Another tax abatement discussion Thursday brought another skirmish before a city review board though it didn’t prevent the recommended approval of the tax break.

Prosoco Inc. got a thumbs-up Thursday from the city’s Public Incentives Review Committee to receive a 55 percent, 10-year tax abatement for a $2.5 million expansion project at East Hills Business Park. The recommendation clears the way for Lawrence City Commission approval next Tuesday.

It came at the end of a heated discussion that was less about the merits of Prosoco’s application and more about the ongoing debate on whether the city should be in the business of giving tax breaks.

Douglas County Commission Chairman Jere McElhaney, a committee member, grew irritated as committee member Kirk McClure questioned a Prosoco official about whether the expansion would proceed without the tax abatement.

“I don’t know if your role is to criticize, critique or plain embarrass,” McElhaney said.

McClure said the tax abatement policy called on the committee to perform a “judicious review” of abatement applications.

“A judicious review doesn’t mean rubber-stamping,” McClure said.

For all the conflict, Prosoco received overwhelming support from the committee a 6-1 vote for approval, with McClure casting the only negative vote.

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Prosoco, a Lawrence manufacturer of masonry and concrete cleaning solutions, announced earlier this year its plans to build a 55,000-square-foot warehouse addition at its manufacturing and corporate headquarters at 3741 Greenway Circle.

The expansion would add eight jobs to the company, which employs about 80 people.

Kansas University economists estimate the project, after the abatement is granted, would provide $2.01 in benefits for every $1 in costs to the community in a 15-year period. It would provide $1.62 in benefits for every $1 in costs in 10 years, the life of the abatement, though the city’s new tax abatement policy uses the 15-year benchmark as its criteria.

City policy requires a project seeking an abatement to produce at least $1.25 in benefits for every $1 in costs. Without the abatement, the Prosoco project would provide $2.97 in benefits for every $1 in community costs.

Bruce Boyer, Prosoco’s vice president, was glad to get approval but said the debate was off-putting.

“I feel, had I not already been located in Lawrence and familiar with the local politics, I could’ve felt put off as a business coming in from the outside,” he said.

The city commission will review the application at its next meeting, 6:45 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.