Tax-Abatement

Ask about noise at Commissioners Court and you get the same answer every time: that’s what the abatement agreement is for — we’ll put conditions in it. Six hundred people in Hood County tried to build an entire city from scratch because conditions were not enough. The company sued in federal court to stop the election. Here is why. Where the sound comes from A large data center makes noise in three places: the cooling equipment, running continuously; the transformers that step grid power down for the building; and the backup generators, during testing. ...

On July 27 the Commissioners Court threw out Leon County’s tax abatement rules and adopted new ones. I read the old and the new side by side. Parts of the rewrite are a genuine improvement, and I’ll get to those. But six things came out of our rules that day: The twenty-job minimum The requirement that half the new hires live in Leon County The step-down schedule that shrank the tax break year by year The rule barring projects that create adverse impacts on adjacent properties The rule barring projects that pose a hazard to public safety The requirement that the project wouldn’t have been built here anyway Every number an applicant could actually fail is gone. ...

There’s a new application sitting in the County Judge’s office, and it’s a big one. Crusoe Technologies, LLC — a Denver company — wants Leon County to carve a piece of Precinct 3 into a reinvestment zone and grant it a property tax abatement to build an AI data center campus. Multiple buildings, electrical substations, banks of backup generators. The works. They’ve put a number on it: $34 billion at full build-out. That number does a lot of heavy lifting in this application, so I read the whole thing — alongside the county’s own abatement rules — to see what we’d actually get in return. The short version: not much, and they’re asking for more than our rules allow. ...

When Process Matters More Than the Outcome Over the past several months, I pushed hard for Leon County to form a 391 Planning Commission. I believed then—and still believe—that counties need better planning tools to deal with large-scale projects and growth pressures. If you’re new to what one of these is, start here: 👉 What Is a Texas Chapter 391 Planning Committee? So recently some people have asked me a fair question: ...

Leon County has responded to a Texas Public Information Act (PIA) request dated January 7, 2026, regarding communications involving certain county officials and identified entities for the period June 1, 2023 through the present. Summary of what the letter says The county acknowledges receipt of the request and states it conducted a reasonable search for responsive records. The county says some responsive records are being withheld under exceptions to disclosure, including: Attorney-client privilege (Texas Government Code §552.107) for confidential communications involving legal counsel. Economic development information (Texas Government Code §552.131), related to ongoing or prospective economic development negotiations. Internal advice and deliberations (Texas Government Code §552.111) connected to policymaking and decision-making processes. The letter specifically states that some withheld information involves discussions and negotiations related to: Potential tax abatements Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs) Reinvestment zones Other incentive-related matters The county indicates it has requested a ruling from the Texas Attorney General to determine what may be withheld and what must be released. Non-exempt information, and any additional information required after the Attorney General’s ruling, will be released later. Why This Matters Public statements from county leadership have suggested that no tax abatements or incentive deals are being pursued. This letter confirms that the county is withholding information specifically because it relates to active or prospective negotiations involving abatements and incentives. ...

I want to start by acknowledging something important. One Leon County commissioner (TJ Foley) has already come out publicly and said: He is against the data center coming here He is not in favor of granting a tax abatement But if the company were to build anyway and later request an abatement, he would reconsider in order to do what’s best for the county That kind of clarity matters. Whether people agree with him or not, it shows leadership. ...

A lot of people have asked a fair question: If the county can’t legally stop a data center from being built on private land, why focus so much on the tax abatement? The short answer is this: Because the tax abatement is the most meaningful leverage the county — and the public — actually has. The county can’t “ban” a data center — but it can refuse to subsidize one In Texas, counties generally have very limited zoning authority. That means: ...

One issue that has not received nearly enough attention in discussions about large industrial projects is first responder readiness. This matters even more in Leon County, where fire protection is handled almost entirely by volunteers. Our current reality Leon County already hosts several large industrial facilities, including multiple solar farm installations. Many of those projects received tax abatements from the county. After reviewing those abatement agreements, one thing stands out: ...

Yes — a PILOT can exist without a tax abatement — but it’s important to understand what that really means, because it works very differently than most people assume. This explainer focuses on how PILOTs work in Texas, especially at the county level. What is a PILOT? A PILOT is a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes. It is not a tax. It is a voluntary payment a company agrees to make by contract. ...