The Midland County Commissioners Court gave the green light on Monday to sales tax rebates for Springfield, Missouri-based outdoor recreation merchandise retailer Bass Pro Shops. Odessa CBS affiliate KOSA Channel 7 reported that the development follows the court’s approval of property tax abatements for the business.
"Midland now has one of the major retailers in the nation wanting to set up shop here and begin the diversification of our economy that will transform us like never before,” Midland County Judge Terry Johnson said in a statement on the county’s Facebook page. “Midlanders love Bass Pro and Bass Pro will love Midland.”
Per KOSA, Johnson, a Republican, said that Bass Pro Shops will receive 50% sales tax rebates for a decade. Midland’s future Bass Pro Shops location will occupy a 100,000-square-foot building, the station reported.
“Bass Pro Shops will serve as an anchor for additional retail development westward along the 191 corridor,” Johnson said in the statement. “A family entertainment complex is already planned, and additional large retailers are inquiring about adjoining land.
“So, Bass Pro Shops is a vital anchor for what else may come,” the county judge said.
According to a Midland NBC affiliate KWES Channel 9 report, Bass Pro Shops’ request for some leeway regarding the sales tax rebate prevailed after the court passed the Community and Economic Development Plan.
“It allows the county court to issue funds to private industry or private individuals," Johnson said in the report. "Normally we can’t do that, the legislature passed rules that came up with a way to do it in a very limited scope of doing it.”
In his statement, Johnson insisted that Midland follow the lead of other Texas communities that se property tax abatement and sales tax rebates to entice large retailers.
“It’s clear that if Midland doesn’t use the economic development tools we have, we will lose this project – and many others – to communities that are more ambitious and aggressive in their business recruitment,” he said. "We are on the precipice of realizing our vision for our community.
“We need to continue the momentum we have built and continue to grow.”