I am sure that it did not occur to Reliant Holdings to expand into the teeth of an exploding market until the MDC came calling with, obviously, both the idea to expand and 1/28 of the funding.

Some economic development. And some economic diversification.

Same old story. Company makes plans to expand and then goes to the trough for free money...which they get because the MDC is desperate to appear relevant in the expansion...and Berry Simpson will tell the public that the MDC "created" 55 more jobs.

ALSO, the land that Reliant Holdings is building on is in Midland County, NOT WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS. So, there will be NO City Property Taxes Collected and NO City Sales Taxes (which means no MDC 4A Corporation taxes).

So tell me, how does this help the taxpayer in the City of Midland who are funding our ED coffers?

By my math, the number of jobs the MDC should claim they created for this one is between 3 and 4. I'll assume that the $250k is distributed proportionally between two years of wages and the capital outlays for the new facilities. That leaves enough to pay 3.7 workers $9 an hour for two years, assuming a 40 hr week.

I'm guessing between every retail store and restaurant in town, there must be several hundred $9/hr job openings waited to be filled, without incentives.

These companies should be ashamed. Taking money from the MDC is like a horny high school guy asking the most desperate girl in the school to prom cause he thinks he might get some.

I've never heard of Reliant Holdings-I'm not in the O&G business, but my first impression of them now is not so good. Same with BCCK. I feel like these people are taking advantage of all Midlanders, including me. And with Reliant, it's worse-they're from Odessa!

Lets throw this out there. Since one of the biggest problems we seem to have is housing for all the newbies , do you think I can get incented by the MDC to buy a bunch of trailers and set up a mobile home park JUST LIKE the one my family and I suffered through in '80 ? We need workers ,right ? They need housing , right ? We find a place somewhere in the city where it won't effect property values ( I'm thinking of downtown )but will still bring in tax dollars . Yeah ! A new trailer park ! I figure at LEAST six new jobs not dependant on oil ! Gimme that 700 large countrywide gave back and I'll put it to good use ! Yeah !

Using terms such as "Trailer Parks" and "Trailers" would never get you the necessary funding, use terms such as Manufactured Homes, Manufactured Home Community and Mobile Residences. You could put in a miniature golf course and offer manufactured homes around the course. And for even more development bucks you could add a bait shop.

'M' street preacher bob,
Your method of writing an authoritative piece is just under whelming, I think! The following are your major contributions to an unsubstantiated fairly tale that exceeds consumption of assumption.
'By my math, assuming a 40 hr week, I'm guessing, I'll assume, my first impression, there must be several hundred $9/hr job openings.
like a horny high school guy asking the most desperate girl in the school to prom cause he thinks he might get some.'
Thanks for the presumptive input of vagary.

Okay, these guys are obviously the ones that the MDC needed the 78 acres tract out on 1788 for.

My question is this: Why did the MDC need to be involved with the purchase of the land here?

Who did they buy the land from?

This will be a nice addition to the neighborhood for the new performing arts center.

SA: The MDC didn't buy the land or participate in the purchase. The agenda item was written to describe the property so as to shield the incentee's identity until the action was approved.

I wonder if the land was recently purchased before Reliant decided to move there.

Seems like that happens quite often around here. Someone buys the old grocery store and then it becomes the County annex. Someone buys the old TI building and then some company with gov't contract moves in. It's all hearsay but it makes you wonder if some backroom dealings are going on.

And the dealers don't want any "outsiders" coming into leadership to mess up the game.

I bet some of the "outsiders" running for mayor and city council will not be so quick to give our tax money to companies that are going to expand anyway.

I'm more concerned with the appearance of property flips when the governmental agency actually buys the land. In the case of the MDC, every tract of land they have purchased was from the City of Midland, so only the City coffers were filled with those deals.

As for folks like Reliant Holdings...they are getting $250k of incentive money, it doesn't matter how their land transaction went down, since it was between private parties.

But when city officials tip off their friends so they can purchase land and then sell it for a profit I have a problem with it. At least if the land was purchased from the city, the profit can (theoretically) be used to benefit the citizens - not benefiting just one individual or group.

If you have ever read the incentive applicaiton for the MDC, the board members or other governmental players would not have an opportunity to "tip" anyone, since the application requires the disclosure of your business location, which would mean the incentee would have already determined their location.

That's not to say some real-estate brokers and building managers aren't keeping an ear to the ground, but chances are they heard the drumbeats before anything landed on the MDC's desk.