In the last step required before it can determine a maximum tax rate to propose on a ballot for incorporation, The Woodlands Township board of directors decided on a law enforcement model at its Jan. 15 meeting.
The board has put together the building blocks for a possible city over the past year, choosing various scenarios presented by The Novak Consulting Group in its efforts to create a financial model and a maximum initial tax rate to propose to voters.
If a ballot initiative for incorporation is put forward in November, a majority of The Woodlands Township voters could decide whether the special-purpose district with a population of more than 117,000 becomes a city.
The law enforcement model was the last piece of the puzzle for the board to decide on, and three options were presented in 2019. One, the most potentially expensive, would involve creating a new, full-service police department from scratch. Another would keep the current model of contracting with county law enforcement services. The board chose the middle road—a hybrid of the full-service and contract models—but it also chose to go with the financial assumptions for debt service that would have been included in the full-service model.
