Tax break finalized for multi-million car dealership

The Cameron City Council finalized tax increment financing for a proposed multi-million dollar car dealership owned by Randy Curnow.

Cameron Community Development Director Tim Wymes said using TIF for an existing business became necessary in order to reduce the construction cost of the future new Randy Curnow Chevy-Buick-GMC dealership.

“[TIF] helps save on construction costs. It’s, I believe, a 23-year development incentive where they save on property taxes and construction costs,” Wymes said. “In other cities there are all kinds of different development incentives … Whatever they have to do to get the job done, the city will do whatever is in their power to help them out. We work with a lot of construction companies.”

Wymes said the TIF agreement was simply a land-swap originally approved to assist with the construction of Manion Plaza, until Curnow purchased the land. The new dealership will feature a showroom, maintenance area and provide economic growth to an area Cameron hopes to further develop.

“This property that we are referencing was formally owned by Manion Quality Homes Construction LLC,” Wymes said. “… There was a TIF originally set up for that land and that property was sold to Randy Curnow [via Cameron 36 Property, LLC] and Mr. Curnow is looking to develop that, expand his operations and looking for development incentives. This agreement was already in place. We’re just amending it.”

Last fall, the Cameron Planning and Zoning Commission approved plans for the new dealership - located just off U.S. 36 Highway on Lana Drive. Since the plan’s approval, the project remained on hold as the city and Curnow negotiated access to utility lines. Wymes said much of the delays actually came as a result of the recent COVID-19 pandemic delaying both parties from negotiating. Shortly after the passage of building plans, Curnow Automotive Vice President Max Curnow, credited Cameron City Manager Steve Rasmussen for making the new dealership possible and hopes to provide a mutually beneficial relationship between the city, the dealership and the residents they both serve. 

“We’ve been here since the fall of 2014 and we’ve seen a city that is ready to grow, and we like the community here,” said Curnow following the original approval of the plan last fall. “We’ve really seen Cameron, which is on the intersection of two major highways, as a community that has a big opportunity to grow. We feel like putting a new building there is going to be good for the community in a large way and the people that travel through ... It’s a multi-million-dollar investment. Obviously, that final number is not decided because there are costs that come in that fluctuate a bit.”

The council also:

Approved the $497,270 Orange Street project.

Appointed Carol Dickerson, Marion Nelson, BJ Reed and Gina Reed Hibler to the Cameron Main Street, Inc. Board. 

Announced the restoration of curbside recycling service.