Mayor Jeff Landrith



Incentive deal could bring, large retailer and large sums of money to city coffers if approved
Stacy Barnes

The “worst kept secret in Mustang” may soon be made public, according to Mayor Jeff Landrith who said he expects the City Council to discuss an incentives package agreement between the city and a “large retailer” as early as next week. City Manager David Cockrell has been in negotiations for more than a year on the deal and Landrith said he believes an agreement is imminent.

Before the city can enter into any contractual agreement, it must be voted on by the City Council. Landrith said anyone who is interested in the discussion should watch for the item to appear on an upcoming agenda. All agendas must be posted by 5 p.m. at City Hall the Friday before a meeting. The next City Council meeting is Tuesday, June 19 at 7 p.m. All meetings are open to the public.

Landrith said he could not give specifics about the incentives package, but did confirm that one would be offered, that it would be based on sales and would be in effect for five years.

“The city receives four percent of retail sales back in taxes,” said Landrith. “One percent of that is earmarked for payment of bonds. We can’t touch that. It’s the other three percent that’s up for negotiation.”

The new retailer is projected to reach $20 million in sales. Based on that figure, $800,000 could potentially be coming into the city coffers. Of that, by law $200,000 must be set aside to pay down bonds. The other $600,000 is what is left to negotiate with.

If a deal is struck, Landrith said the retailer will be required to reach certain “pretty significant” benchmarks before receiving any city funds and if they surpass a certain sales amount, the city would keep the difference. The benchmarks would not only include sales, but also the number of employees. Landrith pointed out that no deal has been made and that negotiations are ongoing.

“No agreement is in place. This could all change,” he said.

Landrith said he has fielded a number of questions, including, why the city went after this particular retailer and why not pursue their number one competitor?

“The answer is we did,” he said. “They didn’t call us back. One of David’s (Cockrell) jobs is to every other week solicit other business. He has to cold call them. Most of the stores people mention we’ve already contacted and they aren’t interested. It all comes down to rooftops and traffic flow.”

Landrith said he asked Cockrell a host of questions concerning this retailer, including whether or not we tried to solicit them without incentives.

“The answer was yes and they walked away.”

While some in the city don’t want the growth, others see it as necessity. Landrith walks the middle ground, saying he doesn’t want the traffic new business will bring, but he also doesn’t want taxes to keep rising and says new business is essential for the city’s health.

“It’s critical that we get businesses here now to ensure Mustang’s future, otherwise we’ll be boxed out. As much as I want to see small businesses here, we’ve got to protect our city. This is one of those hard decisions,” he said. “I have no doubt that this is a good move for Mustang. My only reservation is for some certain businesses, but in my heart I don’t think it will affect them that much.”

Landrith said because the citizens voted down the bond issue for infrastructure, this move is even more critical for the city. In order to “stay small”, he said, taxes would have to more than double. Adding to that is the threat of a Target coming in to Yukon, which would pull some business away from Wal-Mart, meaning less tax dollars coming in to the city.

In addition to the large retailer, four or five other businesses would locate in the same area without incentives, Landrith said.

“There will also be secondary income from gas and convenience stores from people who are coming into Mustang to shop here,” he said.

“If they meet their benchmarks and we anticipate they will, they will bring significant money to Mustang,” Landrith said. “There is every indication that we will make a lot of money on the deal. David should be commended, he's been a tremendous asset to this town.”