Brazos County details 2024 incentives compliance; major abatements tied to RELLIS, Honeywell and America's Foundry

Brazos County on Oct. 28 received its tax year 2024 incentives compliance report, which summarized active tax-incentive agreements and their compliance status and outlined large, multi-year abatements the county has approved or is monitoring.

Kimberly Gonzales, Brazos County economic development coordinator, told the commissioners the county currently administers three types of incentives: Chapter 381 rebate agreements, Chapter 312 property tax abatements and tax increment reinvestment zones (TIRZ/TIF). She said the county has six active Chapter 381 agreements, three active Chapter 312 agreements and two active TIRZ/TIFs.

Gonzales said Chapter 381 agreements include Adam Corporation (Oakmont Subdivision), College Station Science Park (now Providence Park at Research Valley), Lawson Properties (which leases to CC Creations and EVAPCO) and others; two of the 381 agreements are monitored by the Greater Brazos Partnership while the county is transitioning most monitoring in-house. She said Adam Corporation's contract (signed 2015) carries a not-to-exceed refund cap of $5,150,000 and that payouts to date total $1,697,864; the county had not yet received a tax-year-2024 reimbursement request from that company.

Gonzales described the county's Chapter 312 abatements as reductions to appraised value on the tax rolls rather than rebate programs and said three 312 agreements are in place: America's Foundry LLC, Honeywell International and the RELLIS Campus Data & Research Center. She said the America's Foundry agreement (signed 2024) covers tax years 2026–2035 with a staggered abatement schedule (80% for five years, then 50% for five years), an incremental-value target the presentation listed as $10,000,000,000 by Dec. 31, 2035, and an expected 1,800 new full-time jobs by that date.

On Honeywell, Gonzales said the agreement (signed 2024) includes a five-year abatement period and an expected total capital investment of $120,000,000 by Dec. 31, 2029; she said the agreement is contingent on Honeywell receiving 50% of its funding from federal and state grants, and that such funding has not yet been secured. For the RELLIS Campus Data & Research Center (agreement signed 2025), the presentation lists a 10-year abatement beginning tax year 2029, an expected $700,000,000 capital investment by Dec. 31, 2038, a projected 100 new full-time jobs by that date, and a maximum abatement cap of $13,000,000.

Representatives from the Greater Brazos Partnership introduced Ryan LLC to provide an independent compliance review. Luis Lopez of Ryan LLC reported that for the company monitored under the Fujifilm amendment (LSPI in the presentation) compliance metrics for tax year 2024 were met and in several cases exceeded contract thresholds: Ryan reported payroll and capital investment above required levels and more new jobs than contracted targets for that agreement.

Gonzales also reviewed tax increment reinvestment zones, noting TERS 10 (Traditions) reaches its last payout in tax year 2024 and that TERS 21 (Downtown Bryan) is capped at $5,000,000 for the tax increment fund and will begin payouts later in the decade.

The presentation identified items that remain contingent on external approvals or grant funding; staff said they are coordinating with companies where construction delays or funding conditions exist, and consultants will return for future compliance updates.

The county and its consultants provided the figures and compliance findings during the Oct. 28 presentation; commissioners asked no substantive amendments during the public meeting.