Wichita County commissioners made a course correction Tuesday on the payment of funds designed to bolster economic development in some areas of Wichita Falls and Burkburnett.
The Commissioners Court agreed not to pay $52,578 to the city of Wichita Falls and $7,255 to the city of Burkburnett for Tax Increment Financing programs.
The funds — not to be paid — were from the county’s revenue for the interest-and-sinking portion of its tax rate, as well as from the county revenue for road and bridge taxes in 2018.
“Our agreement with the cities says all taxes, but those are legally excluded,” Wichita County Judge Woody Gossom said in an interview after the meeting.
Gossom said county officials have been trying to determine which tax revenue was supposed to go into TIF payments.
They finally found legal determination that says road-and-bridge taxes and interest-and-sinking taxes do not figure into TIF payments, he said. Those taxes are for dedicated purposes.
“But in all fairness, both the city of Wichita Falls and Burkburnett still get significant money,” Gossom said.
Earlier this year, the county paid TIF dollars to both cities from Wichita County’s maintenance-and-operations tax revenue, Gossom said.
The city of Wichita Falls received about $500,000 for TIF, and Burkburnett received about $70,000 for TIF, Gossom said.
The TIF dollars paid earlier this year were from 2018 maintenance-and-operation taxes collected by the county in 2019, Gossom said.
More: Wichita County tax official: Why hasn't county disbursed over $560,000 to cities?
During Tuesday’s meeting, county leaders mulled over the situation.
“I don’t think it makes the TIF zones any less viable. I think we’re cleaning this up to go by state law, which is what we need to do,” Precinct 3 Commissioner Barry Mahler said. “We were operating in good faith.”
Gossom said TIF laws are somewhat vague and open.
He said there was some question as to whether the county should look into correcting past overpayments to Wichita Falls and Burkburnett for TIF.
“I don’t recommend we do that,” Gossom said.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Lee Harvey said the issue with the overpayments took place over a short period of time.
“It raised its head and made us ask questions pretty quick,” Harvey said.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Jeff Watts said to bear in mind that the county had signed standard agreements with the cities for TIF and never went back and modified the agreements.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Mark Beauchamp was not present for Tuesday's meeting.
This is the latest chapter in an ongoing TIF saga.
TIF funds led to a controversy in April when Wichita County Tax Assessor and Collector Tommy Smyth sent out an email asking why the TIF payments hadn’t been made.
His office had finished its work months ago, and it was up to the Auditor’s Office to move the process forward.
Wichita County Auditor Deborah Stevens fired back, contending Smyth’s office made errors in calculations for 2018 TIF fund payments.
Smyth responded that it was “the textbook definition of ‘convenient’” to allege his office’s work was full of errors — five months after the Auditor’s Office received it.
In any case, TIF Reinvestment Zones allow local governments to finance improvements to draw investment, according to the Texas Comptroller's Office.
TIF redirects some taxes from property in a designated area — the reinvestment zone — to pay for improvements there.
TIF dollars can finance projects such as infrastructure, facade programs, landscaping, streetscaping or nearly any kind of public enhancement to the zone.
Wichita Falls City Manager Darron Leiker has said his city's TIF districts were set up mostly to fund infrastructure projects to relieve traffic congestion, as well as spur targeted economic development.
Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News, covers education, courts, breaking news, politics and more. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Her Twitter handle is @Trishapedia.
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Wichita County leaders correct course on TIF payments to Wichita Falls and Burk - Times Record News
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