By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – Plano and Frisco shake hands. There shouldn't have been a rivalry to begin with. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Midday.
Finally, a couple of cities in Collin County realize the damaging effects of luring (stealing) businesses away from each other's community. In fairness to Plano, it's Frisco that's been playing hardball. And in fairness to Frisco, if Plano's hands weren't tied, they probably would have done the same. It's all about this sales tax law. Cities like Frisco, McKinney and Allen have chosen to use their sales tax for economic development. Then there's Addison, Farmers Branch, Richardson and Plano, who chose to use their sales tax to bring communities together by participating in Dallas Area Rapid Transit. There's only so much sales tax a city can charge and those latter cities are maxed out.
Now, I'm a huge proponent of economic development. Allocating and spending money to attract businesses to a community is properly top priority for most cities. Without businesses, the people living in the community have no place to work. Unless, of course, you give them transportation to and from their business outside of the community. Economic development forces cities to take a good hard look at themselves and evaluate their school systems, their infrastructure, their environment, to name a few. But how hard of a job is traveling a few miles down the road to a neighboring city and enticing companies to move to your town? Boy, if I were a business owner and you were luring me with cheaper rent and tax reductions WITHOUT having to pack-up my own or my employees home-life, I'd move in a heartbeat. But come on, it's like trying to get a date from your friend's girlfriend. There are plenty of other women out there, go find another. It should be about creating new jobs for North Texans, not moving them around.
Even Fort Worth and Dallas have come together to create an image of North Texas. They're not just a couple of cities that happen to be geographically placed next store to each other. Sometimes I get this feeling that some cities in North Texas would be happier with a barb-wired fence placed on their border.
So here's a little excerpt from the Plano/Frisco resolution: "We shall not initiate any action that directly targets business or businesses in another municipality within Collin County..." Do I dare say I'd watch your back Tarrant County? For KERA Marketplace Midday, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.