Galena Park ISD agrees to consider tax‑limitation deal for NRG Greens Bayou 6 LLC project after public hearing

Galena Park Independent School District trustees on Aug. 11 voted unanimously to declare the district "agreeable to entering an agreement" with NRG Greens Bayou 6 LLC after a statutorily required public hearing on the company's JEDI (Jobs and Economic Development Impact) application.

Ben Poppe, the district's chief financial officer, presented the application during the hearing and summarized how the JEDI incentive would apply. He said the program provides a 10‑year limitation on maintenance‑and‑operations (M&O) ad valorem taxes for qualifying property and explained that "it would be 50% of the market value" for the taxable value during the incentive period. Poppe said the company told the district it plans a $570,000,000 investment and described the project in the presentation as Electric Fruit Generation.

Poppe told the board the company has stated a high annual wage commitment (the presentation referenced roughly $178,000) and that the application listed 14 qualifying jobs. He also described the project as a 1,455‑megawatt generation facility with construction expected to begin in 2026 and an incentive period that would begin in tax year 2029 and run through 2038. Poppe said the comptroller issued a recommendation letter on July 25 and that the governor's office and comptroller would be notified following the board's determination.

On the budgetary effect, Poppe presented an estimate that the district could collect roughly $17 million in additional M&O taxes during the 10‑year incentive period under current rate assumptions and that, after the state's school finance equalization adjustments, the district's net benefit was estimated at about $1,000,000 across the incentive term. He also summarized the company's estimated tax savings of about $20,900,000 over the incentive period and reported a projected peak taxable value on the I&S side of roughly $506,400,000 in tax year 2029.

Trustee Noe Esparza made the motion that the district is agreeable to entering an agreement with NRG Greens Bayou 6 LLC, subject to final approval of agreement terms; Jose Jimenez seconded, and the motion carried 7–0. The board's vote was a procedural determination that allows staff to advance to the next steps described by Poppe: notify the comptroller and governor's office and, if the project proceeds, negotiate and execute a final agreement and deliver it to the comptroller within the statutory deadlines.

The hearing record and Poppe's presentation contain the application details and timeline the board relied on; the approval on Aug. 11 was not the execution of a final agreement and trustees stressed that final terms must still be negotiated and approved by the board.