There are four streams of tax revenue that Oak Ridge North receives to fund city services and operations. WHO PAYS FOR WHAT? Oak Ridge North’s property tax rate is $0.4809 per $100 valuation, $0.2623 of which funds general main- tenance and operations and $0.2184 of which goes toward repayment of debt. Residents and business owners in Oak Ridge North pay this tax. PROPERTY TAXES: Oak Ridge North’s sales tax rate is 8.25 percent, 6.25 percent of which goes to the state of Texas and 2 percent of which goes to the city. A total of 1 percent supports general operations, while 0.5 percent goes to the Oak Ridge North Economic Devel- opment Corporation and 0.5 percent is used to offset the local property tax rate. Customers at businesses and restaurant patrons pay this tax. The state of Texas levies a tax rate of 8.25 percent on sales of mixed beverages including distilled spirits, beer, ale and wine. Restaurant patrons pay this tax on certain drinks. MIXED-DRINK TAX: SALES TAX:
and Hanna Road had a traffic count of 16,170 vehicles per day, during a traffic count in 2017. That number is projected to double to 32,000 vehicles per day by 2025, according to the Houston-Gal- veston Area Council’s South County Mobility Plan from 2014. While Phil Nicosia’s 25-year-old restaurant, Pallotta’s Italian Grill off I-45, is not located directly on Robin- son Road, he said he also would like Robinson Road to be addressed. “I think people, if they can, avoid the area, and that’s not good for busi- ness,” Nicosia said. The city’s lack of available land to annex also creates challenges, city officials said. Neely said much of Oak Ridge North is built-out with limited land available within current city lim- its. As a general law city—a city with a population of less than 5,000—future annexation of land in its extraterrito- rial jurisdiction could be a challenge. ETJ is the legal ability of a government to exercise authority beyond its normal boundaries. “The city’s ETJ still has approxi- mately 200 acres of vacant land avail- able,” Neely said. “However, while we have ample developable ETJ, we are not eligible to annex those landowners without their initial petition.” ONWARD, UPWARD With sales tax revenue moving upward, Kuykendall and Neely said the city is already working to address the biggest issue cited by business owners: Robinson Road. “We have a solid plan in place that will eliminate much of the congestion at Hanna Road,” Kuykendall said. Neely said engineering work on the realignment of Robinson and Hanna roads is slated to be finished in Febru- ary. Additionally, city officials hope to combine the additional turn lane from Robinson Road into Oak Ridge North Commerce Park with the realignment
project when funding for the project becomes available. Neely said the city is also continu- ing to work with Montgomery County Precinct 3 to create a single-point interchange at Woodlands Parkway and Robinson Road. The $4.5 million project will improve the I-45 over- pass into Oak Ridge North through the Patsy Lane/Westwood Drive intersec- tion and reconfigure the intersection with a dedicated center turn lane and synchronized traffic signals. The city is also funding a turn lane into the commercial properties located at the southeast corner of Robinson Road at I-45, Neely said. However, construction timelines for these proj- ects had not been announced as of press time. Despite some of the limitations the Oak Ridge North business community faces, local business owners agreed the pros outweigh the cons. “When we first started, this center that we’re in was mostly empty, and some of it had been empty for quite awhile,” King said. “Today, I think we’re fully occupied, so that’s success right there.” Neely said 2019 is already off to a great start with new businesses such as Faded Glory Barbershop, Emler Swim School and Joinus Vinyl. Kuykendall said he is confident in Oak Ridge North’s future as a busi- ness-friendly community. “I would like to see a hotel and con- ference center on the vacant prop- erty between Lane Lane and Robin- son Road,” Kuykendall said. “We have had one project that fell through and are actively working to bring another such project home. As anyone would tell you, I also want a Whataburger or some other burger franchise in Oak Ridge North. We have the traffic and
a lot of extra money to spend because they were working on fixing their homes,” said Jen King, owner of Space Cadets Collection Collection—an Oak Ridge North comic book shop. On top of Hurricane Harvey and the oil and gas slump, in October 2017 city officials announced The Crowne Plaza Hotel & Conference Center would not be developed in the city creating another economic barrier. The 154-room hotel was slated to open at the intersection of I-45 and Robinson Road and was expected to bolster the city’s revenue sources, as the city’s first hotel. After the hotel failed to materialize, City Council had to reduce its projected sales tax reve- nue in FY 2017 by $284,658. Neely said the city is continuing to work to find a solution for the site. Despite these obstacles, sales tax revenue continues to climb in 2019. Allocations were up by nearly 19 per- cent year over year from January 2018, according to Texas comptroller data. PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS Aside from the external factors affecting the local economy, local business owners say physical barri- ers—including traffic and a landlocked perimeter—have also affected Oak Ridge North economically. While city officials have been work- ing for many years to improve Robin- son Road—one of Oak Ridge North’s primary thoroughfares—local busi- ness owner Adam Lewandowski said the road’s traffic affects his business, Wood’s Feed Store, on a daily basis as it is located on Robinson Road. “We generally have to tell our cus- tomers to come before 4 p.m. and after 5:30-6 p.m. to avoid the traffic,” Lewandowski said. Despite Oak Ridge North only having a population of 3,107, according to 2017 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the section of Robinson Road between I-45
*HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX:
Although Oak Ridge North does not have a hotel, if the city did have
a hotel it would add hotel occupancy tax as an additional revenue stream. The hotel occupancy rate is 13 per- cent, of which 7 percent goes to the city and is used to promote tourism and the local hotel industry. The city was close to adding its first hotel in 2017, however it failed to materialize.
are waiting for one to find us.” ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BEN THOMPSON
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The Woodlands edition • February 2019 r r
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