Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins says economic development is often about trust.
At a joint meeting between the LINK, Starkville board of aldermen, Oktibbeha County board of supervisors and Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority board on Monday, discussion focused for a long time on how to strengthen that trust.
On the one hand, Higgins said, the LINK has to trust that it has an idea of what officials, especially from the city and county, want when it comes to offering deals to prospective businesses.
In Clay County and Lowndes County, he said, the LINK has that comfort level — Lowndes supervisors don’t want to see requests for tax exemptions for any project that’s not at least $5 million, while Clay supervisors want the LINK to bring them any project that wants to invest in the county.
“I do (know) in the other places,” Higgins said. “I don’t have that comfort here.
“I don’t want to embarrass you or us by going out and selling a deal that I think is going to work because I look around, and y’all don’t want me to name you, but there’s some of you that I don’t know how you’re going to vote and it’s scary,” he added.
Monday’s discussion, wherein Higgins encouraged officials to take time and think of a general procedure for what the LINK should do when considering incentives for businesses, was spurred by a discussion at a board of supervisors meeting in early June, when supervisors tabled considering an exemption request for a roughly $8 million expansion at Southwire.
Ward 5 Alderman Patrick Miller, along with Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill, asked Higgins what the LINK would want officials to consider.
Higgins said it’s worth considering allowing the LINK to offer gifting the property where a new industry might locate, which he said is a routine offer, and tax exemptions up to the maximum allowed, whether that’s full exemption from city and county taxes and paying full school taxes or a fee-in-lieu, which allows a company to pay one-third of city, county and school taxes.
“Here’s kind of how it works,” he said. “We get this thing ready to go — we’ve got a prospect — we’re going to recommend that y’all gift them the site. We’re going to recommend that you give the appropriate tax abatement.”
In other instances, Higgins said, companies look for certain site preparation or bringing infrastructure to within a certain distance of their building. Sometimes they ask to waive permit review fees.
At another point in the meeting, Higgins said leaders also have to trust the LINK will look for the best economic interests of the county and will bring good prospects for officials to consider.
“We don’t go after and heavily incentivize deals that don’t pay more than our county averages,” Higgins said. “You can’t make your place be a better place by going after jobs. You need to go after good jobs.”
Higgins also said, in response to a question from Ward 2 Alderman Sandra Sistrunk, the LINK will consider how well a potential business fits into where it’s being considered.
For example, he said the recently-announced Peco Foods facility in West Point, while a good project, wouldn’t be a good fit for Starkville. Other food industries might, though.
District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard said trust will be important as work on the industrial park continues.
“We’ve just got to trust Joe Max and his team. To this point, they’ve been good about keeping us in the loop,” Howard said. “But as things speed up, we’re not going to be able to call everybody together every time. He’s going to have to be comfortable that we trust him enough to say, ‘Joe Max is not going to bring us a bad deal.'”
Spruill, speaking to The Dispatch after the meeting, said it’s worth considering the incentives Higgins suggested, such as gifting property, waiving fees or tax abatements.
“If we don’t have anything, there’s nothing to abate,” she said. “If it’s abated, then it’s abated for 10 years but the school district still benefits. I think you have to look at what the projects are and again, I think it’s absolutely accurate that they trust the community they’re dealing with and they’re going to bring us the projects that fit within our community.”
Industrial park update
Higgins said work at the 400-acre industrial park is moving along, with work completed on the pad where a 60-megawatt substation will sit completed. That location will be deeded to 4-County Electric Power Association this week. Work on water, sewer and road infrastructure will soon begin, he said, as will the bidding process for a water tower on the site.
The industrial park is located at the intersection of Highway 82 and Highway 389.
The LINK is still waiting on the conclusion of a court case over the rezoning of the property before marketing the whole property to potential businesses. LINK attorney Chris Pace said that case, which the state Supreme Court remanded to the lower court of appeals, could be completed by the end of the year.
However, Higgins said 80 acres along the east side of the property were already zoned for office space or distribution centers.
He said the LINK is currently courting two companies for that property.
One, he said, could build a facility of 70,000 to 250,000 square feet. The other is looking to build a 150,000 square feet facility.
“The second one is hot-cold, hot-cold and where we left them is they’re just going to wait until we get the road in and come in and take a look,” he said. “The other has been here four times. We talk every week. I went two weeks without hearing from him and talked to him last Monday and he said everyone’s on vacation. Nothing’s happening till the end of the month.”
At the Infinity Megasite, located just west of the Golden Triangle Regional Airport, Higgins said the LINK has recently been in contact with two businesses. One, he said, just cut the site from consideration. The other is coming to look at the site soon.
“We’ve got somebody who’s supposed to be here the second week and the fourth week in August,” he said.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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