Hutto officials passed measures in June designed to encourage downtown property owners to invest in their homes and businesses and retain what Historic Preservation Commission Chairman Ray Alba calls “the Old Town flair.”

City Council approved two programs June 16 and is considering a third that offer businesses and homeowners in the Hutto Historic District tax rebates or grants for increasing the value of their properties or restoring historic elements.

“We’re trying to not go to the wayside like some of the small towns in Central Texas who modernize and maybe have [just] one piece of their history alive,” Alba said. “We want to make it inviting for businesses to come in. ... Overall we want to keep that Old Town feel of the late 1800s.”

The commission unanimously recommended the three Historic District incentive programs, said Wallis Meshier, a senior planner with the city and staff liaison to the commission.

The third program, which is undergoing revisions before it goes to council for a final vote, would offer matching grants to residential or commercial property owners who improve the exteriors of their buildings through projects such as restoring original wood-framed windows, repointing brick or installing historically appropriate signage.

“We all sort of have some of the same projects in mind,” Meshier said. “There are property owners and [potential] applicants who have already expressed interest … and are excited to apply as soon as possible.”

Josh Richards, who owns the building that houses the Downtown Hall of Fame in Hutto, said he prioritizes the upkeep and historic preservation of his building and believes the new incentive programs will encourage other downtown property owners to do the same. Richards said he recently restored half of the wood-framed windows on the Hall of Fame building and is planning to update the rest.

“That has to be done by hand. … They’re 100-year-old-plus original windows,” he said. “Those old buildings, they’ve got character. People can go and enjoy them; it’s not like a strip mall.”

The first two programs, passed June 16, provide additional incentives for downtown residential and commercial property owners to upgrade their buildings.

Commercial property owners who increase the values of their properties by 20 percent or more are now eligible for a refund of the additional taxes caused by the property value increase. Eligible property owners can receive a two-year tax rebate of 100 percent of the additional taxes followed by a three-year rebate of 80 percent, Development Director Helen Ramirez said.

Previously, owners were eligible for such a rebate after increasing their property value by 50 percent or more, which was typically only the case with new construction, Ramirez said.

“It was a very high threshold,” she said. “The thought process was, ‘Let’s have more businesses become eligible for that.’”

Another initiative allows owners of designated historic homes who undertake substantial renovations, such as foundation repairs or the installation of a new roof, to be eligible to have their municipal property taxes frozen at the pre-renovation payment for five years. For example, a property owner who paid $1,500 in property taxes in fiscal year 2015-16 would pay the same amount through FY 2021-22 even though building improvements increased the assessed value.

Hutto Downtown Manager Kim McAuliffe said she hopes downtown property owners will view the new programs as tools that can be used in combination with other programs to help bring new life and synergy to the city.

“I like to think of Old Town and downtown as the heart of Hutto,” McAuliffe said. “It’s unique; it’s where Hutto started, so by putting incentives in place to encourage [investment] in those areas we hope we can all work together so that whole area will continue to increase in value and add more to the community.”