GSMP 9th Annual Economic Outlook Features Mayoral Panel And A Look Ahead

By Terra Rivers, Managing Editor

Four-Hundred business leaders, members of the community and current and former elected officials were in attendance for the Greater San Marcos Partnership’s 9th annual Economic Outlook on Wednesday, May 22.

The event addressed the economic growth experienced in Hays and Caldwell counties over the last year; attendees heard from keynote speaker Sara House, Director and Senior Economist with Wells Fargo, as well as a panel of local mayors from Lockhart, Luling, Buda, Kyle and San Marcos.

Adriana Cruz, President of the Greater San Marcos Partnership, opened the event with a brief overview of growth in the Innovation Corridor.

Cruz said the population of the Greater San Marcos area has continued to grow rapidly over the last three years; among the counties with a population of more than 150,000, Hays County has been the fastest growing county in the country every year for the last five years.

“At the same time, Caldwell County’s population has also been growing. Overall the total population has increased by 14 percent,” Cruz said, “While nationwide the population only grew by 2 percent. In 2017, our population topped 250,000 for the first time.”

Cruz said the data showed the population growth in the region has primarily been driven by domestic and migration.

“Since 2010, domestic and migration accounted for 65 percent in Caldwell County and 78 percent in Hays County,” Cruz said. “These trends have been consistent year over year. According to data from the internal revenue service, much of this in migration of residents can be attributed from an influx of residents from Austin and Travis County.”

Cruz continued to say that the region’s labor force has been growing rapidly as well; over a 10-year period, the labor force grew 45 percent. Between 2014 and 2017, the labor force increased by 13.6 percent.  

According to Sarah House, June 1 will mark the longest economic expansion on record; however, it will still remain the weakest of the post-WWII era.

“The good news is expansions don’t die of old age,” House said. “If you think about where a recession come about, it’s usually caused by a shock, which by definition is tricky to predict; but if you also think about where recessions come from, they tend to come from imbalances, the build of too much static.”

House continued to say while the current expansion has been the longest, it’s also been the slowest, which hasn’t left the opportunity for imbalances to build up.

During the panel, Mayor Jane Hughson of San Marcos, Mayor Travis Mitchell of Kyle, Mayor Lew White of Lockhart, Mayor Mike Hendricks of Luling and Mayor George Haehn of Buda discussed the recent economic growth their cities had experienced.

Mayor Hughson opened the discussion by talking about San Marcos’s latest economic development projects, the San Marcos Air, Rail and Truck, which is anticipated to bring at least 500 jobs in the next year alone.

“We’ve already announced our first company that will locate there. There’s so much room for opportunity,” Hughson said, “And we’re so excited about it. It’s a work in progress, but it’s going to be a excellent development as we move forward.”

Mayor Hendricks said Luling has been dependent on the oil industry for many years and has seen a downward trend in the industry lately; the city has had to look elsewhere for economic development and is currently looking at developing their industrial park.

Mayor Mitchell said the City of Kyle has been focused on creating jobs and ‘Live, work, play’ type developments of late.

“One of those projects is what we call Uptown, which is at the intersection of 1626 and 967,” Travis said. “We are working, it seems like around the clock, for many months and probably be working on that project for many years, to create a destination type experience for people to have really the best of all worlds and have a great lifestyle.”

Cruz said economic development is a team sport as the greater San Marcos area grows; communities, business leaders and officials will have to work together to continue that growth.

“It will take our entire region working together to grow the strength of our economy,” Cruz said, “By inviting new industry sectors and raising the median income by attracting employers that offer high-paying, quality jobs.”