Dog's Head Infrastructure

[Colleen Pate]

Council Members:

As we consider the use of Tax Increment Financing in order to build needed city infrastructure in the Dog’s Head area, we thought we would share a couple of thoughts.

Our professional financial staff is working with the developer about the creation of the TIF (the funding mechanism) and the Tax Increment Financing Zone (TIRZ), which is where the infrastructure would be built and where the financing would come from through the incremental growth in the tax base. Those discussions are ongoing and we’re waiting to see the results. We aren’t going to prejudge the work being done, except to say we remain committed to the city being in the black even as funds are also used to build infrastructure. In other words, we continue to want the city to start seeing revenue as there is incremental growth in the tax base and that the revenue is sustained over time.

We would like to also recommend consideration of two items as part of the financial process. Our overall aim is to set aside TIF money to fund affordable housing and environmental improvements.

Specifically, we’re asking that consideration be given to protecting undeveloped riparian areas and support a contiguous greenspace and wildlife protection zone along the Colorado River, consistent with the Colorado River Corridor plan. Additionally, we would like there to be analysis of an appropriate set aside of money for parkland in the TIRZ and an appropriate set aside of money for affordable housing outside of the TIRZ. Other Texas cities, including Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston, have set aside specific percentages of TIRZ funds for affordable housing and we’d like to see a substantial commitment here.

As the discussions led by our professional financial staff progress and we get more information, these thoughts and ideas can be better defined. But we wanted to get them out there so that they could be discussed and incorporated in the negotiations.

Thanks,

Kirk Watson
Michael Siegel
José “Chito” Vela
José Velásquez


P.S. Here are a couple of helpful resources:

Colorado River Corridor Plan
https://www.traviscountytx.gov/tnr/crcp
Advocate Toolbox for Tax Increment Financing
https://law.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploa ... andout.pdf

On behalf of Mayor Watson