what makes a little town grow (Houston, Austin: for sale, homes, employment)

[whitegiant]

I live in a little town up in the panhandle called littlefield texas our economy is based on cotton we are about 45 minutes from lubbock and 20 from levelland so what do we need to do to get bigger we are 6507

[HappyTexan]

Invite Walmart to build a supercenter there

[Lucidus]

Originally Posted by whitegiant

I live in a little town up in the panhandle called littlefield texas our economy is based on cotton we are about 45 minutes from lubbock and 20 from levelland so what do we need to do to get bigger we are 6507

That is good question. Just about all the little towns in west Texas and the panhandle have an uphill battle in regards to growth. The trend over the years has been for people to leave rural areas for urban ones.

One key component is jobs. The information that I could find on Littlefield states that it has low unemployment. So that probably isn't going to hold it back. In fact one source (wikipedia) said that a company called Vertical Turbine Specialists has relocated to Houston due to lack of workers. This is unfortunate because west Texas and the panhandle could develop a robust wind energy industry in the coming years. A top priority for Littlefield could be to keep a business like this from moving.

Just about all of west Texas has the same problem as Littlefield right now. The economy has improved greatly but now there is a shortage of workers. Meanwhile, some other parts of the country are facing economic decline. The obvious solution is to get people to relocate to west Texas from other areas. The problem there is that most of those folks do not like the isolation and uninspiring natural environment of the southern plains. The truth is that most of these organic migrants will end up in DFW, Austin, and Houston if they decide to relocate to Texas. Getting them to consider Amarillo, Lubbock, and Midland-Odessa will be challenging enough, getting them to consider Littlefield will be almost impossible.

Another source of new workers and residents is immigrants. In our area of Texas that means Mexicans. Mexican immigrants do settle in all parts of the state, but most of them choose the border areas. Cities along the border have the opposite problem that cities in west Texas and the panhandle have. They have robust population growth but with high unemployment and stagnant economic growth. We could solve each others problems here by encouraging more recent immigrants to come north but many of them may prefer to stay along the border to maintain cultural and familial ties to Mexico.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

[MurphyPl1]

OK, #1 you need a website that works. I go to LittlefieldTexas.org and can't get any of the links to work. If I'm a company looking to relocate, that's not a good sign.

#2 - assuming that the fact that there's and Economic Development Board listed, you probably have a 4A sales tax - what sort of incentives are you offering? And how will that attract workers? You can use 4A taxes for job training.

#3 - are you making full use of the Texas Municipal League? Lots of networking with other smaller cities. I know that many of the cities that were at Newly Elected Officials Training in Austin last year were small west Texas towns.

[Mark Senior]

Tax Payers need to increase their property tax rate or use their sales tax rebates (bad second choice) to pay for jobs created by a new employer. The major metros of DFW and Houston just feed on itself for employment growth - employers know to move to DFW because a labor pool (employees) are there then employees know to move to DFW because employers are there the cycle just keeps repeating itself so you get explosive growth like the "new" overnite cities of Frisco,McKinney,and all the boomtowns of DFW. Here in Tyler we have had very little job growth in the last 10 years but the city property tax has been reduced by 60% in the last 12 years to .20 per 100 dollars lowest in the state of any city over 30,000 pop. Use no sales tax money to attract employers to move here. Longview just 35 miles East has a tax rate 3 times Tyler but pays for companies, out of sales tax money to move there. Last year The Burlington Coat Factory moved a plant there with 500 good payings jobs Longview paid 1,250 per job or 750,000 as the incentive that won the plant site away from other bidders. Jacksonville a smaller city 25 south of Tyler, just paid 3,000 or 4,000 per job for 300 jobs. This is how it is done for most cities outside of a large metro. Just the facts... sorry to say. You somehow have to pay for the jobs - tax breaks, land or some other monetary equivalent is necessary.

[GayleTX]

One thing people look for when considering moving into a city is the school district....all school district/campus accountability scores are readily available on the net and that's where many people begin their search. Scores of 'acceptable' are really not 'acceptable' to many people when it comes to making a moving decision - not when they have other choices. Until the local school board finds a way to improve the school achievement levels, growth and improved tax base are hard to improve.

[Westerner92]

I go through Littlefield every once and a while, and it's a nice enough place. The cotton industry and the South Plains seem to be in good condition since there will always be a need for clothes! But to be honest, I think the best chance for Littlefield to grow is to advertise itself as a small bedroom community for newcomers to Lubbock. I've seen other towns like Levelland, Post, and Abernathy do this with some success.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Originally Posted by whitegiant

I live in a little town up in the panhandle called littlefield texas our economy is based on cotton we are about 45 minutes from lubbock and 20 from levelland so what do we need to do to get bigger we are 6507

I've heard that Lubbock folks are coming as far north as Sudan to buy homes so I would think Littlefield should be getting some of that growth? However, the rising price of gasoline may be acting to stop people who would otherwise be willing to commute such a distance.

Although my primary home is at Albuquerque, my family also owns a small home and some commercial property at Muleshoe, Texas about thirty five miles northwest of you. I have asked the very same question about Muleshoe's growth. Our commercial property, which is currently for sale, is located in the best growth area of Muleshoe (on US 84 or locally known as west American Boulevard) yet there seems to be very little buyer's interest in the property. Luckily we keep property, which is slightly over 2 acres, rented but even this may become more difficult if the Texas High Plains economy continues its sluggishness.

Clovis, New Mexico is only about thirty miles from Muleshoe and is growing by leaps and bounds. So is Albuquerque as is most areas of New Mexico. Since Clovis exists on the same High Plains as Muleshoe and Littlefield, and speaking from the perspective of a property owner in one of the most tax-expensive urban counties in New Mexico and as a property owner in a Texas High Plains rural county, I would say the issue that has the greatest adverse affect on the growth of most Texas High Plains counties is property taxes. From my experience, even New Mexico's income tax fails well short of making up the difference for the expensive Texas property taxes.

BTW, I've always liked Littlefield. However, I was through there yesterday and the construction on US 84 is a real mess.

[case44]

With Lubbock that close to you, there's no reason Littlefield can't experience even a little bit of growth. You've got to realize what a fantastic advantage you do have. Lubbock is in the midst of their biggest growth ever and some of that is going into the U.S. 84 corridor, slowly, mind you, but surely. Shallowater is next. Afterwards, the trend would continue upward. Nevertheless, I would expect Littlefield to feed off of Lubbock's growth. It has to.

[Philip T]

whitegiant . . . .

maybe I am a total retard . . . since everyone else seems to answer this without asking . . . but why do want Littlefield (name should be a clue?) to "grow?" And what do you mean by "grow?" More population? More business? Higher local wealth?

Just asking because to me it makes more sense to figure where you want to go before you try to start to get there.