Travis County Commissioners Approve Tesla Tax Incentives

TRAVIS COUNTY, TX — The Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved an array of tax breaks valued at $14.7 million to induce automaker Tesla to build a billion-dollar plant near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Tesla has already secured similar financial incentives from Del Valle ISD, the main taxing jurisdiction for the area. Tesla seeks to build a so-called gigafactory encompassing up to 5 million square feet on 2,100 acres straddling the State Highway 130 toll road and bordering the Colorado River. The plant would manufacture the Tesla Cybertruck electric vehicle and the company's Model Y, company officials have said in regulatory paperwork.

Commissioners first discussed the matter during closed session on Tuesday before speakers were allowed to address the dais during a public hearing livestreamed on YouTube.

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The deal in the making is an economic boon ultimately creating thousands of jobs, the type of commercial work highly sought after by municipalities particularly given the current coronavirus-caused economic malaise.

But not everyone is happy about the quick pace of tax incentives approval. A coalition of labor and environmental groups issued a statement acknowledging some employment safeguards contingent on the deal while lamenting what they perceived as a lack of transparency in the process.

“After hundreds of letters, phone calls and testimonies from the community, Travis County fell short of a deal that would guarantee good, safe jobs for thousands of workers," the statement read. "While we appreciate recent additions of worker standards including baseline wages, the existing agreement would still leave many with poverty jobs and unsafe workplaces with no real enforcement. The lack of transparency throughout this rushed process resulted in worker voices being excluded, and the vote should have been delayed. We look to the City of Austin to take every possible step to ensure this proposal is a good deal for the community.”

The coalition includes Central Texas Interfaith, Laborers Union Local 1095, Sierra Club Lonestar Chapter, Texas AFL-CIO, UNITE HERE, United Auto Workers (UAW) Union and Workers Defense Action Fund.