03-12-12 Meeting of the La Porte Development Corporation Board of Directors

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Local Incentives Tax Abatements The City of La Porte offers ad valorem tax abatements for new construction of the following qualifying facilities within the City’s corporate limits: • Regional Distribution/Service (up to 10%) • Manufacturing/Other Basic Industry (up to 10%) • Retail/Commercial Office/Regional Entertainment (up to 50%) To be eligible to apply for an abatement, a company must meet the following criteria: • Minimum Capital Investment: $3 million • Minimum Job Creation: 10 • Term of abatement: averaged over five (5) years For further information about our tax abatement program, please contact Stacey Osborne in the Economic Development Department at (281) 470-5017 or osbornes@laportetx.gov. Industrial District Agreements To attract a business into an area, a city may choose to encourage the business to locate in the city’s Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (“ETJ”).If the business locates in the city’s ETJ, the City Council may enter into an agreement not to annex the business property for a set periodof time. The agreement may call for the business to pay the city an annual fee in lieu of taxes for the use of city facilities.The city may also provide certain contractual services (i.e. firefighting services) to the business during the non-annexation period. Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone Developers of business property within a defined area (i.e. business parks, service centers) may receive municipal financing assistance through the use of tax increment financing. The City Council may create a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) where construction of public improvements using tax increment funds is likely to result in significant commercial investment. The cost of improvements within the zone is repaid by the contribution of future tax revenues by each taxing unit that levies taxes on the affected properties. Once the city initiates tax increment financing, counties and school districts may also participate in the tax increment financing program. Public Improvement Districts A Public Improvement District (“PID”) enables a commercial area to make improvements benefiting the area and spread the cost equally among all properties.Property owners are assessed based on benefit. These assessments may be used to pay the debt service on bonds or they may be used to pay for services directly if no bonds are issued. PID funds may be used to purchase real property in connection with improvements.Improvements include a wide variety of enhancements such as water and wastewater, streets, drainage, parking, landscaping, etc.