The Commissioners Court approved a tax abatement agreement Tuesday afternoon with Market Basket Food Stores. Jessica Hill with the Orange County Economic Development Corporation worked with Market Basket to get the tax incentive for its location in Mauriceville.
Hill was excited to announce the agreement with Market Basket which plans a major expansion of its store on Highway 62 in Mauriceville. The current store was severely damaged by Tropical Storm Harvey. “They’ll be adding eleven new jobs to that facility and putting some significant investment on the ground,” Hill stated.
The Commissioners approved an 80 percent reduction in taxes for the new construction project in Fiscal Year 2019. The tax abatements will continue with a 70 percent reduction for 2020, and 60 percent for the tax year in 2021.
Skylar Thompson the president of Market Basket Food Stores said the expansion in Mauriceville had been in the works, but Harvey accelerated the process. In addition to the eleven new fulltime jobs there will be several part-time positions created. Thompson indicated the new store will include a hot deli and about a fifty percent increase in size and product offerings. Market Basket will replace the 12-year old and 22,000 square foot store with a brand new 32,000 square foot facility.
The removal of debris will continue in the county after the Commissioners Court approved Tuesday an extension to the contract with Ashbritt Environmental. The county received permission from FEMA that allows for the extension.
The Commissioners voted unanimously to continue using Ashbritt to remove the debris and for Tetra Tech to monitor the type of debris that is picked up. The county could have chosen to do the removal in-house, but the members of the Commissioners Court believed that it would have put an extreme burden on the county’s Road and Bridge Department which is beginning work on cleaning drainage ditches. The approved extension will start when the current contract expires at the end of March and could be for an additional six months.
Clark Slacum and his Road and Bridge Department got some good news Tuesday as the Commissioners approved the purchase of a new Gradall Excavator and a Roscoe Broom Sweeper. These items had been requested by Slacum during last summer’s budget talks but were put on hold after Tropical Storm Harvey hit. The total cost of the two items will be $289,146.
The Court also welcomed Denise Gremillion as its new legal counsel. Gremillion replaces Doug Manning who retired last month after 20 years with the county.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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