Local lawmakers passed several bills this session that affect Montgomery County residents, but the Legislature will return for a special session July 18 to address sunset legislation and 19 other high-priority bills outlined by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Abbott called for a special session June 6 after the regular Legislative session ended May 29 without addressing some of the governor’s top priorities—including Senate Bill 2, co-authored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, which aims to reform the property tax system.
“A special session was entirely avoidable, and there was plenty of time for the Legislature to forge compromises to avoid the time and taxpayer expense of a special session,” Abbott said in a statement. “As governor, if I am going to call a special session, I intend to make it count.”
While tax reform and other issues remain unsolved, local legislators did pass several bills during the regular session, including changes to the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District board of directors—which oversee groundwater policy in the county—and the creation of several new municipal utility districts.
Property tax relief
Creighton said he supports the special session and hopes to pass SB 2 to provide property tax relief for Montgomery County residents.
“I was the first legislator out of 181 legislators in the Capitol to ask Gov. Abbott to call a special session on property tax reform,” Creighton said. “We passed that bill in the Senate, and we delivered on what Montgomery County taxpayers deserve. The House [of Representatives] killed it and chose not to advance it.”
The original SB 2, as passed by the Senate, included provisions that would automatically trigger an election process if a taxing entity plans to collect 5 percent or more in property taxes over the previous year. The House removed the provision but added language that would allow voters to petition for an election if revenue increased by 8 percent or more.
However, the bill never made it out of the House and was left waiting to be scheduled for a vote when the session ended.
Creighton said the bill has been difficult to pass because lawmakers are divided between providing property tax relief for residents in fast-growth communities and allowing local governments with slow economic growth to earn increasing amounts of revenue as property valuations grow.
“Out of 254 counties in the state, there are about 20-25 counties that have massive economic growth, [including Montgomery County],” Creighton said. “Well, if you take the senators and representatives that represent 230 out of 254 counties, and they are hearing from their local government not to pass it, then sometimes you are short on votes.”
Conroe Mayor Toby Powell, who ran for election on a platform to reduce the Conroe property tax rate, said he supports efforts to provide property tax relief to residents and is not concerned about its effect on the city budget. He said the majority of the city’s revenue comes from annual sales tax levies.
“It takes money to operate a city, but where do we try to draw the line?” Powell said. “I think [the legislation] can be a good thing for the citizens. I think there are cities and places that abuse the privilege of taxing and raise the tax rates, but this is not coming from Conroe, Texas.”
However, Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal said counties that do not levy sales taxes, like Montgomery County, could be adversely affected by the legislation—adding that the majority of the issue relates to school funding.
“Capping our revenue in a rapidly growing county puts us in a real tough spot,” Doyal said. “The county makes a sixth of the total tax bill. It’s the school districts and the state’s failure to fund education and forcing a lot of that funding for school districts to come from property taxes.”
LSGCD Board of Directors
During the regular legislative session, lawmakers approved a variety of items that directly affect Montgomery County residents—such as House Bill 1982, which will convert the appointed LSGCD board of directors into a board composed of elected officials.
Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, said the change will give Montgomery County residents a voice in groundwater regulations—which have been contested by the cities of Conroe and Magnolia as well as a handful of private utility providers in a lawsuit filed against the LSGCD in 2015.
“These special appointees are making rules and regulations that affect every citizen in Montgomery County, but not every citizen in Montgomery County had a choice on who their representative was,” Metcalf said. “This will give our citizens a voice, and it will keep special interests out of the board.”
The first elections will take place in November 2018. Once elected, the new board members will have a say in the future of Montgomery County groundwater policy, LSGCD General Manager Kathy Turner Jones said. She said the current board is working to complete a scientific study about the effect groundwater regulations are having on the Gulf Coast Aquifer System and if caps on groundwater use will be adjusted.
“A lot of the process moving forward is amending that [Desired Future Conditions], and that new board of directors will be involved in that,” she said. “A lot of that push [by local governments] to change the DFCs, this is where it is going to happen.”
New MUDs created
Local legislators also cleared the way for three new MUDs to be created in the Conroe area.
HBs 4306 and 4305, authored by Metcalf and sponsored by Creighton in the Senate, created two new MUDs—MUDs No. 100 and 101—that will serve a development in the northern portion of the Conroe extraterritorial jurisdiction and Willis. The legislators also pushed
HB 2134 through the Legislature to create the Trinity Lakes MUD, which will serve a development on FM 2432.
Citing the success of communities built within special districts, like
The Woodlands Township, Creighton said creating the MUDs helps developers implement a master plan for their communities that drive economic growth in the region.
“[Special districts] around Montgomery County have become some of the most successful economic development in the nation by using MUDs to foster that residential development,” Creighton said.
Metcalf also authored bills that address concerns about MUDs, including HB 2354, which codifies rules from the attorney general’s office regarding MUD elections. The bill passed through the legislature and makes it so a person who is voting in MUD district elections cannot be related to the developer, cannot be compensated for his or her votes and cannot be married to the developer.
“It was necessary to make sure that all of these elections are decided in the right way,” Metcalf said. “I think it’s a very good bill that helps codify the rules that the attorney general has.”
