By Anton Riecher
Medina County commissioners took preliminary steps on Nov. 18 to call a public hearing on the creation of a tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ) to facilitate development of “Project Cinco,” a $500 million data center to be located between Natalia and Lytle.
“If everything goes right it will be held during the last commissioners’ court meeting in December,” County Judge Keith Lutz said. “We will need to have a proposed agreement.”
The last scheduled commissioners’ court meeting for 2024 is Dec. 30.
A representative for county development boosters, Go Medina, informed the Natalia city council in April about “Project Cinco,” a 440-acre digital data center proposed to be built on Hwy 132 between Natalia and Lytle. “Project Cinco” is a preliminary code name intended to protect the identity of the developers.
Lutz said the project is in the hands of private developer who plans to build the center to the specifications of a prospective tenant.
“Right now we don’t know who the tenant will be,” Lutz said.
According to the office of the Texas Comptroller, a county creates a TIRZ if records all taxable value of property within the zone. That establishes a base year with the appraised value of property with the zone recorded as the base value.
As development of redevelopment occurs, the appraised value of the property in the zone should increase. The difference between the increased value of the property in the zone and the base value is capture appraised value. Taxes levied and collected on the base value remains with the participating taxing units.
The portion of the taxes collected on the captured appraised value, or tax increment, is deposited in a tax increment fund (TIF). Revenues in the TIF can only be used for improvement projects in the TIRZ.
“It just defines the area,” Lutz said. “If we give any partial tax abatement it identifies an area of economic development where we are able to do that.”
In other action, the commissioners voted to accept a maintenance bond for street and drainage improvement issued by the Hunters Ranch subdivision, unit 12, in precinct 2.
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