Update

Dear dburgat,

No disrespect ment to my industry friends, but you must understand that given the sacrifice in desperately needed revenue via abatement, we recieve very little of the 'promised' jobs and business development as a return benefit. Abatement works best when there are measurable returns for the tax dollars lost from discounted, abated taxes in the form of increased employment and economic activity for the entity giving the abatement. In exchange, we expect a significant number of jobs,contracts for our businesses. The reality is that Port Arthur citizens hold a considerablylesser percentage of the jobs versus those held by non-residents. Combined with 16% unemployment, you have the makings of economic disparity. This evidenced in the lack of population growth, development and economic vitality. This city lags behind other area cities in key economic indicators as in household income,per capita income, property value,ect. Without secondary derrived benefits, the city's economy suffers, resulting in budget shortfalls,limited means to provide services and 'langnaippe' projects that enhance the quality of life.
Without meaningful direct benefits that are received in exchange for tax breaks from its largest employers, there is no value in giving tax abatements. True ,we need to expand our economic base, but that's difficult in a depressed economy. We will not give up the spinoff derrived from abatement, but if we gain no benefit,what good is abatement?

I imagine if Valero went away, your town would miss the jobs, payroll, payroll taxes and $872,000 property taxes they do pay.
The incentive of lowering property taxes lured them in, much like the 42% tax break Michigan gave movie studios to film in Michigan.
Sounds to me like we should be trying to lure more businesses instead of dissing the ones we have.

Thank you for visiting the site; spread the word, 'cuz there's more news to come!
The problem ,as I see it, is the old case of trying to serve two masters,and in chosing industry, the citizens are denied proper representation,and an effective voice in making concerns known,and enacting change for the better that remedies the problem.
Instead,their issues are glossed over,marginalized,and the same ol game continues.

If our people don't work, the quality of life ,and appearence of our city will continue to decline,at so point be irreversable, as a third world city wher some people work, others don't and live elsewhere,taking valuable tax dollars with them.

Well said Mr. Beard. After living in this city for 65 years, it is very heartbreaking to see how onesided city government seem to always be, regardless to how is at the helm. You hit the nail on the head, but this is only one issue. With 60 plus gallons of water wasted throu leakage out of every 100 gallons produced by our water workd department, one would think that waterworks would be the number one item targeted by this city for stymulas help. But the fact is, this city does not have a wish list for the stymulas program. I fnd that very odd. Just where is the city administration looking?
Contractors at Motiva have hired trucks from Florida, Michigan, Alabama, and I have even observed trucks with company names on them from Colorado. But I know several locals who have tried to contract their dump trucks to Motiva's project and they are told that they are not hiring. What ever happened to the idea that was presented back in September, 2004 when Enterprise Pipeline was the point of focus? The idea was that when the next pipeline company came through, they should be required to hire local labor and craftsmen first. Teppco came through and less than .05% are locals. There are more people from Honduras, Mexico, and other places working at Motiva than any locals. In fact, the majority of locals are driving the busses that bus workers from mass parking areas to the refinery. It is sameful, but yesterdat, I stopped in Baytown to get fuel and while pumping gas into my car, a bus pulled up and I counted 42 mexican nationals that got off the bus and went into the resturant to eat. The Bus was from Mexico. I don't know where the destination was, but the bus was headed east on I-10. Well, so much for NAFTA. Not only are we trading goods with Mexico, but the jobs are being traded also. I often wonder what kind of jobs are available to americans in Mexico.