Public Information Office
210 S. McDonald St. Suite 540
McKinney, TX  75069

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Leigh Hornsby, Public Information Officer
972-548-4772
publicrelations@co.collin.tx.us

June 30, 2003

Collin County Commissioners’ Court touts Project Emmitt

(McKinney, TX) - The Collin County Commissioners’ Court is praising today’s announcement by Texas Instruments. The Dallas-based company will create a chip manufacturer in the county and work with the University of Texas at Dallas to create a research facility through a plan called Project Emmitt. The first phase of the initiative is expected to create at least 1,000 jobs at the plant and 40 professorships at the university.

According to Collin County Judge Ron Harris, this is the biggest economic development announcement in recent Texas history. “This project is a bell weather example of public/private partnerships in north Texas. The entire region will benefit from this. The high tech focus in our region should draw additional investments, and taxpayers will see continued tax-base growth to insure the regions’ quality of life continues for our children.”

“We are so pleased that Texas Instruments has decided to take this step,” says Collin County Commissioner Phyllis Cole. “The company is providing us not only with almost immediate career positions, but they are also giving us tools to create jobs in the future.”

Collin County Commissioner Jack Hatchell says the project is a cooperative effort among the local and state governments, as well as higher learning institutions. “I want to highly commend the city of Richardson for their extreme efforts in winning the TI facility. We won a major investment and employer in worldwide competition. This investment will not only create a very good tax base on a vacant piece of property but will create many, many jobs for all of Collin County. The benefits of our investment will reap great benefits for years to come,” declares Hatchell.

Collin County Commissioner Joe Jaynes says this is an outstanding deal. “We ran the numbers on every possible scenario and helped developed a reasonable and responsible incentive package. The citizens of Collin County and the region will be the big winners in this project,” says Jaynes.

“This is a win, win situation … the creation of more than a thousand new jobs is a much needed shot-in-the-arm for the local economy. In addition to this, TI is willing to share an enormous amount of research dollars with UTD. What else could you ask for,” proclaims Collin County Commissioner Jerry Hoagland.

Harris attributes this plan to the new “Enterprise Fund,” which the Texas Legislature setup to help attract economic development in Texas. “State lawmakers were major players in pushing this project successfully over our competition.”

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