Graphic Packaging International is investing $1 billion in a paper mill in Waco, possibly spawning other development nearby. With that in mind local taxing entities have voted to expand TIF Zone 4 by more than 1,000 acres to include the plant and capture the taxes it will generate.
Graphic Packaging is building its facility on a more than 100-acre site roughly between the Hello Bello diaper plant and Caterpillar Logistics in Texas Central Industrial Park, an industrial zone south of State Highway 6 and west of Interstate 35. It is expected to start production in 2026, employing about 230 people making an average of $65,000 a year.
Estimates prepared for the city of Waco, McLennan County and McLennan Community College show the expanded TIF Zone 4 would generate more than $300 million in tax revenue before its dissolution date in 2051. That money would build or upgrade roads, sidewalks, water and sewer infrastructure and more in areas officials believe are primed for new development.
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“You know, TIFs create opportunities. You give up a little tax revenue now to be invested in future projects,” McLennan County Judge Scott Felton said. “Entities need to be able to build infrastructure, and that funding can be hard to come by. This enables more debt service, makes funds available for debt service. It’s a good tool to use in the right area.”
He said he believes TIF Zone 4 meets that standard.
“It already has, and we’ll see more with infrastructure,” Felton said.
Waco City Council, McLennan County commissioners and the McLennan Community College board have voted to expand the TIF Zone 4 by 1,017 acres. Now comes the task of approving agreements between the entities, said Jeremy Pesina, in Waco’s economic development office.
Created in 2021, the TIF Zone 4 sprawls across many areas in Waco and boasts $779 million in property value, a figure that will climb to $3.3 billion by 2051, according to documents provided to the voting entities supporting the proposed expansion.
That taxable value will generate an estimated $304.5 million for use in the zone.
Waco City Manager Bradley Ford said Graphic Packaging International expressed appreciation for community support in choosing Waco for a plant similar to one it operates in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Several community leaders visited the Michigan plant before the company’s Waco announcement in February.
Waco officials talk about Graphic Packaging’s plans to spend $1 billion on a high-tech paperboard recycling mill in Waco, marking a record investment for economic development here, they said.
“They picked a location they felt showed a long-term commitment to them from a water and utility infrastructure planning standpoint,” Ford said. “They saw and heard from us that we’ve had a long view on utilities for a long time. That’s important when you’re creating a generational investment like this.”
Pesina said a TIF zone that includes the paper recycling mill became a priority. The operation is the largest economic development project the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce has landed.
Waco businessman David Mercer is spending $2 million to extend Gateway Boulevard from Bagby Avenue to Interstate 35, a project he believes will attract development to land he owns along the thoroughfare, as interstate traffic will have a clear path to deep in the industrial district.
That section of Gateway Boulevard also is in the expanded TIF Zone 4.
Mercer said he thinks expanding the zone should prove beneficial.
Kris Collins, senior vice president for economic development at the Greater Waco Chamber, said 2023 will serve as the base year for the extra 1,000 acres in TIF Zone 4. Taxes generated by development there going forward can be captured for infrastructure improvements within the zone.
This video was produced and provided by Graphic Packaging: Graphic Packaging to build a state-of-the-art coated recycled paperboard (CRB) mill in Waco, Texas
