DuPont is planning a $50 million investment in the Sabine River Works during the next five years. The company is asking the Orange City Council to endorse the plant becoming an Enterprise Zone to qualify for Texas economic development benefits. The Orange City Council has the proposal on the agenda for its meeting on Tuesday.
City Economic Development Director Jay Trahan, in a letter to council members, said the plant has 900 employees and 420 contractor workers. The $50 million investment is being made to help keep the plant competitive and protect the jobs.
Also Tuesday, the council will make the first formal vote to annex the International Paper containerboard mill on North Highway 87. The agenda words the annexation as a move to “grant the petition for voluntary annexation.” International Paper asked to be put into the city and will receive tax breaks and incentives through an economic development contract. Under the agreement, the city will not provide city water and sewer services but will have fire and police protection. The only objections to the annexation have come from board members and people involved with the Orange County Emergency Services District No. 3, which has the Little Cypress Fire and Rescue Department. Removing the plant from the district will lose the bulk of its budget, about $500,000 a year from International Paper. Of that amount, about $80,000 is in property taxes and about $420,000 is in sales taxes that the emergency district started implemented in late 2010.
The City council meets at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the council auditorium. The city’s Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors will meet at 5 p.m.
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