The City of Pinehurst is interested in economic development. The City Council approved a new tax abatement policy Tuesday during its meeting.
City Administrator Robbie Hood explained the process for updating the abatement policy. For a taxing entity to provide an abatement it first must have a policy in place. The Pinehurst City Council adopted the same policy adopted by Orange County a few weeks ago. Hood added, “The second step was to enter into an agreement to do tax abatements which is part of the procedure to be able to offer these type of abatements to a potential developer.”
Vidor Mayor Robert Viator spoke to the council seeking Pinehurst’s support for his resolution to allow government entities to choose both buyouts and acquisitions for properties damaged during Tropical Storm Harvey. Regulations currently restrict municipalities to choosing only one of the two programs, but not both. The City Council approved supporting the resolution.
Approval was given at Police Chief Fred Hanauer’s recommendation to an agreement with the West Orange-Cove Consolidated Independent School District to allow Pinehurst Police officers to handle calls for service when police officers with the school district are not available. The school district is still working up its police force as the school districts in Bridge City and Vidor have already done.
Pinehurst will be getting a new four-wheel drive backhoe through a lease agreement with Welch State Bank. Hood said Pinehurst will not have to make the first payment on the equipment for 14 months.
The City Council approved the recommendation of the review committee to hire Waxman and Associates as the grant administrator and Schaumburg & Polk as the engineers for a $6.8 million dollar Community Development Block Grant. David Waxman told the council that the money from a grant this large will allow Pinehurst to tackle a number of issues in the city.
Nestor Barroeta with Schaumburg & Polk identified three main projects for Pinehurst. First is street drainage improvement by widening the culverts. Next is raising the electrical service at the waste water treatment plant which is below flood level. The third project would be repairing streets that were flooded for several days during Harvey.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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