Amarillo City Council/Photo by Noah Dawson
Amarillo City Council has several economic development items on the agenda for their upcoming April 23rd meeting. Overall, including both economic development and other spending items, the council will consider over $20 million in spending items.
Before taking on any action items, the council will hear a quarterly update on the AEDC.
On the consent portion of the agenda, the council will consider three reimbursement items for public infrastructure improvements in the South Gateway Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone #3, located near Interstate 27 and Loop 335. Items 9M and 9O will see TIRZ #3 reimburse Amarillo AEDC, while item 9N will see TIRZ #3 reimburse Attebury Elevators, LLC and Rockrose Development, LLC. These three items total over $15 million in reimbursements. Since these items are on the consent portion of the agenda, they may all be approved with a single vote and not separate discussion.
Other economic development items are all on the regular portion of the agenda. Items 10C and 10E are location incentive agreements, which will see the AEDC paying cash incentives to Sage Oil Vac, Inc. and Asset Protection Unit, LLC. Sage Oil Vac will receive $600,000 as well as 20 acres of land valued at $1,100,000. Asset Protection Unit will receive $300,000. Item 10D will be a 10% property tax abatement for Sage Oil Vac.
Item 10A is a second and final reading of an item to create a new reinvestment zone located near Farmers and Georgia. The item passed on its first reading earlier this month with a 3-2 vote, with Councilmen Tom Scherlen and Josh Craft voting no.
The items come as the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation has found itself at the heart of renewed controversy. During the council’s meeting earlier this month, former AEDC board member Craig Gualtierre expressed his concerns regarding AEDC policies and noted his ideological opposition to tax abatements.
Other spending items on the agenda are summarized at the end of this article. The meeting will take place at 3:00 pm on Tuesday, April 23rd on the third floor of Amarillo City Hall. The full agenda and agenda packet can be found at this link.
