Helping Out Our Tax Base

Katy Citizen Watchdog$

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Helping Out Our Tax Base

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Ever since the Humble oil fields in far west Katy were shut down, the Katy citizen fathers have been looking for a way to bring new tax dollars to the Katy area. The need to do so finds impetus in the overburdening property taxing requirements that have grown exponentially on the local citizenry. The idea proffered time and again was that more and newer businesses meant more tax dollars from someone other than individual home owners.

At first the effort was a concern of the Katy City Council, but the school district and the area’s interests expanded over time, just outgrew the capabilities of that governmental body, and a couple of Chambers of Commerce emerged to try to create outside interest in the benefits of the area.

In a bold move, the Katy Chamber of Commerce, chucked its City of Katy mantle and became the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce and won the competition. Although there were some good K OF C leaders along the way, no one seemed able to step out and take the area to the next level of action which would actually bring new but existing corporate business to the area.

During these initial efforts, many of us suggested to, worked with , and prodded our leaders to do something, anything, to create the structure necessary to bring such businesses to our area. As a School Board member, the topic, at my request, was discussed many times. The vision that many of us had was for an organization to step up and do whatever was necessary to bring large corporate business to the area.

When Ann Hodge became the CEO of the KACC, we seemed to have found a good leader, and everyone knows that she has done a good job of focusing the Katy business community. She has certainly made all of us feel good about our area of Houston.

During my term of office on the School Board, I almost always attended the monthly luncheon meetings of the Katy Chamber as one of the school district‘s representatives, and I have fond memories of the many great leaders of that organization and the speakers the Chamber brought for us to hear.

The Katy Chamber has brought together business interests and furthered their common goals. That would seem to be the Chamber's purpose, and they have been successful. But the next step of actually bringing the big corporations to Katy seems not to have been part of their agenda.

I am not sure who is given credit for bringing the Katy Mills Mall to our area. The fact that our School Board relented and gave them a tax abatement for twenty years means that no taxes are forthcoming from this business enterprise during that time. Yes, there were some benefits in the trade-offs, but it remains to be seen if that was a wise decision. While I was on the School Board, Albertson’s requested a tax abatement for their proposed warehouse at the corner of I-10 and Mason Road. Albertson’s tried to play KISD off against another school district that was supposedly courting them. The Board stood firm and refused to give in, and Albertson’s built their warehouse in our district anyway. When Albertson’s folded in the Katy area, the warehouse apparently was sold to someone else. I wonder what would have happened regarding the taxes if the abatement had been granted. Most fiscal conservatives that I know do not believe that tax abatement is good thing.

In the last few years, the area has seen another organization pop up. I was at first encouraged by their presence hoping that finally a group was being created to fulfill my long ago wish for an entrepreneurial group of businessmen who would see the need to bring established businesses to the area. However, I sense that such is not the case. The Katy Area Economic Development Council set itself up with proper financing and membership dues, great goals, and a quality membership list.

My disappointment with KAEDC stems from the fact that I perceive that the original goal of bringing big business to the area has spiraled dismally into nothing more than a group of businessmen trying to create more business for themselves while apparently forgetting about their greater purpose. Perception can be reality. And unfortunately they have seen fit to place their offices at the KISD Arena which does not help their image. Nobody is going to think we are "uptown" if the economic development group for the area is housed in an arena!

Yes, there are hospitals and medical facilities going up all along the Katy Freeway, but they were going to come anyway. As our population ages, medical facilities will proliferate on their own. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe medical facilities are tax exempt so all those buildings do not help KISD's tax situation; in fact they negatively impact it as formerly taxable lands are taken off the tax rolls.

However, there are big corporations that COULD be coming to Katy! Those corporations are the kind of business that will bring substantial tax dollars to our community and provide relief for the homeowner. It has been almost 15 years since we snared a BP--longer than that for the Shell’s, Conoco’s and EXXON’S. THOSE are our biggest tax payers, and we need more like them. The Park Ten complex was originally touted as being the future population center of Houston and the Oil Capital of the World. What happened to that idea?

Where is our George Mitchell or Gerald Hines or Walter Mischer? Which entrepreneur with the smarts and the bucks to carry it off is going to come to the aid of the Katy Independent School District and its taxpayers?

For certain we need some newer and better kind of organization to search for the big corporations since existing efforts seem unable to make the leap to the big time. Taxes are what keep the Katy area growing, and without having some that do not excessively penalize homeowners, our area will not grow in the manner that it might have.

Mary McGarr, Katy Citizen Watchdog$

Date: 08/01/2006