Now that the LEDC is in negotiations with an “unknown party” to give some stuff away, I’d like to post a reminder of who qualifies for these incentives and what milestones/conditions they have to meet. Rest assured that the moment this secret deal is finalized, I will be requesting ALL of these documents from the City.
Applicant shall submit a completed application for financial assistance, together with the following:
- Business plan
- Current financials (balance sheet and income statement YTD)
- Past financials (balance sheet and income statement for last 2 years)
- Financial pro-formas (at least 3-5 years forward-looking)
- Federal income tax returns from the company and/or owners
The proposed development or redevelopment should create and maintain jobs that pay wages, specific to the industry, equal to or larger than the average hourly wage within the Lampasas Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Wage information can be found at www.texaswages.com
[In other words, just creating more McDonald’s-type wages that already exist a-plenty around here is not good enough]
Other items:
The LEDC may request the City prepare a fiscal impact study in response to an application for economic development assistance. This study shall identify, over a period of NO LESS THAN TEN (10) years and up to TWENTY (20) years, the amount of gross and net benefit the community will derive from assisting the qualified applicant.
So, when this agreement is finalized, the taxpayers should be informed of (1) how many jobs are being created, (2) the wages of those jobs. If they are creating 5 or 6 jobs that pay $38,000 a year…well, that’s not all that impressive.
I would also add a third piece of requested information: where are those workers coming from? Because if they all live in Harker Heights or Copperas Cove or Austin, then all Lampasas has done is blow $7.2 million to funnel money into those cities…which does not benefit Lampasas in the slightest.
In closing, I’d like to present a blast from the past (2.5 years ago) when Eco-Strong and Mike Cour blew themselves up the first time. From this City email between Finley and Mandy, it doesn’t sound like everything was going very smoothly!
I wonder what Mandy was so stressed over? Of course, I cannot see the attachment Finley is referring to, because these are hard copies of email threads. But if I had to guess, I’d say Mandy is starting to realize here that Mike Cour is full of shit and his projections/financials/pipe dreams are maybe starting to reflect that!
Hey, no worries. Mike only wanted the City to pony up $1.8 million so he could start a business here! No biggie!
Remember: the City of Irving just handed out $75,000 in exchange for THIRTY jobs with a $100,000 wage.
If I had to guess, I’d say the LEDC will end up giving away $500,000 for about 8 jobs that pay $40,000. Which would be a shitty deal, to say the least.