Day care facilities in Providence Village will not receive a break in their town property tax bill, the Town Council decided Tuesday evening.
The reasons given were the uncertainty in the number of facilities that might have qualified in the future out of the five in-process or already completed facilities and because commercial property tax helps offset the tax burden for Providence Village residents.
'I would be hesitant to do anything right now, for sure, while we still don't even know how many child care facilities we'll end up with,' council member Klayton Rutherford said. 'Maybe this is something we can look at down the road when we're more built out and we know the lasting impact of this, but right now, I feel like it's too early.'
Providence Village's longtime child care center, the Kid's Corral, brought the request to the council based on a change in state law.
Council member Dustin Clay said he would be in favor of the change only if the benefit would go back into the community directly.
'The principles of these companies, they're a layer above this is an LLC, so these principles are the ones who are going to be benefiting from an exemption, not the locals,' he said.
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Doramus, who led the meeting, and Mayor Pro Tem Kelly Nelson, who attended online, echoed Rutherford and Clay's concerns.
Had the council approved the change, they would have been required to grant a 50%-100% exemption for the town's portion of a qualifying child care center's town property tax bill, based on Senate Bill 1145 and Joint Resolution 64 from the 2023 legislative session that voters also approved in November of that year.
To qualify, the facility must be one 'at which at least 20 percent of the total number of children enrolled at the facility receive subsidized childcare services provided through the child-care services program administered by the Texas Workforce Commission.'
Although Town Attorney Fritz Quast's interpretation of the law was that the council could rescind the decision in the future, doing so would likely put a future council in a tricky position, he said.
'Is a future town council politically going to want to do that?' he said. '… It's politically difficult to put that genie back in the bottle, so to speak.'
Also at the meeting, Roberson introduced Planning and Community Development Manager Becky Ross, who is new to the town staff but not the area.
'I am very excited to be back along the 380 Corridor, and back in Denton County, which is where I started my municipal career and hopefully it's where I plan on ending my municipal career at some point,' Ross said after the meeting.
The council also approved a zoning change from agriculture and planned development to Business District (B-2) for 2.6 acres at the southeast corner of Main Street and Fishtrap Road that was opposed by Matt and Nicolle Steadman, as well as approved the preliminary plat for 1.9 acres that adjourn the Chatham Reserve development along Main Street.
Steve Southwell received the council's vote to be appointed to the Board of Managers of the Denco Area 9-1-1 District as longtime board member Sue Tejml did not pursue another term.
