Potter County Commissioners' Court approves indigent defense counsel, tax abatement

On Monday, the Potter County Commissioners Court approved a 10-year tax abatement request from Amarillo based convenience store chain Toot’n Totum for its proposed new location. In addition, they agreed to recommendations for the setup of the Potter/Armstrong County Indigent Defense Committee.

Toot’n Totum, which has approximately 100 stores throughout the Amarillo region, was requesting a 10-year tax abatement for its scheduled store located at 1701 S. Eastern St. The abatement would use the location as a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) to be used as an incentive to attract new business to the area and to increase future property tax revenue for the county and city.

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Lisa Koller, who represented planning and development of Potter County, argued that the abatement and use of the TIRZ would increase revenue for the county over time. She stated that the appraisal values over 30 years will raise property values to an extent that the tax revenue which would be forfeited short term would be quite modest in comparison to what money would be brought in on future property taxes.

Precinct Four Commissioner Alphonso Vaughn inquired as to why the convenience store chain could not fund themselves based on the market share and total amount of the stores in the area. He also stated that to taxpayers how it might look when taxes are being raised on citizens, but a company gets an abatement.

“This is using financing available to bring in other investments into the area,” Koller said.

The Court passed the measure with a unanimous vote for abatement.

Another measure that the committee took up for vote was three recommendations from the Potter/Armstrong County Indigent Defense Committee.

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Indigent defense is provided for defendants who cannot afford legal counsel on their own. These public defender programs help to ensure a fair trial for those accused of crimes. The committee approved the Potter/Armstrong Country Indigent Defense Plan, appointments to the County Public Defender/Managed Assigned Counsel Oversight Board and the bylaws for the governance of the appointed board.

Filling a need for indigent defense in the region by having a council that will oversee the program to have enough legal professionals to handle the client load in the region was cited as major impetus for naming a director and counsel members.

The program will also recruit at least three candidates from Texas law schools to serve the counties on a five-year contract for indigent defense. With the amount of first- and second-degree felony cases in the region, the program would make the case loads more manageable for the county courts.

John Kiehl spoke on behalf of the program and stated that it would provide economic development in the region and attract much needed attorneys into Amarillo.

After brief deliberation, the Court voted 4-0 to approve all the measures.

The next Potter County Commissioner’s Court meeting is scheduled for Sept. 27 at 9 a.m.