If Utah County wants to hold onto businesses created by its booming entrepreneurial market, then it's going to need some culture.

That's part of the thinking behind County Commissioner Steve White's tentative support for giving $8 million to Thanksgiving Point for a new children's museum. The money would come from the county's restaurant and sales tax collections, which amount to $3 million to $4 million per year.

The entire project is expected to cost about $25 million, including the county's $8 million (Lehi city has offered to cover a million of that). Thanksgiving Point's executives will be asking the state Legislature in January for another $2 million. Private fundraising is expected to bring in an additional $10 million and in-kind donations will account for $5 million.

The three-member commission, White, Larry Ellertson and Gary Anderson, is likely to OK the nonprofit's request for millions on Tuesday. The decision was delayed for a week while a county study was done to review financial information.

"I would have been against this 20 years ago until you watch what's happened in Salt Lake City and in Sandy," White said. "If you don't have this kind of (cultural) infrastructure then you end up stagnating."

White is talking about art centers, symphonies, museums and high-end restaurants that draw corporate headquarters, the kind of headquarters that tend to leave Utah County rather than stay. Such companies include Ancestry.com, Authorize.net and Novell, which at one time were based in Utah County but have since been moving jobs out of the area.

One caveat is that White wants the county dollars to be the last into the pot as an assurance that Thanksgiving Point is going through with the project.

Anderson has already indicated he's in favor of the request, and at the commission's last meeting Ellertson was leaning in favor but wanted to see the money breakdown first.

"There's no question that it's a worthwhile project," he said.

The year-round museum would include such attractions as Rainforest Safari, Water Voyage and Kidopolis Life, said Mike Washburn, president and CEO of Thanksgiving Point.