Editor: Shannon Cottongame
August 31, 2023
The Hill County Commissioners Court approved tax abatement agreements for two solar projects and created reinvestment zones that will allow the county to consider two more agreements with solar companies at a meeting held Tuesday, August 22.
The votes were not unanimous, as Precinct 1 Commissioner Jim Holcomb voted against all of the proposals, and Precinct 3 Commissioner Scotty Hawkins voted against one of the reinvestment zones.
As the projects have steadily come before the court, County Judge Justin Lewis has repeatedly said that he cannot find any authority that the county has to ban the projects and he doesn’t want to tell landowners what to do with their land. The best the county can do, the judge has said, is to bring the companies to the table with a tax abatement agreement, contractually obligating them to repair any damage caused to county roads and allowing the county to add other requirements, such as setbacks and barriers for neighboring landowners.
Texas Acting Attorney General Angela Colmenero issued an opinion Wednesday, August 16, backing up that assessment, stating that Texas law does not give county governments the authority to ban solar farms. Franklin County asked for an opinion on the matter after it tried to implement a ban at the request of residents.
The two tax abatement agreements before the court Tuesday were with Leitsol Solar, a project involving about 1,100 acres west of Hillsboro on the south side of Highway 22, and Midpoint Solar, involving about 640 acres in the northwestern portion of the county between Covington and Blum.
Leitsol is planning a capital investment of around $125 million in the county, and the Midpoint project’s investment is expected to be about $140 million.
No citizens were in attendance to voice opposition or support during public hearings held on the tax abatement proposals.
The agreements, which allow the companies a partial abatement on their county taxes for 10 years, were approved with Holcomb the lone no vote on each proposal.
A public hearing was held on the creation of a reinvestment zone for OCI Hillsboro Solar, which would encompass roughly 1,300 acres in eastern Hill County within the Bynum Independent School District. The company is planning a capital investment of $320 million in the county. Declaring an area a reinvestment zone is the first step that must be taken before the court can enter into a tax abatement agreement with a company operating in the designated zone.
A representative of the company told the court that it is based in San Antonio and has a solar panel manufacturing plant. He said that there is a good chance that the panels used on the Hill County project will be made in San Antonio.
Judge Lewis presented several questions he had received from residents to the company, including what happens to a solar panel at the end of its natural life and what the company’s plans are to control grass and weeds, which could be a fire hazard.
The representative said that 80-85% of the material in a solar panel is recyclable, and he said that the company utilizes livestock grazing and mowing to keep its areas maintained.
Deputy Constable Kyle Cox spoke during the public hearing, saying that he was in the courthouse and happened to see the issue on the agenda and noticed it was in his area.
Cox said that he is opposed to the project, and he questioned how the notice was issued, saying that he found it odd that no other residents were there to comment during the public hearing. Lewis said that it was printed in the newspaper and published in the agenda as legally required.
As the court considered a vote on the reinvestment zone, Lewis said that any concerns residents have can still be negotiated in final agreements before the abatement is approved.
“In a close-knit community we have to work together,” he said. “Again, I’m not asking these folks to come here. They’re coming here whether I like it or not, and I can either play ball and protect the citizens of Hill County or we can let this go unmodified and then we live at the mercy of that decision.”
Lewis said that it had been brought to his attention that some property owners had concerns about their names being listed in the published reinvestment zone notices. “I just want to point out that just because someone’s property is listed here, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve entered into some kind of development agreement with a solar farm,” the judge said. An addition was made to the publication to clarify that reinvestment zones must be contiguous, and all parcels must be listed regardless of how much of the parcel is used. For example, in the case of the OCI notice, one listed parcel is just an easement to connect two other parcels.
The proposal to create the reinvestment zone passed, with Holcomb and Hawkins voting against the motion. The court also approved the basic form of a tax abatement agreement, if granted, and voted to post notice of a public hearing on Tuesday, September 26 prior to final approval of a tax abatement agreement. Both Holcomb and Hawkins also voted against these motions.
The other reinvestment zone the court considered involves about 800 acres near Woodbury in the Hillsboro Independent School District and is being proposed by Three W Solar. The company is planning a capital investment of $132 million. There were no public comments, and the court voted to create the reinvestment zone with Holcomb voting against the proposal. The proposed form of a possible tax abatement agreement was also approved with Holcomb abstaining, and the court unanimously voted to publish notice of a public hearing on the agreement, which will be held Tuesday, September 26.
In other matters, the court voted to purchase a vehicle for Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator/Radio Administrator Chris Jackson. The county previously had a trailer from the Heart of Texas Council of Governments (HOTCOG) that it could take to fires and other large operations, but without a vehicle to pull it, the county gave it back. HOTCOG has offered the trailer to the county again, and the court’s action will allow the department to buy a truck to pull it. His current Chevy Tahoe will be sold to a Bosque County school district.
The court will also advertise for bids to obtain vehicles for constables in precincts 2 and 3.
Annual interlocal agreements were also approved with HOTCOG for 9-1-1 database maintenance and answering point services.
Commissioners voted to renew the county’s agreement with The Retail Coach for retail recruitment efforts in the county. The county and the City of Hillsboro jointly fund the effort, and the county’s portion comes out of its economic development fund, which can only be used for economic development efforts. The county’s portion will be $13,750.
Judge Lewis said that The Retail Coach has been working throughout the county. “I think a year from now we’re going to be sitting here really amazed at some of the things we’re going to see coming out of this,” the judge said.
Communication systems agreements were approved with four more entities that allow them to access the county’s new public safety radio system. Agreements were approved with West ISD police, Covington ISD, Bynum Volunteer Fire Department and Blum ISD.
Commissioners ended the meeting with a budget workshop and continued discussing the payroll recommendations from Evergreen Solutions, which the county hired to determine what its pay scale should look like based on job descriptions and market comparisons.
The county will need to work close to a 17% increase in its pay into the budget for the coming fiscal year to get the pay scale competitive, which Lewis has said is needed to recruit and retain employees as the county’s pay lags behind other areas.
Evergreen representatives said that the pay grades provided were based on job assessments and a market survey of other counties and cities in the area. While the company did not recommend that any employee’s salary be decreased, it was suggested that some remain at their current pay based on these factors, while large increases were suggested for others.
Several county employees spoke during the meeting and questioned the proposals, saying that they didn’t understand the justification for some of the recommendations. In the sheriff’s office, for instance, a supervisor was proposed to make less than the employees that position supervises.
County Treasurer Rachel Parker said that one reason for some of the numbers was a lack of response to the Evergreen survey, or employees not filling out the survey thoroughly.
The response rate was about 70%, and she said that not having this information completed fully or accurately created issues with comparing jobs to the market.
Lewis said that he has posed all of his questions for Evergreen to the treasurer to be forwarded to the company, and he encouraged others with questions to do the same prior to the court adopting the plan.
While there is still time to work on the pay plan, the court had to propose elected officials’ salaries at the meeting in order to publish the proposal in the newspaper in a timely manner as required by law.
This led to a difficult conversation in which the judge and commissioners had to propose their own salaries, which included hefty raises based on the Evergreen recommendations.
Commissioners’ pay was recommended to increase around $12,000, and the county judge’s recommended increase was about $32,000. Other proposed increases for elected officials were around $18,000 for the sheriff; $13,000 for the district clerk, county clerk, county treasurer and tax assessor; $8,000 for justices of the peace; $5,000 for constables and $4,000 for the county attorney.
The Evergreen representative told the court that the proposals are competitive with the market and said that it is important that they are followed to ensure the county doesn’t continue to fall behind the market further in the coming years.
“I’ve never done anything like this in all these years, and I’m afraid to do this,” Lewis said. “It’s kept me up at night for over a week.”
Precinct 2 Commissioner Larry Crumpton and Holcomb both said that they felt their proposed increases were too much, but the court received comments from other officials and department heads in the room who pointed out that the issue was not just about them, but about anyone who might want to seek the offices in the future. Several members of the audience also questioned what good it was to ask a company for recommendations and pay for the service if it is not followed.
Lewis said that he had asked a lot of questions about the proposal, which involves a lot of money. “I don’t think it’s the wrong thing to do,” he said. “I think it will be an unpopular thing to do. I understand how it’s going to look, and I understand the thrashing I’m going to take.”
Ultimately, the court unanimously voted to approve the proposed elected officials’ salaries as presented by Evergreen.
Lewis asked the court to continue looking through the proposed budget leading up to its final adoption. The court is meeting weekly this month as the budget is finalized prior to its adoption.
The Lakelander 