City of Bastrop Courts Villa Muse with Incentives

By Kate Miller Morton
Austin-America Statesman

Backers of the giant proposed Villa Muse entertainment studio and production facility didn’t request direct financial incentives from Austin when they unsuccessfully asked the city to release nearly 2,000 acres from its regulatory and taxing so that the project could save time and money.

But it appears the City of Bastrop won’t get the same bargain if the project lands in its future growth zone.

Bastrop is refusing to release correspondence between city leaders and the developers that would detail exactly what the city is offering and the developer is requesting in order to develop Villa Muse in Bastrop’s future growth zone.

But in a letter to the Texas Attorney General seeking a ruling on whether the city has to comply with a public records request by the Austin American-Statesman, the city says its correspondence includes proposed tax revenue splits and prospective grants.

“If the City’s proposed and anticipated incentive levels were made public prior to the Parties reaching a final agreement on the matter, other cities interested in reaping the potential economic benefits resulting from the Project could easily undercut the City of Bastrop’s negotiating status by offering arguably increased incentives…” wrote Bastrop City Attorney Jo Christy Brown.

The Villa Muse developers have been negotiating with Bastrop since February.

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