[Johnhw2]

The Choctaw casino broke ground this week on a half a billion dollar doubling of the casino. Construction completes in 2020.

A Spanish pipe company is locations g it's US HQ in Durant and building a plant to make tubulars for oil and other industry near the recently completed still recycling mill recently opened.

Expect growth in this area to continue to soar with the jobs and money these investments bring to the city and Bryan county. All these are driven by proximity to DFW.

Success in growth if this southern Oklahoma area continues counter to national small City trends.

[Johnhw2]

I noticed Bryan county population again grew nearly 2% over the most recent estimated period. Well 1.77% to be more precise. But rapid growth with the county approaching 50k population. Should be there by 2021. Also jobs the pipe company is bringing pay on average $75k a year nearly double the county current average. This plant and HQ adds 75 jobs.

[Tyryztoll]

Wanted to bump this thread as we are considering relocating to the Durant vicinity. Lived in Anna, TX for a year previously and we made a lot of trips across the border to that area. We moved to the Midwest in 2017 but want to come back down that way now because our handicapped daughter is a patient who needs back surgery at Scottish Rite in Dallas and amazingly we're discovering Oklahoma has many more programs and benefits (TEFRA, Sooner Care) for special needs children than Texas does. Anyway....we were just back down there a couple weeks ago and were blown away by all the building and progress happening in Durant. We considered moving to Tulsa or OKC also but want to be as close to Dallas as possible and Durant is half the distance to Dallas that those other towns are. Can anyone tell me if the schools in Durant are any good and what life in general there is like? I would probably work in the Sherman, TX area if we did make this move (medical field). Thanks much in advance.

[eddie gein]

You could do far worse than Durant in Oklahoma as far as small towns go. In fact I'd say that Durant would hold up well as a nice small town in most states.

Schools are pretty good as far as teachers go because the college has a strong Education department as that was it's original mission. They get the pick of the litter of the best new teachers. I'm sure Durant suffers somewhat from funding issues due to being in the state of Oklahoma. Texas schools probably have better funding.

The cost of living should be pretty good but I think you need to be aware that Oklahoma will tax you on your Texas wages if you live here. That might make it better to live in Texas if you work there.

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

The cost of living should be pretty good but I think you need to be aware that Oklahoma will tax you on your Texas wages if you live here. That might make it better to live in Texas if you work there.

Right. I’ll have to research those laws... I know TX has no state income tax, but not sure how they deal with people working there and living out of state. I could deal with it as a wash if I just had to pay OK taxes, that would surely still leave us pretty well off on a TX salary. As I said, we would prefer to live in OK to take advantage of TEFRA insurance for our daughter if she qualified. Texas has nothing like that as we found out living there previously.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by Tyryztoll

Right. I’ll have to research those laws... I know TX has no state income tax, but not sure how they deal with people working there and living out of state. I could deal with it as a wash if I just had to pay OK taxes, that would surely still leave us pretty well off on a TX salary. As I said, we would prefer to live in OK to take advantage of TEFRA insurance for our daughter if she qualified. Texas has nothing like that as we found out living there previously.

I've been in that position (working in Texas and maintaining domicile in Oklahoma). Oklahoma will charge you income tax on your Texas earnings. But the property tax, general expense for property, and some other things in Durant will be lower than Texas. You can also defray some costs by buying some items in Texas (groceries etc) and haul them across the border.

All in all though, I don't think Texas has a town exactly like Durant in it's Dallas sphere (small state college town-non suburb). I think it would be a good choice if the TEFRA insurance thing works for you and it is that high on your priority list.

I also wanted to say that Durant's got a really good hospital for a small town. It functions somewhat as a regional hospital for the area and I think it is a lot better than what you might expect for a community it's size.

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

I've been in that position (working in Texas and maintaining domicile in Oklahoma). Oklahoma will charge you income tax on your Texas earnings. But the property tax, general expense for property, and some other things in Durant will be lower than Texas. You can also defray some costs by buying some items in Texas (groceries etc) and haul them across the border.

All in all though, I don't think Texas has a town exactly like Durant in it's Dallas sphere (small state college town-non suburb). I think it would be a good choice if the TEFRA insurance thing works for you and it is that high on your priority list.

I also wanted to say that Durant's got a really good hospital for a small town. It functions somewhat as a regional hospital for the area and I think it is a lot better than what you might expect for a community it's size.

Intriguing. Eddie, what role does Choctaw Nation play in the government there? Not really up to speed on that angle of the area. I'm assuming the Durant city govt and the Nation are separate entities, but is it completely separate or do they combine forces in any way in terms of policy and procedures? This is really a question that pertains to all of Oklahoma as well......I read that the Supreme Court recently declared all of eastern OK Indian territory for some legal purpose?

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by Tyryztoll

Intriguing. Eddie, what role does Choctaw Nation play in the government there? Not really up to speed on that angle of the area. I'm assuming the Durant city govt and the Nation are separate entities, but is it completely separate or do they combine forces in any way in terms of policy and procedures? This is really a question that pertains to all of Oklahoma as well......I read that the Supreme Court recently declared all of eastern OK Indian territory for some legal purpose?

The Choctaw Nation's main function is as an economic driver (relative to non Choctaw people). The tribes are able to generate businesses that provide jobs because they function more like a corporation in terms of the businesses they can set up and run..

For instance, all these casinos are financed by tribal money that goes way beyond what a citizen could do if it was legal for them to own a casino. This is true of the other tribal businesses as well. They provide jobs for non Indians that would never exist in a place like Durant if the tribe didn't exist. The casinos and some of the businesses also draw out of state money to the area.

As for the Supreme court ruling. That basically is going to affect jurisdiction for criminal cases. Tribal authorities are going to have more say so in law enforcement. I'm not sure what else it will entail but that is the main thing.

I might mention also that Durant is located in a really good spot as far as outdoor recreation activities. Aside from Dallas you've got some really nice lakes, some pretty good golf courses (tribal and state owned) that don't require country club membership. You aren't far from the Arbuckle mountains and the Ouachita mountains that have some activities. And of course Southeastern State University has some community activities. I've watched some basketball games down there. They have a really nice arena for a small school which they can use for other activities as well.

[Johnhw2]

Choctaw moved there HQ to Durant long ago but long after I grew up there. The tribe is a very cooperative group with the city and gave provided many things to the community. They got pretty liberal casino and liquor laws as a result at least by Oklahoma standards.

My house in Plano is 84 Mike's from my family living in Durant. Ok is double that distance from Durant with poorer highways than us 75 to Dallas. Tuksa us 200 miles away. Durant us more influenced by DFW as a result and in fact had many businesses located there but to have DFW access.

It is a nice town for a family. My mom of 97 lives there and my sister raised 5 kids there who are off to NYC. OKC and Denison for work. Durant is part if the combined DFW msa as a result if all the business between them.

Lots of top entertainment at the casino and the college is pretty good too. Reba sang while in college there and Dennis rodman played college basketball there. I'm biased but it's a very good smaller town to live. In fact it's the fastest non OKC or Tulsa metro county in growth rate. it's a bigger city than it's numbers. My brother in law works to do anesthesa for operations.

Choctaw has a 300k SF building with medical fir tribe me need and it's near the casino which is doubling in size again. The road to DFW is being improved to bypass camera which is the subject of this thread and will be a huge help especially safety wise with a the big trucks taking recycled are to DFW and bringing scrape metal to be melted and recycled. It's a big plant that was pursued by 25 cities in 5 states but selected Durant to build there half a billion mini mill.