Bastrop, Texas Events, News & Stories

On Dec. 15 the board which governs the Bastrop Economic Development Corp. approved, with some controversy, $55,000 in new central business district building improvement grants. At the same time the board vowed to begin revising the grant program and its guidelines beginning in January.

Over the objections of BEDC board president Gary Guiterrez and board members Gary Schiff and Pat Crawford, the board approved $25,000 building grants to Scooters coffee shop and the former home of title company Bastrop Abstract, both on Chestnut Street, plus $5,000 to cover come costs of dividng the Main Street building which houses real estate broker Jimmie Ann Vaughan. Vaughan recently reduced the space she and her agents occupy in the 900 block of Main and sold the extra space to Bastrop lawyer Joe Grady Tuck. Vaughan had asked more $10.700 from BEDC.

Schiff said the grant program is now “out of control,” a sentiment echoed by Guiterrez. Crawford also voiced some criticism, saying the board needs to evaluate the impact of grants on the central city’s appearance and economic viability before putting tax money into projects.

For the fiscal year 2008-09, which began in October, the board budgeted $150,000 for building improvement grants. Prior to Monday’s meeting the board had approved grants which total just over $136,000. To pay for the grants supported by the board Monday, a public hearing will have to take place in January and the issue will have to gain the blessing of the city council to amend the BEDC annual budget.

The board set Jan. 19 to meet in an effort to focus on the grant program, what kinds of work to help pay for and set a firmer budget for annual project expenditures.

BEDC is financed by a half-cent sales tax on retail goods which pass through local retailers.

Bastrop–County commissioners met Dec. 15 to firm up a list of highway projects they’d like to see if President elect Barak Obama, as suggested, wins approval for a new US economic stimulus package early in 2009, including significant public works projects. Here’s their Christmas letter to Santa, even if if comes next year:

The top two or three projects involve moving traffic more quickly and safely into and through Bastrop along Texas 71, mostly on the to-do list of the Texas Department of Transportation which presently has no way to pay for them.

1. Overpasses on State Highway 71 at the intersections with FM 969 and FM 20 on the city’s western border.

2. A similar overpass project at Texas 71 and Tahitian Drive on Bastrop’s eastern border.

3. One million dollars for “cable barriers” in the median on Texas 71 in the stretch of highway between Bastrop and the Travis County line.

4. County commissioners would also like to see TxDOT complete replacement of a series of rural bridges on county roads which the state agency has slated for improvements but now says it has no money to pay for. The county has already spent its money making improvements for other bridges equal to 5 percent of the TxDOT expected costs.

5. Commissioner would also like to see the remaining stretch of US 290 between Elgin and Giddings turned into a divided highway with a grassy median between the lanes going in different directions between Houston and Austin. This may be the least likely project to win funding, according to Pct. 1 Commissioner Peter Hicks. One reason–for this effort to move forward, TxDOT needs to buy more right of way and more design work, meaning it’s not ready to release to contractors even if the money became available.

Stay tuned.