Editor: Shannon Cottongame
July 13, 2023
The Hill County Commissioners Court met in a regular session Tuesday, June 27, and approved the creation of a reinvestment zone for a solar project after a public hearing during which there were no comments.
Designation of property as a reinvestment zone is a step that must be taken before a tax abatement agreement can be considered.
The project being planned by Leitsol, LLC involves about 950 acres west of Hillsboro near Peoria off of Highway 22. The company reported that only about 500 acres of that will contain equipment, with a large portion set aside for landscape buffers like trees and vegetative fencing and farmland.
The company’s planned investment in the area is $125 million, and the project is located in the Hillsboro Independent School District, which would benefit from a significant property tax revenue increase with the Chapter 313 program expiring.
Commissioners also approved the proposed form of a tax abatement agreement with the company, although the actual incentive will be considered for approval at a future meeting after the county provides the required notice of its intention to enter into an agreement to other taxing entities and the public.
Mike Dixon, the county’s economic development counsel, told the court that the proposed agreement is the first to include the stricter road requirements that must be met by the solar company. The company must agree to performance bonds, using certain designated roads and repairing any damage to roads and bridges.
The proposed agreement would provide the company a 10-year abatement on county taxes, starting at 55% in year one with the amount decreasing steadily down to a 10% abatement in the final year. The county does not negotiate on the FM lateral portion of the tax rate, which funds roads and bridges, so the company would pay the full amount due to the county on that side of the rate.
In other action, the court approved communication system agreements with several additional fire departments, giving them access to the county’s new radio system. They included Mount Calm, Woodbury, Itasca, Lakeview and White Bluff VFDs.
A communications tower lease agreement with Oncor was also approved by the court. Earlier this year, commissioners discussed radio coverage issues in the Blum area and approved adding the county’s radio equipment to Oncor’s existing tower just west of Blum. The decision was made after considering the expense and length of time it would take for the county to construct its own tower.
The approved lease agreement included no major changes from the proposal discussed previously and includes a $200 monthly fee for leasing the site.
The court observed and recorded the Emergency Services District (ESD) 1 annual financial statements for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022.
According to the documents prepared by CPA William Sanders, the ESD’s assets exceeded its liabilities by $1,259,820 (net position) for the fiscal year reported. The report stated that this compares favorably to the previous year, when assets exceeded liabilities by $1,069,010.
The ESD’s governmental fund reported an ending fund balance of $1,149,204 compared to the prior year’s ending fund balance of $975,174.
Sanders reported that both revenues and expenditures increased slightly, but several expenditures came in under budget, especially capital outlay and fire departments.
A scheduled appointment to the ESD 1 Board of Commissioners was tabled due to the prospective member being unavailable to attend the meeting.
In other business, the county’s 2024 holiday schedule and commissioners court dates were approved by the court.
In open forum, Dustin Ledbetter, who introduced himself as the treasurer and lieutenant of Covington Volunteer Fire Department, spoke to the court with concerns about ESD 1.
Ledbetter said that he does not believe the board has the taxpayers’ best interest in mind, stating that fire departments are regularly left with no money for things like radios that work properly, phone apps to help them respond to calls or repairs to vehicles.
Ledbetter said that the money distributed to fire departments barely covers fuel costs, despite the board “sitting on a large pile of cash.”
“I’ve been with Covington Fire Department for a little over two years and have witnessed many of our neighboring fire departments be severely underfunded,” he said. “As I’ve dug into why that is, it’s become obvious that the ESD 1 Board either does not care about the functionality of the member departments or it is completely under-equipped on how to make decisions on spending the money collected from the citizens of Hill County.”
He also expressed concerns about contract negotiations falling through with some fire departments that are opting not to renew contracts with ESD 1, which he said he believes is due to a lack of leadership from the board.
Ledbetter’s request was for the county to take control of the ESD board and remove current members.
A resident of Waupoo Trail in the Whitney area spoke to the court about several concerns, including road conditions, tree maintenance, loose and stray dogs, drug use and removal of deceased dogs from roadways. The resident said that he understands manpower and tax dollars are limited, but he proposed working together as a community to find innovate solutions to maximize the impact of available resources.
The court’s next regularly scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, July 11, at 8:30 a.m. in the county courtroom of the Hill County Courthouse.
The Lakelander 