Proposed tax increment financing to aid a Walmart Neighborhood Market project in northeast Starkville met resistance Tuesday evening during a public hearing at City Hall.
Sparked by a citizen’s comments, Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins voiced, at length, his opposition to subsidizing “a corporate giant” so the city could land the store.
“I’m pro-business, pro-growth and pro-economic development,” Perkins asserted several times during the hearing. “I just have a different philosophy on how to get to the bottom line. …I’m for businesses coming in, but they need to come in with their own financing.”
The board is considering issuing up to $1.5 million in TIF bonds to accommodate the Walmart grocery store and gas station at the intersection of Garrard Road and Highway 12 East, a site located south of the LaQuinta Inn and across the highway from the Hilton Garden Inn. The bonds would fund building a new city street at the site that would access Highway 12 and installing a traffic signal at the intersection.
Project developers value to total commercial project at $14 million and expect it to generate 95 jobs with $2 million in total annual payroll.
If the TIF is approved, the city would divert 100 percent of its ad valorem tax collections from the site to repay the debt over 15 years. Oktibbeha County supervisors are considering a TIF for the project, as well, that would dedicate 50 percent of county ad valorem collections from the site to pay off the bonds.
The board held the hearing — the first of the required two — as part of its regular meeting. Aldermen are set to vote on whether to issue the bonds at its Oct. 4 session.
Aldermen over the past few years have approved a handful of TIFs to finance infrastructure needs for commercial developments — most recently agreeing earlier this year to issue bonds to help Academy Sports build a store in west Starkville, another effort Perkins opposed.
Perkins on Tuesday said he “intelligently respects” the board’s previous decisions to issue TIF bonds, but with $500,000 of infrastructure needs in his ward, he said he could not support Walmart’s proposal.
Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver voiced his support for the project Tuesday, calling it a much-needed development that would cause a ripple-effect of growth on the east end of Highway 12. Specifically, he said it would be a convenient shopping destination for travelers on Highway 82 that would keep them from having to drive into more congested traffic in the heart of Starkville.
“This is what we have to do,” Carver said of issuing the TIF. “I hope this passes.”
Citizen Dorothy Isaac disagreed.
During the public comment session of the hearing, she laid the groundwork for Perkins’ argument by saying the world-renowned retail chain doesn’t need Starkville taxpayers to help with its project costs.
“Believe me, they can afford it,” she said.
A former Walmart employee of 25 years, she also levied a charge that the Walmart Corporation didn’t always treat its workers well. Specifically, she cited what she believed to be a gender pay gap from her time as an employee.
In other business, the board:
■ approved a one-year, $30,000 contract with Jackson-based Cornerstone Government Affairs LLC for lobbying and consultant services to run through Sept. 30, 2017;
■ set public interviews with candidates for the city’s human resources director for 5 p.m. Oct. 4 at City Hall;
■ heard an update from Police Chief Frank Nichols on a renovation to convert the old city hall building into SPD headquarters; and
■ accepted the police chief’s recommendation for disciplining a police officer (city has not yet released the officer’s name or nature of the discipline).
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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