01-03-05 Special Called City Council and La Porte Development Corporation Joint Meeting Minutes

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4N4B Sales Tax: Any Use After H.B. 2912? Winter 2004 tax in the first place, particularly considering the fact that each optional sales tax takes up precious room under the two percent local "tax cap." What authority remains? At a minimum, EDCs are fully authorized to con- tinue attracting industrial and manufacturing firms to a city. The only dife ference post-H.B. 2912 is the limitation on direct financial incentives absent a performance agreement. EDCs also continue to possess author- ity to improve city infrastructure in preparati?n for new business, which may include commercial and retail in some cases. Authorized infra- structure for retail or commercial development is limited to streets and roads, rail spurs, water and electric utilities, gas utilities, drainage and related improvements, and telecommunications and Internet improve- ments. The interesting question, then, is how much practical damage was done to the sales illx by removing commercial and retail incentive authority. The loudest complaints so far have come from cities that define them- selves as "land-locked." These are typically smaller cities, surrounded by other cities, that are unable to expand or identify undeveloped land for industrial use. The argument of L.1ese cities is that the promotion of industry or manufacturing is uniquely tied to the availability of large tracts of undeveloped land which can be tailored to the unique needs of a given industry. Commercial development, on the other hand, is not so depend- ent on the existence of undeveloped land. A fully developed city, there- fore, has limited prospects to attract a new factory or manufacturing plant. Even smaller cities that are not land-locked will no doubt find it difficult to attract any manufacturing or industry. Such businesses often require a workforce of a minimum size, which small and rural communities can rarely offer. To many very small cities, it is accurate to say that a real eco- nomic development "coup" has simply been a hotel, restaurant, or small retail shop where none has existed before. Such a city may literally find itself with nothing on which to spend its sales tax dollars. Finally, some cities will argue that retreating from cOlnmercial and retail back to industry and manufacturing ignores the overall direction of the Texas economy. Like agriculture before it, most economists believe that manufacturing is on the wane, to be replaced by more service-intensive jobs. H.B. 2912 may have the ironic effect of forcing cities to pursue the types of jobs that will not last. Announcements Papers from TCM Semi-Annuai Meeting in San Antonio Available TCAA has binders containing all of the papers from the recent Semi- Annual Meeting in San Antonio. Topics include: (1) 1v1ilitary Reservists and Veterans' Right~ in the Workplace; (2) In the Eye of the Beholder - Municipal Regulation of Aesthetic Harm; (3) Sovereign Immunity in Breach of Contract Cases; (4) Recent State Cases of Interest to Cities; (5) Emergency Preparedness Planning; (6) Recent Federal Cases of Interest to Cities; (6) Practical Considerations of the First Amendment in an Employment Conte11; and (7) Ethics for City Attorneys. Binders are $40.00. Please contact L1ura Salcedo at 512- 231-7400 to order. Riley Fletcher Basic Municipal Law Seminar The 5th Annual Riley Fletcher Basic i;1uI1icipal La\V Semh'1ar is sched- uled for February 27,2004. Topics include types of city governments, open government, economic development, ethics for city attorneys, ordinance drafting, Tort Claims Act, personnel, and purchasing. See the agenda in this newsletter [or more infonnation. reM Semi-AilnualMeetings The TCAA Summer meeting will be held June 9 - 11, 2004, in South Padre Island and the TCAA Fall meeting in conjunction with the TML Annual Conference will be held October 27-29,2004, in Corpus Christi. If you are interested in presenting a paper, please contact Scott Houston at 512-231-7400 or shouston@tmLorg. Newsletter Articles TCAA is always looking for lead articles for inclusion in the newsletter. Please submit articles or suggestions to shouston@tml.org. IMLA Conference in San Antonio The L'V1L<\ Annual Conference will be held in San Antonio on October 3-6, 2004. Please plan to attend the conference and join TCAA in wel- comi.rlg ~Ui fello"'~ city attorneys. l\.ti L\1I.A. aInicus update is included in this newsletter. Electronic Version of Newsletter Coming Soon TeM is in the process of developing a Web site. When the Web site comes online, TCAf\ will phase out the printed version of this newsletter and move to an exclusively electronic fonnat with e-mail notification. Thus, it is essential that we have the correct e-mail address for each of our members. If you have not already provided an email address, please do so to Laura Salcedo at salcedo@tml.org.