Kane Beef, the company that’s in the process of paying the city for past due utility bills, now owes more money.
The company is on the hook to pay more than $175,000. It’s a result of falling short on a business incentive agreement that allowed the company to receive millions in taxpayer funds.
The debt is the result of a 2013 contract, when the city initially entered into a Type A agreement with the company, agreeing to pay Kane Beef a total of $3 million over a five-year period. However, the deal was amended in 2015. At that time, the company insisted it needed immediate financial help to keep it from going under.
The city agreed to accelerate the payments and give Kane Beef the remaining $2.4 million all at one time. One of the terms required the company to retain 739 full-time jobs and create 70 more. According to a memo from the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation, only 11 jobs were added over the contract’s term.
For that reason, Kane Beef must now pay back part of the cash incentive, totaling $175,200.
As KRIS 6 News first reported in April, the company has also been working down a $2.4 million debt for unpaid utility charges and a fee for a bounced check. Constance Sanchez, the city’s director of finance, told us Thursday that Kane Beef has paid over $1.4 million of that total. As of now, the company is in compliance with this payment arrangement.
Sanchez says Kane Beef still pays more than $35,000 a week to the city for the outstanding utility bills. It also has one more payment due next month for more than $29,000 that will take care of the returned check charge.
The Corpus Christi Business and Job Development Corporation, also known as the Type A Board, crafted the agreement with Sam Kane. Board members will hear an update on this development at its next meeting on Monday.
