The Ballot

My second project was putting together the ballot language for a tax freeze for the downtown area to assist in revitalization.  

The 2009 Texas Legislature passed a bill amending the Texas Tax Code to allow cities with a population of less than 10,000 to let their citizens vote to permit the city to enter into an agreement with property owners in downtown revitalization areas to freeze all ad valorem taxes for a period of five years.  After reading the enabling legislation, then bill analysis, the fiscal impact report, and the original constitutional amendment authorizing the legislation, I began drafting the ballot.  I also talked to the Nocona City Secretary and she told me that since this would be put to a vote in a special election, that it required an ordinance for the city council to pass.  So I also drafted an ordinance calling for the special election.  

Finally, I wrote a resolution that the city council can pass after the voters approve the ballot establishing that the requisite vote had been obtained and enabling the city to enter into the agreements with the property owners.  I also began drafting a possible agreement between the city and the property owner, as well as an application that the property owner will have to fill out before entering into the agreement and receiving the tax freeze on their property. 

This ballot is very important for a town like Nocona because it freezes the ad valorem property taxes for five years.  This allows a property owner to invest in their property by remodeling or with new construction, and to recuperate some of the costs during the five-year period before seeing the corresponding rise in their property taxes as a result of the property’s improvements. 

However, the ballot has two problems.  First, it is still just a ballot.  We don’t know if the voters will approve it or not.  Second, a condition put forth in the enabling legislation states that the area eligible for this tax freeze must be approved for funding under the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Downtown Revitalization Program or the Main Street Program.  While Nocona plans to apply for the Downtown Revitalization Program, there is no guarantee that we will be accepted to the program, especially before the election.  This could destroy all of our hard work to push through the enabling legislation, and my hard work on the ballot and corresponding ordinance and resolution.