Proposed wind farm seeks tax abatement

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Cielo Wind Services and Donley County officials this week moved closer to tax abatement agreement 161-megawatt wind farm that is proposed for the northwestern part of the county.

During the regular session of the commissioners’ court, the county approved a letter of engagement with the Underwood Law Firm and met with attorney James Wester, who presented local officials with updated tax abatement guidelines and criteria. Commissioners voted to accept those guidelines and adopted a resolution continuing the county’s interest in participating in tax abatements.

Cielo representative Robert Peña presented county officials with a tax abatement application and said the project will be constructed in 2014 and operational in 2015.

The proposed wind farm will be split between Gray County and Donley County, and Peña said his company intends to put 161-megawatts of turbine capacity in Donley County using 2.0 to 2.2 megawatt turbines.

According to Cielo’s application, the project will bring approximately 150 to 200 construction jobs and seven full-time permanent jobs to Donley County. The market value of the project would be about $95 million, and the project expects to generate about $1 million in direct sales taxes.

The company proposes a 100 percent tax abatement for ten years, but Peña said that direct payments in lieu of taxes were not spelled out in the application and needed to be discussed in a closed session of the court.

Commissioners agreed to hold a public hearing on September 9 to create a reinvestment zone for Cielo and consider the terms of the tax abatement.

The proposed project area does not fall in the Clarendon Independent School District, Peña said. The project would be within the Clarendon College District and the Donley County Hospital District, but Peña said Cielo does not ask college or medical districts for tax abatements.

In other county business, commissioners worked late Monday to work on their proposed budget for fiscal year 2014. That budget is now on file with the clerk’s office, and budget hearings will be held September 13 and 19.

Commissioners also approved several agenda items, including the purchase of a computer system for the county attorney; collection of optional fees as provided by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Transportation Code; attendance by the county attorney at a conference in Galveston; attendance by the county clerk at a conference in Horsehoe Bay; and acceptance of a bid on tax delinquent property in Howardwick.