Town Council members met Thursday to discuss offering a cash grant for the company. The identity of the company was unclear late last week. Town officials and business leaders were mum on most details but said that the company is a technology manufacturer.

Incentives are typically reserved to lure companies that plan to create lots of jobs and otherwise add to the tax base.

Town leaders agreed in August to give a $75,000 cash incentive -- on top of $9.4 million offered up by the state -- to Deutsche Bank, which promised to create 319 jobs in Cary. The financial giant is opening its Cary office this week.

The deal marked the fifth time in the past three years that Cary leaders have doled out similar or in some cases higher amounts to land new industry.

The grant Cary officials are currently discussing would include a payback provision if the company doesn't create as many jobs as it promises.

A public hearing that had been scheduled for Thursday was delayed as a result, and the item was discussed in closed session.

"The Town believes this project will help stimulate the local economy, result in a substantial capital investment in personal property in the town, and create a substantial number of new, full time jobs," according to a preliminary agenda of Cary's Town Council meeting on Thursday.

Several companies, including electronics retailer Radio Shack and mortgage company Fannie Mae, have been sniffing around the region for space.

Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerry mobile phones, last week was interviewing job candidates in the Triangle.

Sandy Jordan, vice president of economic development at the Cary Chamber of Commerce, declined to discuss the deal. But he said Research In Motion is not the company officials are discussing.

Economic deals can be fleeting, as big companies often consider multiple cities when mapping expansion plans.

And the deal Cary officials are mulling appeared to have lost some momentum last week.

"We were told that there was a sense of urgency [in the deal] and that sense has gone away," councilman Jack Smith said Wednesday. Council members, including Smith, said they did not know the identity of the company.

Public officials are not required to reveal details about pending economic development proposals -- a policy that has rankled advocates of open government and fiscal responsibility.

State officials have expressed concern that full disclosure could jeopardize deals to bring new jobs to the state. Most municipalities follow the state's lead.

Companies including Sony Ericsson, Pfizer and Kellogg's have cut hundreds of jobs in western Wake County during the past two months.

So any job creation would be considered a boon. Still, the debate over whether taxpayer money should be used to entice those jobs continues.

Councilman Don Frantz, a vocal opponent of incentives deals, voted against offering incentives to Deutsche Bank. And he has resisted incentives packages offered in recent years to Loparex, a manufacturer of silicone-coated papers and films, and Siemens.

Frantz said he was pleased after Thursday's meeting, indicating that other council members were against incentives. But he also said discussion over the deal would continue after the new year.

"My position is that Cary is the incentive," he said. "I don't know that we need to give them cash on top of what we already offer them here."

Staff writer Jordan Cooke contributed to this report.