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City presents annual review of active incentive agreements; Hooky entertainment project due to open this spring
Summary
Staff and the economic development director reviewed active city and EDC incentive agreements, outstanding compliance items and remaining payments. Hooky Entertainment (Project V) reported construction progress and said it expects to be open before Memorial Day.
The city’s director of economic development and the city controller presented the council with an annual review of active incentive agreements for the City of Hutto and the Hutto Economic Development Corporation (EDC) on April 17, reporting payments to date, remaining obligations and several compliance issues.
Chaney Imboa, director of economic development, and Christina Bishop, city controller, described three groupings of agreements: city‑only incentives, EDC‑only incentives, and combined city/EDC packages. They walked the council through the status of previously negotiated reimbursements and workforce grants and highlighted contracts with outstanding deliverables or past-due filings.
Key figures reviewed by staff included: Carmel Creek (developer reimbursement concluded this April after a final $330,000 impact-fee payment; total reimbursements were reported just under $10 million); Star Ranch/HEB (about $3.6 million paid to date with roughly $5 million remaining); Paradigm (approximately $118,000 paid with an estimated $231,000 outstanding and FTE milestones to verify); and Project V (Hooky Entertainment), for which staff reported roughly $5.5 million remaining in potential incentives split between a performance grant (up to $4 million) and a sales‑tax reimbursement component (up to $1.5 million).
Staff flagged several compliance and monitoring issues: Southside Barbecue’s sales-tax reimbursement has not been paid since 2022 because the business did not meet FTE requirements; some recipients have not submitted required annual affidavits or financial statements; and a few agreements predate current staff and lack stepped FTE milestones that would protect the city from back-loaded hiring to meet thresholds. Staff said they are in contact with recipients to resolve outstanding items and will return to council with any proposed amendments.
Hooky update: representatives for Hooky Entertainment — the project formerly known as Evo and presented to council as “Project V” — told council construction is near completion and the IMAX auditorium and other venues are being outfitted. Hooky’s team said a temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO) is expected to allow training and preopening activity; the group said its target for a full certificate of occupancy and public opening aligns with Memorial Day weekend. Charlie Tiencwach, one of the Hooky presenters, highlighted that the IMAX will be the only IMAX within a 10‑mile radius and said total seating across auditoriums is roughly 900, with the IMAX seating approximately 218.
Council reaction and follow-up: members asked for stricter FTE verification language in future incentive agreements and suggested adding stronger clawback or lien language to protect the city and EDC when recipients fail to meet deliverables. Several councilmembers expressed support for tightening FTE milestones and for improved compliance monitoring. Staff agreed to return with options to strengthen future agreements and proposed remedies for the current contracts that are not meeting terms.
No Council votes were taken on incentive changes at this meeting; the presentation was informational and will form staff recommendations to be considered at future meetings.
