A bill proposed in the Texas Legislature would make it easier for TexAmericas Center to attract new businesses to the region.
Senate Bill 579, sponsored by local Sen. Bryan Hughes, would exempt businesses that lease TexAmericas land from paying property taxes. The measure is meant to make TexAmericas competitive with most other redevelopment authorities in the state, which already offer the tax exemption because they operate under different laws.
The entities that assess property taxes in the TexAmericas footprint-Bowie County, Texarkana College, and the New Boston, Hooks, Leary, Redwater and Maud school districts-would not go unpaid.
TexAmericas leases would require an annual payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, less than assessed property tax, which TexAmericas would distribute to the appropriate taxing entities.
That means in effect, the new legislation would allow TexAmericas to offer a property tax discount to businesses that lease there.
"When a company rents property from us, right now they have to pay real property tax. What this does is it removes that tax burden on a company when they lease property. If they were to buy property, they would still be responsible for the real property tax," said Scott Norton, TexAmericas executive and CEO, in an interview Thursday.
Formed in 1997, TexAmericas was one of the first redevelopment authorities created by Texas statute and tasked with replacing economic activity that had been lost when military bases shrunk or closed. It controls property once part of Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant and Red River Army Depot in Bowie County.
"We've taken former military property, and we're in the process of doing the environmental characterization and cleanup of the footprint. At the same time we're marketing the property to bring businesses to the footprint to replace the jobs that were lost to this community as a result of the (Base Realignment and Closure) action," Norton said.
A different statute in 1999 created most other redevelopment authorities in the state, allowing them the property tax exemption TexAmericas now seeks.
"We're pretty much in line with all the other authorities in the state, but this is one (issue) that's kind of been an outlier," Norton said.
TexAmericas has compensated by asking taxing entities for abatements, which the proposed bill would make automatic, simplifying the process.
TexAmericas' requested PILOT would be negotiable.
"We're targeting 90 percent of the value they would normally pay. So we'd originally give them a 10 percent discount, but if it's a new company coming into the footprint that would create lots of jobs and lots of capital investment, then we would work with them to negotiate that percentage down on the real estate piece.
"They'll still pay the other taxes, but on the real estate piece we'll be able to negotiate that down. And we still work with the school districts and the county and the college on that and involve them in that process," Norton said.
TexAmericas is asking the taxing entities involved to submit resolutions of support for the proposed legislation. Texas Rep. Gary VanDeaver is expected to sponsor a sister bill identical to Hughes' in the House.