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.