Sherman's growth brings costly water and sewer work

Sherman's growth calls for major new water and sewer capacity. The city's project inventory estimates that expanding the Post Oak wastewater facilities will cost roughly $290 million. At the Mayor's Economic Development Roundtable on Sept. 17, 2024, city leaders described that growth and the expansion they expected next.

A State of the City presentation on current development and future plans was the main part of the program, according to a recap shared by Mayor David Plyler. The Sherman Economic Development Corporation's event announcement named City Manager Robby Hefton and SEDCO President Kent Sharp as presenters. The announcement also listed Ross Perot Jr. as a speaker on economic growth and development.

The roundtable was not new. The governor's office reported that Gov. Greg Abbott joined Plyler and state Rep. Reggie Smith at the second annual roundtable on Sept. 19, 2023. Infrastructure and workforce preparation were among the topics.

Much of the current growth traces back to November 2021. That month, Texas Instruments announced plans for a semiconductor campus in Sherman. The company said its first new factory there, SM1, began production on Dec. 17, 2025. TI said the plant will raise production as customer demand grows, and that market demand will decide when it builds and equips more factories. The company now describes the campus as a potential $40 billion investment in up to four connected factories. That amount is for a full buildout, not money already spent. In December 2024, the U.S. Commerce Department awarded TI federal incentives for factories in Texas and Utah. The department said TI gets paid only as it completes project milestones.

Some investment has already been made. SEDCO's September 2025 joint-meeting minutes reported that GlobalWafers had invested more than $2.5 billion and added 190 jobs. According to the minutes, SEDCO confirmed that the company had met the terms of its agreement and then paid the first incentive installment.

The city's inventory also lists about $20.3 million for nearly 14 miles of 36-inch water transmission main. Sherman labels these costs as estimates, not final figures. The city's fiscal 2025 budget added permanent full-time jobs in water and wastewater, engineering, permitting and police. In March 2025, SEDCO's board voted unanimously for an agreement with the city to pay for extensions of Progress Drive and Interurban Parkway. The agreement also covers a new north-south road in Progress Park VI.

Some numbers went down. SEDCO's Aug. 19, 2025, minutes counted more utility customers than a year earlier, but July sales-tax receipts were well below July 2024. The minutes also said Grayson County had eight months of housing inventory by June.

Sherman is the Grayson County seat. Census Bureau estimates put Sherman's population at more than 52,000 in July 2025, about a fifth more than its adjusted 2020 base. Neighboring Denison grew at less than half that rate. The bureau has reported that much of the growth is at the outer edges of metro areas. Five cities on the outer edge of Dallas-Fort Worth more than doubled their populations from 2020 to 2025. In Cooke County, Gainesville's estimated population grew about 7% over the same period, to roughly 18,500.