Some qualifying home-rule municipalities bordering a bay may use up to 10% of certain tax revenue for listed purposes, but they must match that spending with an equal amount from another source and cannot cut certain other spending below the prior 36-month average.
Sec. 351.104. ALLOCATION OF REVENUE: CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES BORDERING BAYS. (a) This section applies only to a home-rule municipality that borders a bay, that has a population of less than 85,000, and that is not an eligible coastal municipality. (b) In this section: (1) "Adjacent public land" means land that: (A) is owned by this state or a local governmental entity; and (B) is located adjacent to a bay that is bordered by a municipality to which this section applies. (2) "Clean and maintain" means the collection and removal of litter and debris and the supervision and elimination of sanitary and safety conditions that would pose a threat to personal health or safety if not removed or otherwise corrected. (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter and subject to Subsections (d) and (e), a municipality to which this section applies may use not more than 10 percent of the revenue derived from the tax imposed under this chapter: (1) for a purpose described by Section 351.105(a)(1) or (2); (2) to clean and maintain adjacent public land; or (3) to mitigate coastal erosion on adjacent public land. (d) A municipality to which this section applies may not reduce the amount of revenue that it uses for a purpose described by Section 351.101(a)(3) to an amount that is less than the average amount of revenue used by the municipality for that purpose during the 36-month period that precedes the municipality's use of revenue under Subsection (c). (e) A municipality that uses revenue from the tax imposed under this chapter for a purpose provided by this section must spend the same amount of revenue for the same purpose from a source other than that tax. Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 699, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003. Amended by: Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 644 (H.B. 4559), Sec. 231, eff. September 1, 2023.