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BASTROP — Balancing commercial growth with preserving Bastrop’s smalltown identity has city leaders considering whether the city’s economic development arm has outlived its original purpose and should be dissolved.
The Bastrop Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) is funded by a special sales tax and aims to promote citywide fiscal growth through infrastructure improvements, targeted investments and quality-of-life projects. City Council and the BEDC board last month discussed ways to make the nonprofit more responsive to Bastrop’s evolving needs and more transparent for residents.
“We want to incentivize companies to come here for potential jobs for the citizens, but an unhappy community doesn’t care about what comes in,” Mayor Ishmael Harris said. “We have to make sure the citizens have something that keeps them happy.”
