's every dollar our taxpayers put into the company, which is about $74 million. If there investment falls below that but they made an investment, it's proportional. So what we offered was based on that stated investment. Anything less, our taxpayers get some of that back.

"So we're protected. We've never brought anything to this council without being protected and we never will."

The breakdown of the Huntsville incentives:

Direct costs

Project site: $68 million

20-year property tax abatement: $107 million

Construction sales tax abatement: $24 million

Rail spur extension: $6.88 million

On-site rail assistance: $2.5 million

Japanese Saturday school: $250,000

Temporary office space: $600,000

Non-direct costs