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Billions of dollars could pump into Victoria County if a nuclear plant comes, an economist report says.

The Perryman Group from Waco released a 65-page report today that showed the county would see $13 billion in total spending from construction and related activity of the proposed Exelon Nuclear plant.

Once operational, the 700 permanent workers and their families would increase spending by more than $2 billion a year.

“It’s not unlike anything I would have expected,” Adrian Cannady with the Victoria Economic Development Corp. said. “It exceeded expectations.”

Cannady hopes residents read through the report to understand the positive impact the Exelon project would have for the county.

But the county also needs to understand the costs and consequences of building a nuclear plant 12 miles south of Victoria, attorney Sandra McKenzie said.

“It’s not just this panacea,” she said. “There can be some serious long-term consequences to individuals.”

The group came to these findings based on an economic impact model that has measured spin-off or multiplier effects for the past 25 years, Ray Perryman said. Exelon asked the group to measure its economic impact, providing the group with the number and types of employees they would hire.

The economic analysts then went to state and national databases to see how much the workers made: between $60,000 and $80,000, Perryman said.

The group also studied windmill power plants and the South Texas Project in Matagorda County.

The model estimates that the increased spending would lead to the creation of 6,500 jobs, which would increase the overall economy by 11 percent. The construction and development process would contribute $348 million in taxes to the state and $70.2 million to local governments over the build-out period. Once operational, it would contribute $46.2 million to the state and $40.8 million locally in annual taxes, the report said.

Local governments gain most from property taxes and sales taxes, Perryman said. Higher-paid workers could afford more expensive homes and bigger homes would enhance property values, he added.

The large tax base would contribute to services like parks, which would attract people into the area and raise values, but would keep the overall rate low, he added.

However, the land adjacent to the plant would not see a rise in value, neither would it depreciate, Perryman said, citing his career’s studies of more than 40 power plants.

If the project needed to construct electric infrastructure like substations and transmission lines, it won’t detract from land values, but it would need to use land for the projects, Perryman said. They would pay the fair market value for that land, he said.

Could a nuclear plant prevent other industries or business from coming into Victoria?

“I think you find just the opposite effect,” Perryman said. “It’s an asset.”

The creation of a large tax base and low tax rate environment combined with the pool of skilled workers would attract business to the area, he said.

Projects like this also bolster civic clubs through an influx of new members, while the company also sponsors events and contributes to education, Exelon community outreach manager Bill Harris said.

But the report doesn’t address the possibility of tax abatements, McKenzie said. She points residents toward House Bill 2994, passed by last year’s Texas legislature, that gives eligibility to nuclear facilities for school tax breaks. Schools can grant tax subsidies to be reimbursed by the state.

“It appears to look at short-term job creation, but doesn’t look at the infrastructure costs of community services such as schools and law enforcement for the influx of construction workers,” she said about the report.

The construction of a nuclear plant in Matagorda County brought high rents for local residents and locked people into long-term mortgages, she said.

After the construction boom, the economy dipped, leaving empty buildings and a higher tax rate, McKenzie said.

Overall, the economy in Matagorda County saw economic improvement, Lisa Tew, communications director for the Matagorda County Economic Development Corp. said. The construction of South Texas Project’s first two units led to 1,200 permanent jobs, she said. Even with tax abatement, the local area sees millions of dollars in revenue.

Tew admitted the economy felt growing pains with the influx of workers and plans to plan better for temporary housing with the third and fourth reactor units, which would bring in $6.1 billion to the local economy.