In 2004 the KEDC board authorized $300,000 over a period of years to assist the City of Kilgore with public infrastructure projects downtown to promote new and expanded business enterprises. On June 16th, at a regular board meeting, KEDC released $200,000 of that money to the city with the remainder to be funded in FY 2009-10. The city is an important economic development partner, and it is part of our strategy to encourage and promote the work of our partners that complements the programs of KEDC.
The long-time mission of KEDC is to maintain and increase the tax base of Kilgore along with the number of permanent jobs available for Kilgore citizens. Being in Texas may make this mission a little easier since Directorship Magazine, a publication for business decision makers, ranked Texas at the top of the list of pro-business states. This is the first time Directorship has compiled such a list and based its rankings on labor costs, taxes, litigation and education among other measures. Virginia, Utah, South Dakota and Nebraska round out the top five while West Virginia, Rhode Island, Kentucky, New Mexico and Hawaii were the lowest performing states. Rankings like these help form and refine KEDC's marketing strategy and provide documentation when KEDC is competing with communites from other states.
