PORT ARTHUR — So Mr. Roosevelt Petry of the EDC board wants to know where I have been? Well I've been right here. For the last 16 years I have watched the EDC take millions of dollars from our citizens.

Just after I took office and with the help of our staff and our auditors I was able to persuade the EDC's third director to start keeping books. It was astonishing to me that for so many years the EDC spent millions of dollars and kept no records of its spending or of the results.

It is also incredible that the EDC was not investigating the backgrounds of those they gave money to or the companies they bought into. That negligence resulted in millions in losses, the outright theft of $500 thousand and the bribery of an EDC employee. Two folks faced criminal charges over that theft and fortunately for our taxpayers, the money was recovered. A simple background check would have prevented that. I'm still not satisfied that the EDC even knows the identities of all the people to whom it gives money today.

I certainly know about the theft and the bribery. I was there when an interview with the first witness uncovered it. I was also there when the auditors reported that the Economic Development Corporation passed its first audit in years. Being the spearhead for the Council in making that happen I appreciated that small measure of success.

Mr. Petry mentioned $32 million in new commercial property on our tax rolls. That is indeed a big number. But that number is only half of the story and so we need another number. That second number is the cost to the tax payer. You see, when you concentrate your attention on only the benefits and you don't consider the cost, I say you have lost your focus.

So let us focus on the cost number. That number is $47 million. That is an even bigger number. Actually more than $47 million has poured into the EDC in the last 16 years. $47 million is 47 miles of new streets. It is countless miles of new water and sewer lines, sidewalks, or the repair of every pothole in the city with plenty left over.

Mr. Petry points out that the $32 million in new commercial property adds to the city's revenue. It does indeed. It produces an annual tax contribution of $256 thousand. So we traded 47 miles of new streets for less than three blocks of streets per year. Congratulations. The new tax revenue will pave 47 miles of new streets in only 188 years. I worry that our citizens don't really think their $47 million was a good investment.

Every time I bring up the EDC I get hammered. The first thing said is that I should not be criticizing the EDC's board of directors. These folks are volunteers who only want what is best for the city and I should not be talking bad about them or about the EDC. Some board members really are volunteers who neither seek nor want a personal benefit from their service. I thank those folks sincerely for their time and effort to make our community a better place to live. About other board members I have questions and concerns. We will be talking about that later.

But when we talk about the EDC and money, I don't consider “who” as much as “what”. The strategy won't work. The methods won't work, and creating new property taxes using sales tax dollars will always be a drain on our resources. It will never produce a benefit. The numbers just don't add up. The EDC would have to generate $650 million dollars in new commercial property just to pay for itself. That is more that half a billion dollars in new commercial property just to pay for the EDC.

Now is the time to start some serious discussions about the future of the EDC. During the next 16 years the EDC will spend $80 million, maybe more. It will spend more than $10 million just to run its own operations and that figure could rise to $15 million or more if the Council approves the new EDC offices downtown. You can call it a restructure or an overhaul, or whatever you want to. Regardless of what you call it, a major change at the EDC must take place if the EDC is to stay in business.

The Mercer Group said we have to start measuring things. Our citizens heard that and they want to see some measurements. They want to know who really benefits from EDC money. They want to know how many businesses failed after receiving EDC money. They want to know where the promised 1,200 high paying jobs are. The 53,000 citizens who sacrificed 47 million dollars and all the city services that money would have provided want to know these things. Mr. Petry said it himself: “the light is on and you can't hide now.”

Robert E. "Bob" Williamson, Councilman

Port Arthur