Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0600 Page: 1 of 7
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ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
GREG ABBOTT
January 29, 2008
The Honorable William J. Stroman, Jr. Opinion No. GA-0600
Sterling County Attorney
Box 88 Re: Whether a county commissioners court is prohibited
Sterling City, Texas 76951 from executing a tax abatement agreement with a wind
turbine company for its fixtures and improvements to
be located on a commissioner's real property; whether
a commissioner who will receive royalties from a wind
turbine company must abstain from voting on a tax
abatement agreement with the company (RQ-0612-GA)
Dear Mr. Stroman:
Section 312.402(a) of the Tax Code authorizes a county to execute tax abatement agreements
with the owners of taxable property located in a reinvestment zone, but subsection (d) expressly
excludes property owned or leased by a member of a commissioners court as subjects of such
agreements. See TEX. TAX CODE ANN. 312.402(a), (d) (Vernon Supp. 2007). You ask whether
subsection (d)'s exclusion prohibits a county commissioners court from executing a tax abatement
agreement with a wind turbine company for its fixtures and improvements to be located on a
commissioner's real property.' You also ask whether the commissioner, who will receive royalties
and other payments from the wind turbine company, must abstain from voting on a tax abatement
agreement with the company. Stroman Brief, supra note 1, at 2.
You explain that Sterling County has created reinvestment zones to grant tax abatements to
wind turbine companies. Id. The companies obtain a leasehold from a property owner, construct
wind turbines on the property, and pay the owner a royalty on the electricity generated by the
turbines. Id. One such company has petitioned the commissioners court for a tax abatement
agreement for the fixtures and improvements it plans to construct on real property belonging to a
member of the commissioners court. Id. You state that the tax abatement agreement would concern
only the fixtures and improvements owned by the wind turbine company but not the underlying real
property owned by the commissioner. Id. at 4-5. Because the fixtures and improvements are owned
by the wind turbine company, not by a member of the commissioners court, you reason that the
fixtures and improvements qualify for tax abatement under section 312.402. See id. at 5-6.
'See Letter and Brief from Honorable William J. Stroman, Jr., Sterling County Attorney, to Honorable Greg
Abbott, Attorney General of Texas, at 2 (July 31, 2007) (on file with the Opinion Committee, also available at http://
www.oag.state.tx.us) [hereinafter Stroman Brief].
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0600, text, January 29, 2008; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275496/m1/1/: accessed July 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.