Starr County Commissioners Court on a unanimous vote approved reauthorization of the countys tax abatement guidelines following a public hearing, allowing the county to continue offering temporary tax breaks on new improvements to attract energy and other projects after the current guidelines expire in November.

The guidelines, presented during the hearing by Miss Benavides, set criteria the county uses to determine when to grant abatements and require renewal every two years under state rules. "This public hearing is intended to, present and give the public an opportunity, to speak about the, Star County tax abatement guidelines and criteria," Benavides said during her presentation.

Benavides told the court the abatements apply to improvements rather than the underlying property and are structured around the amount of private investment and the number of jobs created. She said guidelines typically require a minimum $1,000,000 investment; smaller projects often receive around three years of abatement while the county does not extend abatements beyond 10 years. "We abate, on construction, or what they not on the property. We still collect, you know, what we've been collecting all along," Benavides explained.

County officials said the program has been particularly important in recruiting large-scale energy projects such as solar, wind and battery storage that staff said helped expand the countys tax base and local employment. Benavides noted the countys first 10-year abatement will reach its 10-year period in 2026, at which point the improvements will be taxed at full value.

After the presentation, the commissioners moved and seconded a motion to approve reauthorization of the guidelines. The court also approved a separate, state-required formal order and signed the document to effectuate the reauthorization.

The action authorizes county staff to continue negotiating and executing abatement agreements under the renewed guidelines; specific projects seeking abatements were discussed as preliminarily active but no individual abatement agreements were approved during the meeting. Benavides said the county is working with multiple energy projects and smaller businesses in Roma and Rio Grande City seeking abatement assistance to make projects financially viable.

The reauthorization preserves a tool county officials described as necessary for competing for capital-intensive energy projects while preserving taxation of land and eventual full-value taxation after the abatement periods end.