Assistant Director details Houston TIRZ FY2025 budget: $399 million plan, $30 million debt authorization

Assistant Director Jennifer Curley of the Mayor's Office of Economic Development presented the fiscal year 2025 budget schedule for the city's tax increment reinvestment zones (TIRZ) to the City Council Economic Development Committee, saying the sample project plan totals $399,000,000 and that council has authorized up to $30,000,000 in debt for projects shown in the plan.

Curley said TIRZs are authorized by Chapter 311 of the Texas Tax Code and described the budget document structure: a profile page with zone purpose and accomplishments, a project-plan page, revenue and expenditure pages, and line-item project sheets. "The total plan is $399,000,000," she told the committee, and the example capital-projects budget for FY2025 is about $13,000,889.58 with $13,800,000 shown as other capital projects in the year's summary.

Why it matters: TIRZ budgets govern how increment from property-value growth is reinvested — for infrastructure, streetscape, parks, historic preservation, school facilities and, in petition TIRZs, affordable housing. Curley highlighted that petition TIRZs must set aside one-third of increment for affordable housing and that portion is shared among participants per existing agreements.

Key fiscal figures Curley cited in the presentation included a beginning FY2025 fund balance of $5,700,000, projected FY2025 revenue of $7,300,000 (pending confirmation of tax rolls from HCAD), and an example total project-season cost of about $14,322,458 after administration and project expenditures. She also noted a council-approved debt authorization of $30,000,000 that has not yet been issued. On administration, she gave example overhead figures (about $341,000) and management consulting (about $441,500). For pass-through obligations, Curley said the example shows $813,864 for educational facilities and that under the sample petition TIRZ $1,034,353 would go into the city's affordable housing fund (Fund 2409) while $517,177 would remain with the district for its affordable housing program. She described an approximate municipal service charge of $98,501 in the example.

Committee members pressed for detail. Councilwoman Alcorn asked whether ISD funds are returned; Curley said the structure is set by agreements and pointed to the revenue pages for the calculation. Councilman Julian Ramirez asked whether at-large council members could be included in pre-release briefings; Curley said district members are prioritized for initial meetings but that budgets are posted in Novus and councilors can view them once released. "Once it's released to Novus," Curley said, "the council has the ability to view the budgets in Novus." She and Ramirez also discussed timing: Curley said legal and finance reviews occur before final release and that items typically appear in Novus the Thursday before they are on the council agenda.

On project detail, Curley walked the committee through a sample Form A for a roadway reconstruction project "South Of Gray Street," showing planning and design allocations (roughly $500,000 planning, $1,500,000 design) and $6,500,000 earmarked for construction in later fiscal years, and she said Public Works reviews individual project sheets during its review cycle. Curley also outlined a five-year plan accompanying the one-year budget to show planned spending through 2029 and how debt and incrementwould be used across that timeframe.

Several members raised process questions: Councilman Martinez asked about coordination with HISD on trustee vacancies that affect TIRZ boards; Curley said the Mayor's Office typically receives HISD recommendations rather than managing trustee selection but offered to follow up with contacts. Council members also urged attention to filling vacant board chairs to avoid quorum problems that cancel meetings, and Curley said staff are following up.

Next steps: Curley presented a rollout schedule for taking TIRZ budgets to city council in groups (Group 1 was expected to appear on the council agenda Sept. 10, Group 2 on Sept. 17, and further groups to follow), and said the office plans to bring roughly three to four TIRZ budgets per week until all eight groups are taken to council for approval. The committee did not take formal votes during the meeting. The chair reminded attendees the next Economic Development Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 18 at 2:00 p.m., and adjourned the meeting at 3:10 p.m.