An Overview of the 2015 Twinwood Development Agreement
OMG!
Have you heard about about how
Daniel McJunkin signed a development deal with Twinwood in 2015?
How could he do such a thing?
The simple answer:
The City Council unanimously voted for the Twinwood Development Agreements when I was the Mayor, so it became my job as Mayor to sign the agreement.
A lot of public shade has been thrown my way regarding the 2015 Twinwood Development agreements that the Simonton City Council approved and that I signed on their behalf when I was Mayor (May of 2010 – May of 2016).
It’s time to correct the record.
Are you willing to hear the details and consider the facts?
I think that it’s about time to provide some rational perspective so that those that weren’t involved in the discussions and deliberations related to the Twinwood Development Agreements might have a better basis for judging whether they were a good idea for our city.
So, before you pass final judgment as to whether my signing of the agreements on behalf of the Simonton City Council was appropriate for the City of Simonton, please watch my YouTube video that explains how the city council arrived at their decision to vote in favor of the agreement.
Through this video, you’ll learn that:
- What About the Twinwood Property?
- For the most part, the three agreements covered property that was NOT even in the City Limits in the first place.
- Property in the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) of ANY City in Texas does not pay property or sales taxes to a city in the first place unless there is an agreement with the city to do so.
- By adopting a development agreement with Twinwood, Simonton can receive significant property tax revenue and sales tax in the future as development takes place within the “Simonton Village”.
- Simonton has no obligation to provide services to properties covered by the Twinwood Development Agreements.
- My part as Mayor?
- I didn’t have a vote in the matter.
- The decision to approve the development agreement was entirely up to the individual members of our city council.
- In a Texas “Type ‘A’ General Law City” such as Simonton, mayors only vote to break a tie.
- In the case of the Twinwood Development Agreements, the city council’s vote was entirely unanimous in favor of the agreement.
- I signed the three agreements on behalf of the Simonton City Council, as it was my obligation.
Important and Useful Links:
- “The Wayback Machine” – Archive.org
View the original website posting and see for yourself how Simonton managed and announced the Twinwood Agreements in 2015. - Download and read the actual document that Simonton provided to the community in 2015 in advance of adopting the Twinwood Development Agreements.
View the Plats and Map of the Properties governed by the Twinwood Development Agreement that are still available online via archive.org, aka: “The Wayback Machine”.
Overview of the Twinwood Development Agreements.
Simonton cannot tax property or receive sales taxes outside of its city limits. This includes any property in its Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ). An exception to this exists when a written agreement is adopted by a city, such as through what is known collectively as the Twinwood Development Agreement that the City Council voted to approve in 2015.
The Twinwood Development Agreements include three separate agreements that were adopted by the City Council of the City of Simonton in 2015. The agreements extended the City Limits (Simonton Village) and the ETJ of the City of Simonton to extend north of Simonton from Woods Road at I-10 and south of Simonton to the Brazos River.
In general. Simonton receives no taxes within the ETJ. However, the 227 acre Twinwood Development Agreements allow for the collection of minimal Ad Valorem tax (Simonton Village) as well as sales tax sharing in the Simonton Village Municipal Management District and for sales tax sharing in the 442 acre area at Woods Road and I-10.
Definitions:
“Ad Valorem Tax” (AKA Property Tax): The money due to a taxing entity that is based on the value of the property.
“Annexation”: The action of a city or other taxing entity that brings adjacent property into either a city’s “City Limits” or into a city’s “ETJ”. At the time of the agreement, Simonton had NO authority to forcibly annex property. Annexation could only be done through the request of the property owner
“Development Agreement”: The agreement that governs the relationship and outlines the duties, and obligations of both parties when a private landowner wants to bring their property into either the city limits of a city or the ETJ of a city.
“EDC”: Economic Development Corporation. Through an election, Simonton created two EDC’s referred commonly as “EDC A” and “EDC B”. Both entities have boards appointed by the City Council that spend their own funds and operate according to their own :City-Approved” budgets. The EDC’s are governed by founding Corporate documents and By-Laws that can be modified by the City Council. Individual board members and even the entire board can be replaced at any time through action of the City Council.
“ETJ”: Extraterritorial Jurisdiction. The area immediately outside of a city’s “City Limits”. Due to its small size, Simonton, like other similar cities, has a natural ETJ that is 1/2 of a mile wide. The ETJ can be expanded by property owners requesting to be annexed. This is most-often done through some form of development agreement.