Texas Transportation Department may make interlocal contracts with qualifying local governments to finance transportation infrastructure, and the agreement can create zones and limited tax-based payments.
Sec. 791.031. TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE. (a) This section applies only to a local government, other than a school district, that is authorized to impose ad valorem taxes on real property. (b) The Texas Department of Transportation may enter into an interlocal contract with a local government for the financing of transportation infrastructure that is constructed or that is to be constructed in the territory of the local government by the department in a corridor of land on which no existing state or federal highway is located. (c) The agreement must include: (1) the duration of the agreement, which may not exceed 12 years; (2) a description of each transportation infrastructure project or proposed project; (3) a map showing the location of each project and property included in the contract; and (4) an estimate of the cost of each project. (d) The agreement may establish one or more transportation infrastructure zones. The Texas Department of Transportation and the local government may agree that at one or more specified times, the local government will pay to the Texas Department of Transportation an amount that is calculated on the basis of increased ad valorem tax collections in a zone that are attributable to increased values of property located in the zone resulting from an infrastructure project. The amount may not exceed an amount that is equal to 30 percent of the increase in ad valorem tax collections for the specified period. (e) Money received by the Texas Department of Transportation under this section may be used: (1) to provide a local match for the acquisition of right-of-way in the territory of the local government; or (2) for design, construction, operation, or maintenance of transportation facilities in the territory of the local government. Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1171, Sec. 1.33, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.