County News
County economy so-so

May 23, 2008

Kaufman County’s economy isn’t in the best shape, but it’s not as bad as some neighboring areas or other parts of the country, county economic leaders say.

“If the country is actually in a recession, I don’t think Kaufman County is in a recession. It’s a slowdown,” said Ken Lane, American National Bank’s regional president for the Kaufman County area.

He said he’s seeing projects delayed, not scrapped. And while foreclosures are up, he said, “frankly here at the bank our mortgage lending has been great.”

County foreclosure rates are running 43 percent higher so far this year than last year. And they were up 52 percent for May postings from last May, but the number remains relatively small.

“Compared to the previous month, Kaufman County was the only one of the ten counties in the North Texas region to have an increase in June’s foreclosure postings filed on homes,” said George Roddy, whose company collects foreclosure rates for several regions statewide.

County foreclosures -- Roddy Reports

Sales tax receipts were down in May for most Kaufman County cities. Kaufman was the only large city with an increase – up 2.51 percent. But collections for the year so far are holding almost steady. Forney and Terrell still are above last year’s totals.

Sales tax -- State Comptroller's Office

The biggest hit has been in housing starts. Residential Strategies provides regular updates to the Forney school district, which takes in most of the county’s big housing developments.

In 2006, 1,142 homes were started, 612 in 2007. And in 2006 sales closed on 1,138 new homes compared with 818 in 2007. The company predicts a slight rebound for 2008 with a predicted 840 starts.

Housing starts in the Forney area through March -- Residential Strategies

Most of the major developments in Terrell have finished out, said Terry Capehart, the municipal development director, leaving few new homes started.

Last year seven new homes started. So far this year two have received permits, Mr. Capehart said. But there have been 65 permits for home and business remodeling.

“The Texas housing market is significantly down. But the North Texas region is the least effected, but we’re certainly still down,” said Danny Booth, head of the Terrell Economic Development Corp.

Unemployment hovers at a little over 4 percent, about the same as the state and below the national number.

County unemployment

The Work in Terrell Web site has more than 25 companies hiring. And Anne Glasscock, director of the Kaufman Chamber of Commerce, said a spring job fair was successful. Only 10 companies participated, but all offered good jobs and seemed to find good candidates, she said.

Nationally, companies have announced layoffs but none have been announced here.

“I’m not aware of anybody doing any kind of layoffs,” Mr. Booth said. “If they have people leave in some cases, they are not filling those jobs.”

It’s unclear what effect higher gas prices will have. More than 50 percent of county residents commute to the Dallas area for their jobs. Higher gas prices could mean they will have less to spend, bringing lower profits to county businesses. Or it could encourage residents to shop closer to home, bringing in new money.

Despite national problems and local uncertainty, officials still believe the county will come out all right.

“I think we are still going to have a good year,” Mr. Lane said.

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