Trade-Zone Status Lures Business to Region
Published Dec 15, 2008
Several companies are part of the FTZ, including Sam Dunn Enterprises Inc., a logistics services firm that operates an 800,000-square-foot warehouse.
New business and industrial parks coming online and a Foreign Trade Zone designation at East Texas Regional Airport and its adjacent business park are making East Texas even more advantageous for business.
The airport has held FTZ status since 1999, says Shelby Keys, foreign trade zone director for the East Texas Regional Airport and 300-acre East Texas Industrial Airpark next to the facility.
“We have one manufacturer here that uses it on a large scale, because they applied to become a subzone, which means they don’t have to exist within the FTZ boundaries, but they get the benefits. This is something that we’re able to do for manufacturers and it benefits them tremendously.”
The FTZ has been able to secure approval for third-party importers, which has helped increase their presence in the area. That’s important for the airpark in particular, because it’s county-owned land that is for lease only, rather than for sale, which can sometimes be an obstacle.
“We work around that when we can, and we’re also working on getting a rail spur into the park, which we think will open a tremendous amount of growth there,” Keys says.
The FTZ has also applied to include the Synergy Park industrial complex in Kilgore into the zone.
Through efforts of the Kilgore Economic Development Corp., the city was one of the pioneering entities in the region to enact a “Freeport Tax Exemption,” which allows an exemption for property taxes paid on goods, wares, merchandise and other tangible property acquired in Texas or brought into the state and held less than 175 days before being shipped elsewhere.
Since rolling out the exemption in 2007, the savings to companies have been substantial with the increased tax base more than making up for the lost tax revenue, says Amanda Nobles, KEDC executive director.
In the first year, Kilgore’s taxing entities lost around $28 million in value, Nobles says, but made up the difference with a more than threefold increase in its tax base.
“It really gives companies that have a lot of inventory bound for outside the state an advantage that they don’t have in other locations,” Nobles says. “If you target industries, we have advantages over other cities along the same trade routes we’re on. It would be shooting ourselves in the foot not to do it.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Staff
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