Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
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- At Tuesday afternoons meeting of the Van Horn Economic Development Corporation board of directors, Executive Director Jeff McCoy revealed some startling information about Van Horn.
McCoy told directors that in sales revenue per capita, Van Horn comes in with slightly over $20,000 while cities such as Fort Stockton register only about $10,000 per capita. These figures come from the State Comptrollers sales tax statistics.
However, McCoy went on, the real startling fact is when you compare the taxable sales revenue per capita. Here, Van Horn shows about $2,225 per capita while Fort Stockton is over $5,000.
The difference, according to McCoy is in the retail climate. Here, we sell lots of gasoline, diesel, and governmental items which are not subject to sales tax, while Fort Stockton has more of a retail presence to draw from.
What this means for Van Horn, and the Economic Development Corporation, is that we need to redouble our efforts at attracting more retail establishments to town.
McCoy added, “In the days and weeks ahead, we’ll work more aggressively at making our community attractive to more retail establishments.”
In his report to directors, McCoy stated that little work has been done on the Willis Building, which will house the Texas Mountain Mercantile, in the past month because of other pressing matters. He did say that he would like directors to set aside some added money to finish out the inside and outside of the facility so that it can begin to operate.
Michael Hidalgo is currently slated to be the resident artist and manager of the facility once it is opened.
McCoy indicated that weather delays have kept Freebird Contractors from commencing work on the Project 7 Room completion and the Clark Hotel Historical Museum renovations as planned. He hopes that Freebird will be able to commence work within the next week.
McCoy also reported that the Texas Mountain Trail has been assured of funding for at least 5 more years. The board meeting for that organization is slated to meet in Van Horn on March 26th as which time they will discuss budgets for the coming year.
He noted that one of the top priorities will be to give the coordinator a salary increase in order to keep her. She is, admittedly, the best trail coordinator in the state and we want to keep her here.
McCoy reported that the Capehart family has applied to the city for a demolition permit to tear down structures on their property. However, McCoy is in talks with someone who might be interested in purchasing the property before the demolition commences.
Directors approved the purchase of a new laptop computer for the executive director so that he will not have to borrow one in the future.
Following an executive session during which directors discussed negotiations, legal and personnel issues, directors reconvened in open session and adopted various budget amendments to the current fiscal budget. Those amendments will allocate funds to purchase the computer, and continue with final stages of work on the Willis Building property.
At the same time, directors, following a budget work session, set their budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year which officially begins on April 1, 2008. A formal budget hearing will be held on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 4 p.m. at City Hall.
After telling directors that he has spoken at length with two potential contractors about the Apartment Complex idea, directors told McCoy to continue his efforts and keep on trying to attract new business and industry to the community.