Guymon-Seaboard Agreement Will Bring $100 Million Dollar Expansion

After making history 25 years ago as the first city in Oklahoma to issue a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district, Guymon has issued its second TIF for Seaboard Corporation. The plant’s initial decision to locate in Texas County involved more than $65 million in corporate investment, resulted in the hiring of 1,500 employees, and created the first Industrial TIF district in Oklahoma.

In December 2019, the City of Guymon’s City Council agreed to approve a new Seaboard Expansion Economic Development Agreement for an additional $100 million plant expansion. The proposed improvements include approximately $20 million in real property improvements and $80 million in personal property capital investments at the plant. Construction of the capital expansion will be implemented this year in three separate phases:

• Phase one will include the addition of six new cooler bays, a new engine room to run the entire facility, and a complete purging of the primary ammonia system.
• Phase two will include the construction of a new freezer with the capacity to store 6 million pounds of meat, a box storage facility, and an expansion of the stockyards.
• Phase three will include the construction of a new SNAP Chill in order to replace all of the existing bays in the facility.

Under the terms of the Seaboard Project Plan, the Guymon Public School will receive an annual payment of $220,000 from annual increment revenues generated within the TIF district. In addition, renovations to the city’s wastewater treatment facility and lagoons that serve the project will be funded by tax increment notes issued by Seaboard to cover the cost of such improvements, aggregate of $3,000,000, should the City be unable to obtain alternate financing or unable to secure federal grant awards.

Based on an economic impact analysis conducted by MarksNelson, accounting for direct, indirect and induced impacts of the expansion project, the project will have the following expanded economic benefits on the local economy:

• 198 new employees
• $6.5 million annual income
• $11.2 million value added to the local economy
• $38.5 million in increased economic output, covering broad swath of industries

Upon the completion of the project, the City of Guymon will welcome new jobs to the community, complete numerous public improvements, and improve the long-term viability of the largest employer in Texas County.