Category Archives: Local Governmental Entities
What is a PID?
Texas cities, or local governments, historically use collections from property taxes and sales tax revenues to fund, or provide security for municipal bonds, in order to pay for public improvements. An example of municipally funded public improvements that are crucial to sustain residential development are water and wastewater services. Cities in Texas can pay… Read More »
Tax Rate Scares
The end of September marks two things: (1) the official start of “Spooky Season” and (2) the deadline for certain municipal taxing units to adopt a no-new-revenue tax rate for the current tax year. Under Section 26.05(a) of the Tax Code, the governing body of a taxing unit must adopt a tax rate for… Read More »
Contract Zoning and When It’s Okay
Texas is a very property rights conscious state. For example, we have some of the most robust homestead protections in the nation, contracts involving interests in real property are subject to the statute of frauds, and even the simplified provisions for probating a “small estate” in Texas can apply to real estate having substantial… Read More »
Disclosures and Annexation
Annexation laws in Texas have been an ever-evolving landscape over the past few years, and the 2021 legislative session has provided additional changes once again. Effective September 1, 2021, cities must provide a number of written disclosures to property owners prior to entering into an annexation agreement. Following the legislative overhaul of Texas annexation… Read More »
Natural Disasters and the PIA
On September 1, 2021, more than 600 new laws in Texas went into effect from the legislative session and the emergency sessions called by the governor. These laws range from such controversial issues as voting and handguns to more generic issues that municipalities face daily, such as the Texas Public Information Act (PIA), found… Read More »
City Growth through Economic Development
Every city wants to grow, but to grow, you must understand the wheel on which growth occurs. Growth means bringing in more businesses and more businesses attract more consumers, while also providing more jobs. More jobs and consumers mean more people, and more people means more development of homes. For a city, this means… Read More »
Texas Unmanned Aerial Aircraft Device Update
In my last blog on drones in December 2020, I wrote about the federal suit members of the media have brought regarding First Amendment challenges to Texas drone laws, found in Chapter 423 of the Texas Government Code. [National Press Photographers Assoc, et al v. Steven McCraw, Director of DPS] The case is scheduled… Read More »
MSD: What’s in Your Groundwater?
A Municipal Setting Designation (a “MSD”) places a limitation on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (“TCEQ”) requirements for the investigation or remediation of property parcels containing contaminated groundwater, when that groundwater is not used and will not be used as potable water now or in the future, located within a city or a… Read More »
Delayed Census Causes Texas Legislature to Go Back to the Future
The Texas Constitution prohibits the Legislature from passing any local or special law regulating the affairs of counties, cities, towns, wards, or school districts. Necessity being the mother of invention, when the Legislature desires to regulate, in effect, a specific county, city, town, ward, or school district, it passes a general law with bracketed… Read More »
City Contracts and State Statutes
In a previous blog post, this firm addressed some instances of first amendment issues implicated by state laws. Particularly of note, was a state statute which prevented Cities from contracting with companies who take a particular political stance. As a brief recap, in 2017, the Texas legislature passed H.B. 89 which provided that a… Read More »