One of the reasons why the Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce distrusts so many government bureaucrats (not workers, bureaucrats):

After years of community and economic wrong-doing by several large and small Texas’ cities, legislators gave them a sly wink that a ‘safe haven” now exist in the Chapter 380 law for any of their past, on-going or currently contemplated sins. Under the new Chapter 380 Program, anything legal or semi-legal can be economic development.

It is such a bad law that state legislators declined to determine specifically which incentives, when offered singularly or in combination, constitute a “program … to promote state or local economic development.” 

There are no rules governing community and economic development anymore, except for civil injury or death.

Economic development is now anything a city council says that it is – Whether an incentive is requested or not, it gives a city control over all development efforts.

Government takes care of government; government grows government.

Taxpayers have raised such a ruckus over wasted tax-dollars that lawmakers had to do something to bail-out their brethren.

Therefore, 380 agreements serve to only memorialize economic development projects that cities create. It gives a city council the rights of management and control over anything that it designates as a 380 project, thereby setting aside the Constitutional rights of private property ownership.

If government can control it, it – or their friends or supporters or the bureaucrat administrators – can reap the rewards while you pay the taxes, which government also puts into its pockets.

IF someone can control and manage your property, in ways that they determine, what good is your ownership of it?

Logic is not a government strong point.

The Chapter 380 law requires that a “claw-back” or “recapture” provision be in every 380-agreement. It’s a way for cities to claim that taxpayers can get the total cost of incentives and grant or loan money back – IF their economic development partner does not meet or deliver on the agreed performance.

Cities and economic development corporations now have an excuse: A guarantee that no incentive will be wasted – as every and all are recoverable.

Whoopee!

The cockroach in the coffee is that cities have always been free to have “claw back” provisions from failed goals set forth under agreement terms. Its why we’ve had agreements and contracts since 1215 (the Magna Carta signing). But moving on:

The problem for taxpayers – who pay for all incentives – is that under Section 380.001(b), the governing body may: (1) administer a 380 program by the use of municipal personnel; (2) contract with the federal government, the state, a political subdivision of the state, a nonprofit organization, or any other entity for the administration of a program.

That is a cronyism loophole large enough for the 138,600,000 supporters of the current administration to do the Boot Scootin’ Boogie in . . . (That’s the 42% that polls are reporting of the nation’s 330-million population, if you’re wondering.) Recently, over a cup of coffee, one of our Paris Chamber’s supporters said he was “missing the cheap gas prices and mean tweets.”

Chapter 380 is to protect government, while taking care of government’s friends and insiders.

It certainly is not about achieving results, as not all projects are “economic development programs.”

An improvement or a restoration of a building, allowing new instant slums in a neighborhood, some guy cleaning up junk in his yard, some crew selling “pot” on the streets, some gal painting her navel at the Culbertson Fountain, anything that can be claimed to have a potential for “community development” or to improve Paris’ appearance, can now become “economic” in the eyes of the city or when used by the PEDC (when they want it to be).

A 380 designation gives the city total administrative control and management of an entire project – which are the basic rights of private property ownership. And don’t be fooled: Control and management far exceeds the government right of ‘reasonable’ regulation.

Paris is now trying to treat community development as a need for a Chapter 380 economic development agreement; even if no loan or grant or incentive has been made by the city.

Forget any understanding of what, why, and how a project should be done.