City Not Impressed By Douglas Steel Proposal, Demands Better Wages

City council was scheduled to sign off on a tax incentive deal with Douglas Steel Supply on Tuesday.

It didn’t and the tone wasn’t as enthusiastic as last week when the California-based company announced it wanted to set up in the Butterfield Trail Industrial Park and create 55 jobs over the next five years.

“I don’t think we should be giving (tax breaks) to proposals that are just lowering our median income,” said El Paso City Representative Claudia Ordaz, “This sends a strong message we’re not a city that’s just dependent on low paying wages. I think we’re better than that. We’re past that era.”

Ordaz says bringing jobs to El Paso isn’t enough. She tells ABC-7 companies should have to bring good paying jobs in order to qualify for city tax breaks.

According to Ordaz, Douglas Steel doesn’t meet the criteria because the majority of the positions it plans to create would pay less than $25,000 a year. “If a single mom or single dad were to work on these salaries, they would qualify for Medicaid and all the other services,” said Ordaz.

Last week, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser praised the city’s “Open for Business” initiative for attracting Douglas to El Paso. “This is a company that is bringing something unique that we currently don’t have,” said Leeser.

“We selected El Paso because it is a major trade corridor with Mexico with a very well developed infrastructure,” added Roger Seaman, the Vice President of Operations at Douglas Steel.

Tuesday, another Douglas Steel vice president, Robert Mock, said his company would reconsider the wages it plans to pay potential employees in El Paso. “It would appall me to find out that any of my employees are on food stamps,” said Mock, “That’s not what we strive for.”

Council postponed the vote on granting Douglas Steel tax breaks until it reviews the company’s second proposal.