LAREDO, Texas - Laredo businessman Cliffe Killam says his city’s trajectory could be changed for the better with tweaks in the way the city deals with the business community.
The CEO of Killam Development gave a speech at Laredo Chamber of Commerce’s VISION 2026 conference at Laredo Country Club. His presentation was titled “A Shared Vision for Growth.”
In his PowerPoint he showed a graph the looked at Laredo’s population growth since 1970. It showed the city growing two and half percent a year.
“We have a leaky bucket, in my opinion. Not only a leaky bucket, but we have a leaky water hose as well. What does that mean? It’s about being efficient, about capturing the opportunities that could be coming here, and then when we do capture them, keeping them.”
Killam was referring to migration loss over time. “In our most recent history, there (have been) more people leaving than coming.”
He continued: “Have we had some macro things that have supported tremendous amount of growth? Absolutely. We have had an incredible amount of investment (that has gone into) industrial development. A ton of money has been invested in that. Yet, at the same time, from a population standpoint, we haven't quite been able to continue to grow with this amazing opportunity that we have as a community.”
Killam said there has also been “some stagnation” in small business growth. He said he wanted to get into some of the reasons why that has been happening. He said the surge in international trade and logistics has “bailed us out.”
Without these macro developments, he said, Laredo would look very different.
“If you said all that economic activity that is happening here had gone… what would this place look like if that wasn't here? It would look very different.
“What I'm trying to argue for is that we need to have the right people in the right roles doing the right things to help support the right policies, the right capital allocation to generate the right outcomes.”
Killam said Laredo has some great elected leaders in city government and some great people within the city administration. “But it doesn't mean that there aren't challenges,” he said.
He voiced concern that some procedures were slowing the city’s velocity and speed and direction.
“When you do that, you're prolonging the time it takes to get projects done. You're prolonging the time it takes for that tax base to be on the rolls. You're prolonging the time for that tax revenue to be in there for those jurisdictions. You're prolonging the time to have jobs created. And so, all of that has a huge impact. So, if we can shorten those cycle times over time…”
What would Laredo look like today if it had grown at three percent rather than two and a half percent over that period, 1970 to 2024, Killam asked.
“We are talking about a 20% increase. Two and a half percent, three percent. It doesn't sound like a lot, right? Twenty percent, what is that worth? What does 20 percent mean? Well, when you're talking about 50 years, or whatever, it means a hell of a lot.
“We would have 75,000 more people living here. We'd have ten more master planning communities. We'd have five to 15,000 more acres of neighborhoods. We have 27,000 more homes. We have 40 more neighborhoods. We'd have 1,600 more businesses and 68 more commercial corridors.”
Killam pointed out that New Braunfels is growing by 12 percent. Yes, they are near San Antonio, he acknowledged. But still. “What are they doing to make that happen? They're just not letting those opportunities pass them by.”
Killam said just a small increase in Laredo’s population, over time, could mean an additional $8 billion added to the tax rolls.
“That's significant, and that's just 20 percent. Imagine if we were more?
“It's about executing consistently over time. And our city government is an important part of that, because they're a gatekeeper as you go through the annexation process, as you go through the entitlement process, as you go through getting a certificate of occupancy process, all those things.”
By growing at a faster clip, Killam said, more people could have been in business.
“We're estimating that there'd be about $37 billion in cumulative personal income that would have been generated during that time frame. That is massive. What we're talking about is, how do we get more money to flow through our economy?”
Killam pointed out that Webb County’s population has decreased during this period. Bexar County and Hidalgo County, by contrast, have grown, he said.
“These are just some big picture ideas I wanted to share with you all. Development services… being able to accelerate that over time has many, many important, positive implications for everybody. It means more business, more activity, more growth.
“I think anybody here that's gone through the construction process, it's a nightmare. But these are things that are solvable. We can solve these things. These are things of our own making. Just shaving off a little bit of time has big outcomes. Over time, there will be more economic prosperity for everybody in this room, for everybody in the city, everybody in the county, everybody who lives in this community, has more jobs. It's more businesses. That is more quality of life.”
“Compressing those timelines, shortening those cycles helps everybody. In particular, I think it helps small businesses. I'm very concerned about small business creation. We're a decent sized business, and it's hard for us. Imagine somebody who wants to start their first food truck or a restaurant or whatever. It’s incredibly challenging.”
In El Paso, the city administration “actually walks you through the whole process,” Killam said. “They have somebody dedicated to help shepherding you through that, to get you to your business opening.”
Killam then a breakfast meeting he and other business owners had with the city manager. “There was a gentleman there who talked about how he had a food fabrication business, and he was kind of going well, but then eventually he had to shut it down. And he said, you know, a big part of it was, his working relationship with the city. He said: ‘I felt like they wanted me to fail.’ That's not the way people should feel.”
Killam was quick to point out that some of the city folks would obviously have a different take to the businessman that was just starting out.
“Look, we want the city to do well. And I do think things have gotten better. There are some great people in the administration, but we have got to wrap our hands around this thing.”
Killam said Laredo has “great” police and fire departments. He said the federal agencies, such as Border Patrol, do a a great job also. “This is a safe, wonderful community, and all those people help make that happen. So, thank you to all of them.”
Killam said Laredo needs to play to its strengths. He said he was not one of those who felt that because “all the industrial stuff is working,” it should not receive assistance,
“Those are tailwinds for us. And some people are of the view that, well, let’s not help those things. I respectfully disagree. I think that we need to play to our strengths. We need to create accelerators for the things that are working so that we can grow things faster, increase that velocity of investment, and then take those windfalls, take those windfalls to help support and nurture other industries that we want to have here.”
Killam said growth is not guaranteed. It's chosen.
“South Texas cities have followed different growth paths over the last 50 years, and different economic outcomes. We're at a decision point. We're at an inflection point. We all are participating in this. We all are part of this. Small changes create big outcomes.”
He said Laredo's current tax base is about $34 billion. “If we assume $500 million is invested per year between 2026 to 2056, growing at three percent, shortening the approval process to just three months could unlock over 30 years, three and a half billion dollars of investment. I think that's very conservative.
“So, what does that mean? That is equals to about $50 billion cumulatively, as we're thinking about the next 30 years. That ($50 billion) continues to be on the tax rolls. It builds and it builds and it builds.
“And what does that mean for our jurisdictions? Just by shortening that development timeframe, we add a billion dollars to their tax rules, for all the taxing jurisdictions, just by (shortening the development timeframe to) three months. Some of these things are taking 24 months, 18 months, 25 months. It is taking too damn long. We can do something about that, to improve it, to shorten it.
“And again, if we have the right people and the right roles doing the right things, we can generate the right policies, the right capital allocation to generate the right the right outcomes, and we can shift the trajectory. This is all within our grasp.”
Killam acknowledged he does not know what the future look like but does know that everyone at Vision26 needs to be involved.
“We're all in this together. It's about building relationships, about collaboration, about working together. I’m not trying to be negative in any way. We want to be able to try to solve this together. This affects everybody's lives in this community.”
So, you know, I think the last kind of report we got was from the Fed that has a population estimate. They're saying like, you know, call it 310,000 300,000 or so, you know, if we grow in what we had in the most recent timeframe, we wouldn't get very far. About 320,000
Killam said if Laredo was to grow by five percent a year its population would be a million within 30 years.
“That's not a fantasy; that's not some fiction. That is possible.”
