CEIDC Meeting Monday As Petition Looks to Close it Down
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
CROCKETT – Crockett Economic and Industrial Development Corporation (CEIDC) has set a new meeting for Monday, July 29 to discuss the nomination and election of a secretary/treasurer and to consider “Project Atticus.”
Several local residents have prepared a petition to put a motion to voters to end CEIDC for good, although supporters say the corporation will still be funded for several years, until its debts are paid.
The petition is available at several locations in Crockett, and The Messenger witnessed firsthand as several locals came through to sign the petition and show their support. If the group gets enough signature, the matter can be put on a ballot to be voted on by Crockett residents.
According to Texas Government Code Chapter 504, “On petition of 10 percent or more of the registered voters of an authorizing municipality requesting an election on the termination of the existence of a Type A corporation, the governing body of the municipality shall order an election on the issue. The authorizing municipality shall hold the election on the next available uniform election date.”
The statute goes on to say if the measure passes, “If a majority of voters approve the termination, the Type A corporation shall: continue operations only as necessary to pay the principal and interest on the corporation’s bonds and to meet obligations incurred before the date of the election; and dispose of the corporation’s assets and apply the proceeds to satisfy obligations to the extent practicable.”
The group who put together the petition list their reasoning behind nixing CEIDC, namely historical mismanagement, the findings of the forensic audit and numerous investigations and the lack of progress in economic development over CEIDC’s long history and $18 million in investments.
CEIDC is funded through a half-cent sales tax, which the petition’s proponents admit would need to stay in place for almost four years in order to pay off the nearly $3 million in debts owed by CEIDC. After that, they propose to keep the tax in place to be used to offset property taxes in the city.
As reported in The Messenger, CEIDC has many pending items, including proposals to restart its own board, relocate its offices and in many ways, separate itself from local city government. A contract proposed for CEIDC Executive Director James Gentry was postponed in a recent city council vote, until all of the internal affairs recommendations have been address and corrected.
In spite of the many proposals regarding CEIDC, the Monday meeting will address the nomination of a secretary/treasurer, and feature an executive session where the board will discuss something called “Project Atticus.” The Messenger reached out to city officials to try and get a preview of the project, but as of press time, there was no response. Unconfirmed reports said the project has been quietly worked on since the first of this year and could produce a number of jobs for Crockett, although there were no further details.
The recent city council meetings seemed to provide some clues into a possible temporary solution to some of the issues with CEIDC, namely a separation of duties and perhaps even revenues and budgets, where CEIDC would focus only on industrial projects and the city would assume promoting tourism and small businesses in the city. As Crockett City Administrator John Angerstein told the council, ““We all need to do economic development. All of these programs that are managed under the city’s responsibility and purview are outside of the more limited scope of what CEIDC does.”
As usual with anything regarding CEIDC, there are more questions than answers, and the petition also leaves some with questions outstanding.
Will there be something to replace CEIDC, even if the petition is successful? Most would argue the city needs to at least compete in the realm of economic development? Would this lead to the creation of a new economic development office which is more transparent and effective or be the end of the project altogether?
Leaving the sales tax in place for four years is a brilliant way to pay off any CEIDC debts that would eventually fall on the city and taxpayers anyway. Why leave the sales tax after the debts are paid? Can a city use a sales tax to alleviate property tax? Why not just eliminate the sales tax? If you keep the sales tax and apply it to property tax, anyone in the county spending their money in the city would be subsidizing Crockett’s homeowners and property owners, which many might see as unfair.
The CEIDC meeting will be held Monday, July 29 at 5 p.m. at Crockett City Council located at 200 North Fifth Street in Crockett.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
