Incentives & Financing

Local Incentives

City of Waller EDC will help find ways to lower your cost of locating in Waller. If you plan on applying for tax incentives, YOU MUST APPLY BEFORE YOU BEGIN CONSTRUCTION.

Tax Abatements

City of Waller offers tax abatement for qualifying businesses. Each application for incentives is considered on a case-by-case basis. While not all companies applying for incentives will be successful, we will make every attempt to make expanding or relocating as inexpensive as possible

The first step is to complete an economic impact analysis. Contact us for the form. This service is free. Once the analysis is completed, and the results are favorable, then you will be encouraged to fill out the abatement application.

Note: policies may change without notice. Every effort is made to provide the latest here online. Please call if you have any questions. When you are ready to complete the economic impact analysis, give us a call at 936-931-5151

Chapter 380 Development Agreements

In addition, the State of Texas has given cities the flexibility to create specific development agreements often referred to as Chapter 380 agreements. These agreements are usually best suited for larger projects and industrial development. They are negotiated based on the total impact a project has on the community, the overall strength of the project and where the project is located. This tool allows cities to negotiate directly with developers and businesses when necessary. These agreements can take a wide variety of forms and are negotiated based on the specific requirements and project specifications. Generally these agreements help to get projects started much faster than some of the standard legislated solutions such as a MUD district. Call our office for details if you think your project will benefit from this type of agreement.

Freeport tax exemptions

The Freeport Tax Exemption is an inventory tax incentive applied to products shipped into and out of the State of Texas within a six-month period. The State of Texas allows counties and cities to raise tax revenue through personal property tax including inventory. This is a challenge to manufacturers that have large inventory costs and companies specializing in distribution of products. For the state and local communities to stay competitive in these qualifying industries, the Texas Legislature has created an exemption to tax on inventory, allowing taxing jurisdictions to institute the Freeport Tax Exemption.

Freeport exemptions are available from the City of Waller and Waller ISD. If your business can benefit from this program, call our office to discuss.

State Incentives

The City of Waller EDC will assist in applying for these programs.

Enterprise Zone

The Enterprise Zone designation allows us to apply for state assistance for projects that are creating new jobs.

Participation & Benefits to Participation

Local communities must nominate a company as an Enterprise Project to be eligible to participate in the Enterprise Zone Program. Legislation limits allocations to the state and local communities per biennium. The state accepts applications quarterly with deadlines on the first working day of March, June, September and December.

Designated projects are eligible to apply for state sales and use tax refunds on qualified expenditures. The level and amount of refund is related to the capital investment and jobs created at the qualified business site.

Participation Requirements

Communities may nominate projects, for a designation period of not less than one year up to five years, non-inclusive of a 90-day window prior to the application deadline. Employment and capital investment commitments must be incurred and met within this timeframe.

Projects may be physically located in or outside of an Enterprise Zone.

• If located within a zone, the company commits that at least 25% of their new employees will meet economically disadvantaged or enterprise zone residence requirements.
• If located outside of a zone, the company commits that at least 35% of their new employees will meet economically disadvantaged or enterprise zone residency requirements.
• Under limited statutory provisions, an enterprise project designation may be granted for job retention.

Texas Capital Fund

The Texas Capital Fund (TCF) program is a federal HUD grant and administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture. The TCF program encourages business development, retention, or expansion by providing funds to eligible applicants. Funds will be awarded for the express purpose of assisting in the creation of new permanent jobs or retention of existing permanent jobs, primarily for low and moderate income (LMI) persons. In order to comply with the national goal of expanding economic opportunities for LMI persons, a minimum of 51 percent or more of all the jobs created or retained by the business must benefit persons who qualify as LMI.

These funds are a part of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and is known as the Texas Community Development Program (TCDP) in our state. The program is only available to non-entitlement city or county governments. Non-entitlement cities/counties do not receive direct funding from HUD and typically include cities with a population of less than 50,000 and counties of less than 200,000. There are over 1,200 eligible cities and counties in the state. Awarded cities and counties receive funds to make public infrastructure and/or real estate improvements to support a specific business that is expanding or beginning operations in the applicant's jurisdiction and are contingent upon the business making a capital investment and creating/retaining jobs for Texans.