CAMERON—Milam County Commissioners have unanimously approved 10 years of tax abatements for Bitmain’s planned facility in the former Alcoa smelter.
That Monday meeting also featured the first public appearance of a Bitmain executive, James Kyle of the company’s Sunnyvale, California office.
He is vice-president of business development and expressed appreciation for the support Bitmain has received in Milam County since its intentions to repurpose the smelter and bring about 500 jobs to the area became known.
Commissioners had previously discussed the abatements but did not take action until Monday.
TAX BASE—County Judge Dave Barkemeyer said the abatements cover a 10-year period and are 80 percent for first five years, then 50, 40, 30, 20 and 10.
He showed a graphic indicating the actual expected tax roll value of the Bitmain property, which will provide a major boost for the tax bases of Milam County and the Rockdale ISD.
It indicated the Bitmain property will be valued at up to $417.9 million in its second year and will top the $400-million mark twice more during the 10-year period. Here are the figures”
• 2019, $232,000,000.
• 2020, $417,942,000.
• 2021, $307,331,000.
• 2022, $384,720,000.
• 2023, $413,809,000.
• 2024, 258,198,000.
• 2025, $354,587,000.
• 2026, $402,476,000.
• 2027, 256,365,000.
• 2028, $158,754,000.
For comparison, here are the final three years of taxable property valuations for Luminant’s Sand-ow Power Plant (both units), which closed in January:
2015, $315 million; 2016, 290 million; 2018, 280 million.
ALCOA THANKS—Kyle expressed appreciation for the support Bitmain has received since its Milam County plans became known.
He said work is progressing at the former smelter but did not have a timetable when the bitcoin mining operations would begin.
Later in the day, Kara Clore, Rockdale Municipal Executive Director forecast a March, 2019, start. (See separate story, page 1A).
Kyle praised the work done by Tommy Hodges of Alcoa in making Bitmain’s lease of the former smelter become a reality.
That was strongly echoed by Barkemeyer.
“They could have marketed this to a tax-exempt type business and it would have gone back on the tax rolls at little or no benefit to Milam County,” he said.
Barkemeyer added that Alcoa has indicated it was not seeking a tax abatement on the physical property (potrooms and offices) itself which Alcoa will continue to own.
“That’s another benefit to Milam County,” he said.
SALES TAXES—Barkemeyer and Kyle pointed out the substantial repurposing work already done at the smelter has already had a positive impact on the county’s sales tax receipts.
After many months of declines, Milam County’s sales tax receipts reversed itself in August.
The August sales tax check from the state was $91,788, up 3.8 percent from the same period in 2017. (See story, page 7A).
That covers a time period that coincides with work beginning on the former smelter.
BRIGHT FUTURE—
Barkemeyer hinted the 10-year abatement may not mark the end of Bitmain’s plans in Milam County, saying he and Kyle had discussed some possibilities before Monday’s meeting.
“If things go like they plan, they could be back to us in year seven or eight (of the abatements) for additional abatements into the future,” he said.
“We may not have seen anything yet,” he said.
Monday’s discussions covered only Bitmain’s impact.
Recently, Bernard Uechtritz, land broker for the entire former Alcoa property—the Bitmain project covers only the smelter—said he believed Bitmain was “just the start” and other businesses, possibly solar energy, agricultural, technology, industrial and water resource management could follow.
HEARING—Before the abatement action, commissioners held a public hearing on whether to designate and create an investment zone encompassing the smelter property, a necessary action in order to grant tax abatements.
There were no speakers and commissioners unanimously approved creation of the zone.
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