Western Edition
Published Nationally ® August 19 2018 Vol. IX • No. 17
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded 1957.” 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215-885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com
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$45.5M Stadium on Deck in Amarillo, Texas By Chuck Harvey CEG CORRESPONDENT
CDOT Kicks Off $1.2B Central 70 Highway Project...10
Road Damage From Earthquakes Is Latest Hawaii Volcano Peril...18
Workers and city officials expect a new $45.5M minor league stadium in Amarillo to be a major hit with fans. The facility will be home for the now double-A San Antonio Missions. With the move, the name of the team will be changed. The stadium will be located on Buchanan Street in downtown Amarillo. It marks the return of AA affiliated minor league baseball to the city for the first time since the Amarillo Gold Sox left in 1982. The city of Amarillo and the Elmore Sports Group agreed on a 30-year lease of the stadium for the team to play in. On March 1, work on the stadium officially started, as excavators
Jerry Danforth, City of Amarillo photo
On March 1, work on the stadium officially started, as excavators began moving dirt from the construction site in preparation for the planned baseball park.
began moving dirt from the construction site in preparation for the planned baseball park. Excavation will be a primary part of initial project work. Plans called for
removal of 130 excavator loads per day to complete full dirt removal in 30 to 35 days. Once the correct elevation for the stadium site was achieved, crews began installing
cement retaining walls. Once the project is complete, the home team is scheduled to begin Texas League play later in the see STADIUM page 49
Tax Reform’s Impact on the Construction Industry By Giles Lambertson CEG CORRESPONDENT Liebherr Holds First Open House at Gillette Facility...36
Table of Contents ................4 Attachment & Parts Section ......................................11-13 Truck & Trailer Section ........ ......................................22-25 Recycling Section ........37-45 Business Calendar..............46 Auction Section ............48-51 Advertisers Index ..............50
The economy will boom — or only the rich will get richer! These were the competing political views as U.S. lawmakers sat down last year and thrashed out an overhaul of U.S. tax policy. In January, a new set of tax laws was on the books. Half a year later, while the political back and forth continues, the impact of tax reform on the economy in general and the construction and heavy equipment industries in particular seems generally positive. “To be sure, we will never know conclusively about the role of tax changes on the economy,” J.D. Foster said in May. The senior vice president and chief economist of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce conceded that different perspectives on tax law will persist. “Whether the economy slides into recession or goes on a 10-year run of historic growth, neither tax reform’s opponents nor defenders will be able to prove beyond a doubt whether tax reform made a difference,” said Foster. Nevertheless, he said signs of positive impact
were popping up like springtime greenery. They included contractors and companies who immediately provided bonuses to employees on sheer anticipation of increased revenues. CEOs who began to augment their heavy equipment fleets to take advantage of new depreciation schedules. Money banked overseas being voluntarily repatriated in response to more favorable corporate tax rates. Associated Equipment Manufacturers and Equipment Dealers Association conducted a survey of members, again in May, for insight about the tax law’s impact. The consensus of dealers and manufacturers was that the lower corporate tax rate and quicker equipment depreciation schedules were driving up demand for their products. “We always believed that tax reform would lead to additional investment in construction and mining equipment, and that belief has been confirmed,” said Trey Googe, president and chief operating officer of Yancey Bros., the Georgia company that bills itself as the nation’s oldest Caterpillar dealer. Yancey was one of the companies giving employees a bonus ($500) shortly after passage of
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. “Although it will take some time for all of the benefits of the tax reform law to fully materialize, there is no doubt that it has positive impacted business confidence and driven economic growth,” said Googe. In Millersville, Md., Reliable Contracting Co. President Jay Baldwin believes the new tax structure “is going to be of great value. One hundred percent depreciation on equipment in year one, things like that make a lot of difference.” In Baldwin’s case, he and his executives so far this year have authorized spending more than $5 million on heavy equipment, including 10 dump trucks, a backhoe, a dozer and a loader. It’s almost too much of a good thing. Baldwin said the company is prepared to invest even more in equipment, but is having trouble finding it. “We can’t get the equipment. Manufacturers can’t make them as fast as we want them,” he said. Reliable Contracting is a $100 million-a-year company still recovering from the collapse of the construction economy 10 years ago. see TAX page 34