Tax abatements are limited to listed facility categories—manufacturing, research, regional distribution, regional service, research and development, or other basic industry—and data centers are not expressly listed as an eligible category.

A project seeking a tax abatement or 381 grant must invest at least $5 million in eligible property, generally limited to new buildings and new fixed machinery or equipment with an economic life of at least 15 years.

Land, inventories, supplies, tools, office equipment, movable personal property, vehicles, and property with an economic life under 15 years cannot receive an abatement or be included in the grant calculation.

A tax-abatement project must create or retain at least 15 permanent full-time jobs on average, with at least 50% held by Grimes County residents when enough qualified residents apply.

A 381 grant project must create at least one permanent full-time position and must not be involved in pending litigation seeking damages.

The application must be filed before construction, alteration, or installation begins; each application requires a nonrefundable $1,000 fee, including resubmitted applications.

Tax abatements require a public hearing, publication of notice, notice to overlapping taxing jurisdictions, designation of a reinvestment zone, and approval by the Commissioners Court; the hearing must generally occur within 60 days after filing and approval must occur within 30 days after the hearing.

381 grants require an open Commissioners Court meeting, with the request generally scheduled within 60 days after application and approved or denied within 30 days after the hearing.

The Commissioners Court may deny an abatement or grant for insufficient financial capacity, violation of law, public-safety or health hazards, serious adverse effects on competing businesses, or substantial adverse effects on a taxing unit's budget, tax base, or service capacity.

Applicants must comply with applicable environmental and worker-safety laws, and that compliance may be evaluated at facilities owned or operated by the applicant, its affiliates, partners, or joint-venture members.

An abatement or grant agreement must prohibit the property owner from challenging the property's market value or equal-and-uniform value through specified lawsuits, arbitration, or State Office of Administrative Hearings proceedings during the agreement term.

Projects must remain operational during the incentive period; discontinuing production or services for 180 consecutive days, except because of specified casualty or disaster events, triggers termination and repayment or recapture of prior benefits.

Recipients must provide annual compliance certifications, employment information, payroll or tax documentation, accounting or asset information, and permit county or appraisal-district inspections with at least 24 hours' notice.

Tax abatements may last no more than 10 years, with the county generally encouraging a shorter five-year schedule; 381 grants may last no more than three years, and annual grants cannot exceed the entity's prior-year annual ad valorem taxes paid to the county.

Data centers, including cloud, colocation, and hyperscale facilities, were not added to the county’s ineligible-property list, leaving them eligible to seek county tax abatements or 381 grants if they satisfy the other requirements.

The county removed the broad exclusion for facilities primarily devoted to producing, generating, or transmitting electricity, allowing power-related facilities that may serve or be associated with data-center developments to apply for incentives.

Eligible projects may receive a property-tax abatement on new buildings, fixed machinery and equipment, site improvements, and necessary ancillary fixed improvements. The project must generally involve at least $5 million in eligible investment, and eligible property must have an economic life of at least 15 years.

A tax abatement may last up to 10 years, although the county prefers a generally five-year declining schedule of approximately 90–100% in year one, 70–80% in year two, 50–60% in year three, 30–40% in year four, and 10–20% in year five.

A qualifying project may receive 381 economic-development grants for up to three years. The annual grant is discretionary and cannot exceed the entity’s total annual ad valorem taxes paid to Grimes County in the preceding year.

Abatements and 381 agreements may be assigned to a successor or lessee with Commissioners Court consent, provided the successor assumes the agreement’s obligations, continues the same improvements and facility use, and neither party owes the county delinquent taxes or other obligations.