Nearly all of Fort Bend County’s portion—$50 million—of the roughly $150 million Westpark Toll Road extension project that runs from Katy west into Fulshear is being paid for through a county assistant district, a revenue-generating tool not prevalent in many Texas counties.
“And that’s the first time that’s been done in the state of Texas,” Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers said. “It’s very unique.”
Fort Bend County was the first county in the state of Texas to establish county assistant districts, according to Meyers. County assistant districts, also known as CADs, are growing in Fort Bend because they serve as a special district created by the county under the Texas Legislature that can help generate revenue for infrastructure and road improvements within an area.
Fort Bend County now has 10 CADs, six of which are located in Precinct 3. Meyers said he estimates the CADs have generated millions in revenue for projects in the precinct, which covers parts of Katy.
Under Local Government Code 387, CADs give the county authority to issue a voluntary sales tax in the proposed district area, as long as that tax does not exceed a maximum of 8.25 cents.
The purpose of a CAD is to allow unincorporated areas to capture the voluntary
2 cent sales tax on commercial businesses that could help generate revenue to pay for infrastructure projects.
“The primary reason we created the county assistant district[s] was to keep the sales tax revenue in Fort Bend County,” Meyers said. “Because it is currently being collected, all of it … by the city of Houston or a developer and spent for their benefit.”
The city of Houston collects $15 million a year in sales tax revenue through various strategic partnership agreements with local municipal utility districts that allow the city to levy its sales tax in the unincorporated areas of Fort Bend County, Meyers said.
Meyers said next legislative session, he plans on revisiting legislation he introduced in 2015 that requires the city of Houston to spend at least 50 percent of the sales tax money collected in Fort Bend County in Fort Bend County.
A CAD can also initiate a use-tax to generate revenue. Meyers said he and Fort Bend County Precinct 1 Commissioner Vincent Morales Jr. are working on structuring a deal that would allow the county to collect a use-tax on all of the taxable material and services that go into the construction of new developments in a CAD.
Morales said implementing this tax is critical for western areas of the county to give back to the communities that are being developed there.
“For example, a lot of your builders—I will guarantee you they are buying that material from some larger lumber yard in Houston and guess who’s getting that sales tax? Houston. It’s not being reinvested in the community that they are developing in,” Morales said.
Meyers said CAD legislation has been in the pipeline since 2007, when local officials became aware of the inequity problem occurring between the city of Houston, developers and taxpayers.
Meyers said he is also working on new legislation that would eliminate Houston’s ability to object to the creation of a CAD. Meyers said he is in negotiations with the city after officials objected to a CAD that was established in Houston’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.
Morales said he sees CADs as a tool for future growth and has multiple new ones planned for his precinct.
“I know already from interest of industrial distribution that is looking in west Fort Bend County...the job creation, the commercial base is going to increase,” Morales said. “All of a sudden we are going to have this industry and this distribution coming in that is going to be able to help invest in the community that they are getting ready to develop here.”
