Quinlan officials outline proposed tax-increment zone; Hunt County asked to consider 50% participation
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Summary
Consultants for the City of Quinlan presented a proposed tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ) covering about 939 acres — mostly in the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction — and asked Hunt County to consider participating at 50% of its tax rate. No formal county decision was taken at the Jan. 28 meeting.
Dave Hawes of Hawes Hill & Associates presented details of a proposed tax-increment reinvestment zone for the City of Quinlan to the Hunt County Commissioner's Court on Jan. 28, 2025. The presentation described the zone boundary, estimated project costs and projected tax revenues, and explained how voluntary annexation would be required for developers to participate.
Hawes, speaking for the City of Quinlan and the Quinlan Economic Development Corporation, told the court the proposed zone would cover about 939 acres, with roughly 768 acres in the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction. He said the zone's base year is 2024, the first year for increment is 2025 (with collections beginning in 2026), and the zone is currently proposed to terminate on Dec. 31, 2054, a 30-year period.
Why it matters: Hawes and the Quinlan EDC framed the TIRZ as a tool to finance public infrastructure (water, sewer, drainage, flood risk reduction, roads and mobility) intended to catalyze residential and commercial development. The presenters argued the city lacks existing rooftops to support commercial investment, and that coordinated infrastructure investment can attract higher-quality development and workforce housing.
Presentation details and projections: Hawes said a preliminary engineering and feasibility review produced an illustrative total project-cost estimate of about $61 million over the life of the zone, with a stated range from roughly $40 million to $70 million depending on growth and timing. He gave the zone's current certified taxable value as $20.6 million and said projected valuation over time could be much larger; he described a low-to-medium growth scenario used by his firm.
On participation and revenue splits, Hawes said the proposal asks Hunt County to participate at 50% of its tax rate, the local hospital district at 50%, and the city at 70% (the city's lower participation rate was said to account for city service costs associated with growth). Using the participation assumptions Hawes presented, he said estimated total TIRZ revenues could be about $77.9 million under one scenario and that county revenues retained over the life of the zone at a 50% participation rate were on the order of $13.4 million (presenter's estimate).
Annexation and board process: Hawes said the city created a preliminary project and finance plan and a seven-member TIRZ board; the city had appointed four members and one seat would be available to the county if the county chose to participate. He explained that developers who wanted to receive TIRZ benefits would have to voluntarily annex into the city and that the TIRZ board would finalize the project plan and recommend an ordinance for city council approval. "If the developer wants to receive the benefit of the TIRZ, they'll have to voluntarily annex," Hawes said.
Questions from commissioners focused on the voluntary annexation process, the base-year and rollback effects when agricultural property converts to development, and how participation and veto rights would be formalized in participation agreements. Hawes said reimbursement agreements and participation agreements would set the county's ability to approve or veto use of county increment revenue for particular projects and that the county would be ‘‘very well protected by its veto vote," in his description of the proposed participation agreement structure.
Outcome: The court did not take a formal vote on county participation at the Jan. 28 meeting. Commissioners asked clarifying questions and requested further review; no county commitments were recorded on the record during the session.
