A project seeking a Liberty County economic-development incentive or tax abatement may not have received a building permit or begun construction before the application is submitted; preliminary design, engineering, site preparation, and similar activities are excluded from the definition of construction commencement.

A project seeking a County economic-development incentive or tax abatement must add at least $1,000,000 in aggregate taxable property value to the County tax roll.

A tax-abatement applicant must be the actual owner, lessor, or lessee of the project property and must provide documentation proving that status.

A tax-abatement applicant must pay a nonrefundable $1,000 application fee by cashier’s check or money order when submitting the application. The fee cannot be waived for pecuniary hardship; a waiver is available only through a variance for a governmental unit or nonprofit entity.

Applications must be fully completed and supported by extensive materials, including property maps or plats, site plans, metes-and-bounds descriptions, construction schedules, project and financial information, requested incentive details, and evidence of compliance with applicable laws and permits.

Tax abatement requires an existing reinvestment or enterprise zone, or an application requesting creation of one; the proposed zone must be a contiguous area located in Liberty County and the application must establish the zone’s eligibility under Chapter 312.

Creation of a tax-abatement zone requires a recorded Commissioners Court vote after a legally noticed public hearing. Notice must generally be published in a newspaper and delivered to affected taxing entities not later than the seventh day before the hearing.

Approval of a tax-abatement agreement requires another recorded public vote. Notice of the meeting must be provided at least 30 days beforehand, and written notice with the proposed agreement must be delivered to the presiding officers of other affected taxing units at least seven days before the County enters into the agreement.

The Commissioners Court retains complete discretion to consider or reject an application, zone, project, or agreement, and the guidelines create no right for an applicant to have a request considered or approved.

Certain property is expressly ineligible for tax abatement and must remain fully taxable, including land, inventories, supplies, tools, vehicles and vessels, private aircraft, deferred-maintenance investments, property outside the zone, property placed in the zone before the agreement is signed, and property used outside the approved project.

Eligible and ineligible property must be taxed at full appraised value before the abatement period begins, after the abatement period ends, and after agreement termination; ineligible property remains fully taxable throughout.

Tax-abatement recipients must certify compliance annually by May 1 to the County, the appraisal district, and each affected jurisdiction, provide information needed for annual appraisal and abatement evaluations, and permit County and appraisal-district access to project property, facilities, and business records for compliance inspections.

Recipients must timely provide appraisal information, render project property for ad valorem taxation in Liberty County, and designate Liberty County as the tax situs for appraisal, assessment, levy, collection, and payment of taxes on the project property.

Tax-abatement agreements may not provide an abatement period longer than 10 years, and the 10-year statutory limit cannot be waived through a variance.

Assignment of an economic-development or tax-abatement agreement requires prior written County consent and approval; an assignee must assume all agreement obligations, satisfy applicable tax requirements, and accept an assignment that does not extend beyond the original agreement’s termination date.

A project’s agreement may require payment of taxes, payments in lieu of taxes, deferral-year payments, economic-development grants or donations, road and bridge damage repair or maintenance, and reimbursement of County attorney, consultant, review, negotiation, implementation, or maintenance costs.

An agreement must include default remedies that may allow the County to recapture lost or abated taxes, penalties, interest, attorney’s fees, enforcement costs, and other amounts owed, and to use other remedies allowed by law or equity.

The County may grant a variance only through a recorded public vote and only where specified special-circumstance, minimum-departure, equal-treatment, public-interest, legal-compliance, fee-payment, and tax-compliance standards are met.

Liberty County may provide Chapter 381 economic-development incentives, including grants or loans of public money and county personnel or services, for an eligible project. Authorized economic development incentives include loans, grants, personnel, and county services.

The County may grant property-tax abatements under Chapters 312 and 381. The project must add at least $1 million in aggregate taxable property value to the County tax roll. The Project must add at least $1,000,000.00 in taxable property value.

A tax-abatement agreement may abate eligible project property for up to 10 years, with the agreement specifying the value and percentage of property-tax value abated each year. The abatement period ... shall be no longer than 10 years.

Taxable property identified as eligible under Chapter 312 may be considered for abatement, although land, inventories, supplies, tools, vehicles, aircraft, deferred-maintenance investments, and other listed categories remain fully taxable. All taxable property identified by Chapter 312 as being eligible.

The County may consider County-funded transportation, drainage, and other public infrastructure or improvements needed for a project. Proposed County-funded transportation, drainage, or other public infrastructure.

The Commissioners Court may negotiate incentives on a case-by-case basis and may offer terms similar to those provided by other taxing entities, allowing a project to seek coordinated incentives from multiple jurisdictions. May grant ... on the same or similar terms as other taxing entities.

Agreements may include deferral periods, payments in lieu of taxes, economic-development grants or donations, and reimbursement arrangements, providing flexibility to structure project economics and infrastructure obligations. Payment in lieu of taxes, deferral year payments, economic development grants or donations.

Proprietary information submitted for a zone or agreement application or for compliance monitoring is treated as confidential unless disclosure is required by law. All proprietary information ... shall be considered confidential.

Future amendments or repeal of the guidelines do not affect existing contracts, zones, or economic-development agreements, which continue under the rules applicable when they were created or executed. Such actions shall not affect existing contracts.

An approved economic-development or tax-abatement agreement may be assigned to a successor with County consent, provided the successor assumes all duties and obligations, satisfies financial and tax requirements, and does not extend the original agreement term. An Agreement shall not be assigned ... without the written consent and approval of the County.