Bexar County commissioners on Tuesday signed off on a 10-year, 50% property tax abatement worth an estimated $2.2 million to back ECOR Global’s planned manufacturing plant just outside Elmendorf. In return, the company is on the hook for roughly $160 million in capital investment and the creation of about 150 full-time jobs.
What the court approved
The deal advanced during Commissioners Court’s Tuesday session following a public hearing that also established a reinvestment zone, a legal step required before the county can offer an abatement. The agenda item authorizes the county judge to execute a tax-abatement agreement that grants a 50% break on county ad valorem taxes for ten years, provided ECOR hits its investment and hiring targets, according to the Bexar County agenda.
Terms and commitments
The signed agreement lays out a series of deadlines and minimum thresholds ECOR must meet. The company is required to make at least $160 million in combined real and personal property investment and create 150 new full-time jobs by the dates written into the contract. The deal sets a minimum wage of $16.20 per hour, excluding benefits, and includes a good-faith goal that at least 25% of new hires come from Bexar County.
To keep everyone honest, ECOR must submit semi-annual compliance reports, while the county retains inspection rights and a recapture schedule that allows it to claw back abated taxes if the company falls short of its commitments, as outlined in a tax-abatement agreement from the San Antonio Report (PDF).
Site footprint and schedule
Project documents describe a facility spread across several dozen acres within the abatement zone, with multiple manufacturing and storage buildings planned on the site. According to county staff, construction and buildout are expected to take on the order of two years once ECOR secures financing and permits. Officials also stress that the roughly $2.2 million abatement figure is only an estimate based on current tax rates and could change depending on the company’s final investment.
What ECOR will make and who it will serve
ECOR’s business centers on plywood-like panels produced from agricultural and recycled paper waste using heat and pressure instead of trees and toxic glues. The company pitches its material as a sustainable alternative for uses such as furniture, flooring and packaging.
Company materials indicate the planned U.S. plant is intended to serve regional customers while connecting to existing supply and customer networks in Texas and northern Mexico. ECOR has emphasized that its process depends on locally available agricultural fiber, tying the facility’s feedstock to nearby farms and producers.
Legal safeguards and oversight
The county’s approach is explicitly performance-based: ECOR receives tax relief only if it meets concrete investment and job-creation milestones. The agreement’s monitoring, inspection and recapture provisions are designed to enforce those benchmarks and align with Bexar County’s broader tax-abatement guidelines, which aim to ensure that incentives translate into measurable local benefits.
What to watch next
The next checkpoints will be ECOR’s progress on securing financing and permits, followed by whether the company hits the construction start and investment deadlines in the agreement. County officials will also be watching the first round of semi-annual compliance reports, which are meant to verify that hiring and capital spending match what is on paper.
If ECOR stays on track and meets the contract terms, the 50% tax break will phase in over the 10-year period. If it does not, the county’s recapture provisions could kick in and require the company to repay previously abated taxes.
