Argyle hires consultant for on-call economic modeling of large developments

The Argyle Town Council on April 2 approved resolution 2026-618 to engage Catalyst Commercial for professional services on an on-call basis to provide economic modeling, development assumptions and taxable-sales analysis. The contract cap was described in the meeting as $25,000, intended to be parsed over multiple analytical tasks rather than a single engagement.

A council sponsor said the consultant will independently vet developer estimates for large projects (for example the Heath Tract) and provide assumptions and high/low scenarios for revenues, taxable versus non-taxable sales, and timing to maturity. "Don't trust me, don't trust the developer, go get an expert who's a third party," the sponsor said, explaining the need for impartial modeling to inform incentive and budgeting decisions.

Staff noted that the scope requires the consultant to provide the assumptions used in modeling and that ownership language in the professional-services agreement will prevent resale of the town's model to others. Council approved the resolution by voice vote; staff said the firm will be used selectively for the Heath Tract, Heritage and Town Centre analyses as needed.