R-2010-20 Failed/petition Texas Legislature to extend population requirement to 50,000/certain Type B Development Corporation Board retail development projects

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REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM Agenda Date Requested: 8/23/10 Requested By: Stacey Osborne Department: CMO Report: Resolution: X Ordinance: Annronriation Source of Funds: Account Number: Amount Budgeted: Amount Requested: Budgeted Item: YES NO SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATION The Y2 cent Type B sales tax dollars the City of La Porte collects can be used for specific projects related to economic development, and those projects are detailed in the Texas Local Government Code. Under the code, cities with a population ofless than 20,000 are permitted to pursue projects with Type B sales tax dollars that promote retail business development, but cities with a population greater than 20,000 cannot. For example, under the current rules, a city with a population of 19,000 could purchase land for the development of an HEB store, but the City of La Porte cannot because our population exceeds 20,000. As you know, we lack a significant amount of retail in La Porte. Our citizens have continually asked for more retail development in the City, but we're restricted from spending Type B sales tax dollars directly on those types of expenditures because of our population size. We would like to present a resolution amending that particular section of the Texas Local Government code in the upcoming Texas Legislature. To do so, we would like to go through the Texas Municipal League (TML) at their Annual Conference in October. The deadline for submitting resolutions for consideration at the Annual Conference is September 13,2010. The resolution concerns Section 505.158 of the Texas Local Government Code, which currently authorizes a Type B Corporation with a population of 20,000 or less to create"... projects that include the land, buildings, equipment, facilities, expenditures, targeted infrastructure, and improvements found by the corporation's board of directors to promote new or expanded business development." We would like to propose a resolution extending that population requirement to 50,000 or less so that we and other cities of similar size to us can pursue retail development with Type B sales tax dollars. If this resolution is passed this evening, we will submit it for consideration to the Resolutions Committee at the TML Annual Conference on October 26 in Corpus Christi. If TML deems the resolution worthy of consideration, they will then present it to the 82nd Texas Legislature Session in January, 2011. Action Reauired bv Council: Consider approval of a resolution extending the population requirements for retail development under the Texas Local Government Code, Section 505.158.