Fort Worth proposes tax break to land drone manufacturing plant

The details

If Fort Worth is the selected site, the company will invest $74 million in Alliance Gateway 34, located at 5000 Westport Parkway inside the AllianceTexas development. The building is 310,036 square feet and is located between US 377 and SH 170, according to previous Community Impact reporting.

Mach Industries would invest $68 million in assessed business personal property and $6 million in real property construction costs by May 1, 2027, for a facility for unmanned aerial vehicles, according to the presentation.

Mach Industries must have a minimum of 1,000 full-time skilled manufacturing and engineering positions to avoid incentive reductions and a minimum of 600 full-time jobs to avoid forfeitures of incentives, Rogers said. The minimum average salary would be $67,470.

“When we're looking at where we might have competitive disadvantages, other sites might offer more aggressive incentive packages; they might offer a lower cost of labor," Rodgers said. "The company has indicated that our ability to offer incentives and demonstrate local support has made Fort Worth the preferred location.”

Rodgers added that negotiations with Mach Industries began in November.

The conditions

The 10-year tax abatement would be capped at $4.5 million, with an annual abatement capped at 45% of incremental real property and business personal property tax revenues. Rogers said that the estimate is $200,000 per year.

Mach Industries would also be eligible for up to $1 million in Economic Development Program Agreement grants.

That total includes $250,000 for the creation of 100 jobs, an additional $250,000 for the creation of 350 jobs and another $500,000 for the creation of 600 jobs, according to the presentation.

For any year in which 50% of the contract jobs earn less than $60,000 in salary, incentives for those jobs would be forfeited by Mach Industries. In addition, failure to meet the minimum job commitment would result in forfeitures of any payable grants.

Mach Industries would generate $1 million in new taxes over 10 years for Fort Worth, Rodgers said.

“[I’m] so impressed by the 1,000 full-time jobs, because right now we do have a lot of really bad information going around, especially in the social media circles, as far as the city giving corporations money,” Council District 4 member Charlie Lauersdorf said. “The $67.4 million estimate in new annual payroll; that's a big deal. That's property taxes coming in here locally and school districts that benefit from that, as well."