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Relating to the fee
imposed on certain property owners by a county for the establishment of street
lights along a county road.
No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
HB 3002 would amend Section 280.003 (Street Lights in
Subdivision Located in Certain Counties) of the Transportation Code. This legislation would require a county tax
assessor-collector to include a certain fee in a tax bill for property owners
in unincorporated areas near the border.
Currently, a county charges a fee for the installation and maintenance
of a street light in those areas. This legislation would make that fee a tax on
a landowner whose property benefits from having the street light installed and
maintained.
Under this bill, the Commissioners Court could obtain a lien
against a person’s property in order to receive payment for the new tax
fee.
Current law allows
counties within 150 miles of an international boarder to install street lights
on county roads in unincorporated areas of the county. In practical terms, this
statute is intended to mean areas of counties near the border where colonias exist.
The problem, as described by the bill author's office, is that although
counties sometimes install street lighting at the request of members of the
community there is no proscribed method in statute to collect the fee for
installing the lighting.
This legislation would
provide for the fee, already authorized in statute, to be collected by adding
the fee to the landowner's tax bill. The legislation would provide for a tax
lien to be assessed in the event that the landowner fails or refuses to pay the
fee.
The counties clearly
need to have a method for recouping the cost of installing the street lights
that were requested by the area residents. The lien proposed under this statute
would not be able to be used to foreclose on the property but would have
priority over a mortgage in the case of a foreclosure for other reasons.
This legislation is
carefully crafted to ensure the county can be made whole for its costs
associated with installing the street lights while balancing the property
rights of land owners by ensuring that the method for collecting the fee could
not lead to land owners losing their property through foreclosure.
For these reasons we support HB 3002 on the basis of limited government, personal responsibility, and property rights.
The Senate chamber sponsor is Senator Hinojosa.