MIDLAND, Texas — It seems like Midland has been trying to bring Bass Pro Shops to the area for a while now.
This is why Midland City Council approved an amendment to their master development agreement which would provide new incentives to reel in Bass Pro Shops.
It took a couple of hours in executive session, but the council came out and approved the motion 6-1.
The new incentives added include a 100% city property tax rebate, a 50% sales tax rebate, $250,000 from hotel-motel funds over ten years and $5.5 million in Midland Development Corporation funding for infrastructure costs (this is subject to approval from the MDC board).
City Councilman Dan Corrales was the only member of the council to vote no on the item as he had some issues.
“When you have a deal in West Texas, and you shake hands on it, - and we did - we inked a deal back in March. We are now giving them more incentives with nothing in writing saying what we’re getting," Corrales said. "Not that it is a 100,000 square foot building, nothing else in addition to what they promised in March.”
Others such as City Councilman Jack Ladd think that these amendments are the best way to bring in Bass Pro Shops.
“I don’t like giving incentives," Ladd said. "I think that we shouldn’t be giving corporate welfare but, in my opinion, I think that we are playing by the rules we are given.”
It was those added incentives that made Corrales bring up his issues with the amendment and what eventually made him vote against it.
He also thinks Midland is getting the short end of the stick with more incentives.
“Yes, economic incentives were approved by the state to help promote that, but the deal has to make sense from a business perspective," Corrales said. "That’s been the challenge, we are not getting anything in return for the extra millions of dollars we’re giving them that council voted on today.”
The property tax abatement is the highlight of the amendment and is a significant decrease in how much taxes Bass Pro Shops would have to pay.
“Originally, we agreed to 100% property tax abatement the first two years, then it would go down every two," Corrales said. "So now what we are saying is that they're getting 100% tax abatement, meaning they pay no property taxes for ten years.”
Meanwhile, a presentation was given to the council after they got out of executive session, explaining the potential new jobs and extra revenue that could come by bringing in Bass Pro Shops.
"What we've seen in all of our studies is that they bring a 600 mile radius of people that travel to go to Bass Pro [Shops]," Ladd said. "We're looking at millions of dollars in sales tax and property tax revenues over the next 20 years by bringing in Bass Pro [Shops]."
City council ultimately believes, by bringing in some incentives to the negotiating table, it’ll be enough to land the prize fish.
"This does not mean we are going to get Bass Pro Shops. This was our best shot. This is sending a message to Bass Pro Shops, and to other companies like Bass Pro Shops, like Great Wolf Lodge and like Top Golf that Midland is open for business," Ladd said. "We understand that sometimes, you need incentives to come here and we'd rather have you then not have you. We just think that the revenue that they bring in is a no brainer in the long run."