Amarillo Economy About To Get A Big Boost. More Jobs Too.

One thing that we Amarillo residents hate is a tax increase. I think it's the same no matter where you live. No one wants to pay more for things, but sometimes the tax money we lay out goes to some very good things.

One of those good things was just unanimously approved by the Randall County Commissioners' Court. It involves one of the biggest employers in Amarillo, and is going to do a lot of good for the city.

A tax abatement for $31.4 million dollars was approved for Affiliated Foods to do a necessary expansion of their building. They are planning on adding nearly 200,000 square feet to their building to expand their dry warehouse and create a new produce building.

On the surface, I'm sure you're asking how this helps you out at all. Well, once the expansion is done, it's going to create 50 new jobs to the region, and each one of those positions will pay better than $50,000 per position.

It doesn't stop there either, as the expansion will also create 70 auxiliary jobs on top of the 50 above. Total in salary it will add to the area? How about almost $5 million. That's good for the economy, and good for those who don't have a job or are looking to switch.

The other thing this expansion will do is bring in roughly $30 million in sales to the local economy. Over the course of the next 20 years, it's expected the expansion will provide more than a $130 million benefit to the city.

There is also a benefit to homeowners in Randall County as something like this helps offset taxes for property owners. A win-win all around. Those tax dollars do go to good use sometimes.