On March 2, the city of Schertz announced Schertz City Council approved an enabling ordinance to participate in the Texas Enterprise Zone Program.
Alongside the ordinance, the city nominated the expansion of Sysco Corp.’s Central Texas facility as the first project under the program.
According to Texas Economic Development & Tourism within Gov. Greg Abbott's office, this program allows communities to nominate companies in their jurisdiction, allowing the companies to be eligible to receive state sales and use tax refunds on qualified expenditures. Refunds are based on the number of good-paying jobs and total sales tax paid.
Adrian Perez, executive director of the Schertz Economic Development Corp., said the partnership with the city and Sysco provided an opportunity for encouraging growth in Schertz.
“Sysco presented a really good opportunity to partner with a local Fortune 500 company to expand,” Perez said. “We talked about this particular program because the Texas Enterprise Zone Program really provides for a rebate for sales tax spent on large construction projects.”
According to Perez, with the cost of construction materials on the rise, the incentive provided by the EZP helps offset some of the expenses that may discourage expansion in Schertz.
With the enabling ordinance that opts Schertz into having nominations for the EZP, the city can nominate up to eight candidates in a biennium.
Perez said this tool helps the city grow and build relationships with local companies while not hindering local taxes.
“The state does a really good job of providing tools that are taken advantage of at the local level,” Perez said. “They want to know that you are bought in and care and have that relationship that allows you and businesses to have conversations.”
According to Perez, city officials hope to nominate more companies down the line and take advantage of the EZP to bring more capital into Schertz.
“We are a growing city and growing really quickly,” Perez said. “For us, we always want to make sure we are focused on those projects that bring us more tax base and fill up the general fund so we can get more money for police and fire and we can fix our roads.”
