Incentive initiatives getting a new look
HUTTO — Businesses in the historic heart of the city may soon shine a little brighter thanks to updates on three incentive programs.
The programs — relief through a property-tax rebate, a historic-preservation tax freeze and a facadeimprovement program — have not been revisited in many decades and became hard to implement, officials said.
In other developments, the City Council during its Thursday meeting considered how to fund the new police facility and postponed a decision affecting a proposed development. Meanwhile, the council gave staff directions to clarify the downtown-based incentive programs so they would be easier to launch and have more impact.
“It leaves a lot to be desired. It refers to applications that don’t exist,” Economic Director Cheney Gamboa told the council at the Dec. 4 meeting. “It refers to evaluation criteria that doesn’t exist or maybe that represents positions that we don’t have any longer in the city. There’s just a lot of cleanup that needs to be done...to actually implement these incentives.”
Gamboa said the city will get input from the Downtown Hutto Business Association on reworking the outdated incentive programs.
At its quarterly report to the council in November, business association representative Gracie Matthews said downtown merchants wanted to revitalize but found it difficult to use the incentive programs. “We are asking for a clear path forward of how we access and apply for these incentives,” Matthews said in
November. The programs apply to businesses within the city’s downtown district overlay.
In some cases the incentives required a large investment from the property owner, and in others the programs could be investing money in cosmetic improvements on structurally unsound buildings, officials said.
The boundaries of the downtown district have also changed since the programs were written.
While Gamboa said she could present revisions to the city at the Dec. 18 meeting, council members decided to completely rewrite the ordinances to make them more accessible for businesses.
The first draft of the reworked ordinances will be presented in January.
“We need to put more money into the program. We need to work to make sure the quality is long-lasting and then we need to be prepared for a significant investment,” Mayor Mike Snyder said.
In other news, council members expect the estimated $50 million in funding needed to build a proposed new police facility will go before voters in 2026. City leaders met with designers and engineers to discuss the blueprints.
The funding would cover the first phase, which would be the majority of the buildout. Additional phases would potentially include specialized evidence- storage facilities and carports to protect police vehicles.
In addition, the council moved a decision on the Stromberg development’s public improvement district petition to the Dec. 18 meeting.
In November, the 372-acre project took a step forward with an agreement for the city to temporarily provide water until the Jonah Water Special Utility District could expand its water system to the property, which spreads along CR 134 and FM 3349.
On Thursday, amid concerns from the city engineer that planned community amenities were not rising to the level expected, members on the dais decided to step back and allow the applicant and city staff to clear up issues about the PID boundaries and the engineer’s concerns.
The project will be annexed into the city and is expected to pay Hutto a $7.9 million benefit fee and add $2.7 million in property taxes to the general fund.
The development will also pay more than $10.8 million in property taxes to Hutto Independent School District.
The green outline designates the downtown district, as shown on the city’s website.
Courtesy of Hutto
