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Winnsboro expands vacant-building rules citywide, council approves ordinance
Summary
Council repealed a 2015 downtown-only vacant-building ordinance and approved a citywide replacement intended to register and charge owners of long-empty commercial properties, with staff saying the change aims to recoup lost sales-tax revenue and limit blight.
Winnsboro city council on May 1 approved Ordinance 10 84-2025, repealing Ordinance 9 24-2015 and amending Chapter 3 of the city code to establish citywide vacant-building regulations. The ordinance expands the existing downtown-only rules to the entire city and requires registration and periodic charges for qualifying vacant commercial buildings.
City staff told the council the goal is to reduce the fiscal and neighborhood impacts of long-term vacancies. “Basically, we believe there's approximately 30 vacant buildings,” said Tanya (city staff), who presented the draft ordinance and conservative revenue estimates based on sales tax only. Staff said the ordinance would not capture property-tax losses but could recover some sales-tax revenue depending on future occupancies.
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