City, Del Mar College say Corpus Christi Housing Authority plan may cost them tax revenue

Yahoo

27-05-2025

Local officials are enlisting attorneys to look into tax exemptions for apartment properties acquired by the Corpus Christi Housing Authority — a program housing authority officials say will make more housing affordable, but a move taxing entities say will make big dents in their budgets.
In all, appraised values for the 13 apartment complexes acquired by the housing authority total at least $330 million, according to Nueces County Appraisal District records — meaning that if the property exemptions stand as proposed, that taxable value would be taken off the rolls.
City staff is estimating that the housing authority's property tax exemptions will amount to $3.5 million in lost ad valorem taxes, said City Manager Peter Zanoni, addressing the council in its May 13 meeting.
It could be as much as $7 million, he added, should there be additional acquisitions.
'That's a lot of money — $3.5 million, up to $7 million — out of the general fund,' Zanoni said. 'It's a tremendous financial impact; it's not a rounding error. It's big money, and real money.'
The city had previously been facing a projected deficit of about $7 million for the 2026 fiscal year, according to officials.
When taking into account the possibility of additional property tax losses, estimates would push that number to more than $10 million.
Corpus Christi Housing Authority CEO Gary Allsup said May 14 that acquiring the apartment complexes makes room for direly needed workforce housing — homes for people with moderate incomes too high to qualify for low-income housing but not high enough to afford market-rate prices.
'We have so many folks that are what we call 'caught in the middle,'' he said.
On its website, the housing authority describes how 'many local families are paying more than 30% of their income on rent, making them 'rent burdened' and limiting their ability to afford other necessities or save.
'The (Workforce Housing Opportunities) Program addresses this by partnering with market-rate rental properties to create mixed-income developments,' it states.
The housing authority acquires the apartment complex properties without monetary purchase, Allsup said, becoming an owner of the property grounds and also a 'small-portion owner in the actual improvements to the property.'
The housing authority's ownership makes the properties tax-exempt for apartment complexes' management companies — what is considered compensation for an agreement that requires apartment complex management to make half of their units available for workforce housing, he said.
Of those workforce housing units, 40% are intended for households bringing in 80% or less of the area median income, and 10% are earmarked for households earning 60% or less of the area median income, he said. The rental cost of the units reserved for workforce housing is dropped to a price that is considered affordable for those income brackets.
The housing authority will garner some money from annual payments related to the land leases, Allsup said.
The exact amounts were not immediately available May 14, but 'the housing authority is not getting rich off that,' he said, adding that any revenue will go toward other affordable housing programs.
Several transactions for additional acquisitions are pending, Allsup said, which would bring the total number of acquired apartment complex properties approved by a past board to about 20.
The acquisitions of the apartment complexes, should the proposed property tax exemptions stand, are expected to affect multiple taxing entities.
May 13, Del Mar College Chief Financial Officer Raul Garcia told the college Board of Regents that the conversion of the private properties could impact the 2025-26 budget.
"The combined appraised value of these properties represents a reduction in the college property tax revenue of approximately $1.1 million, which would offset tax revenues from other properties in our district," Garcia said.
City officials in late April broke the news publicly that there would likely be a budget deficit in the upcoming year, at the time projected to be about $7 million.
That figure had been landed on with the assumptions that the City Council would not raise the tax rate — currently about 60 cents per $100 appraised value — and by comparing forecast revenue to anticipated funding mandates, staff has said.
At the time, Zanoni told the council that $7 million may not sound significant when accounting for the entirety of the budget, but to put it in perspective, the full budgets of some singular departments such as libraries, animal care services and code compliance are about $5 million each.
It's believed now that the deficit may be closer to $10 million or higher, based on the housing authority's property acquisitions and prospective acquisitions, according to staff.
Although housing authority representatives didn't reach out to taxing entities, the decision to acquire the properties was done not in secret but instead in a public meeting, Allsup said.
Properties coming off the tax rolls will affect local entities' revenue, Allsup said, but he doesn't believe the $7 million cited by the city's staff is accurate.
He suggested in an earlier interview that the impact would likely be around 1% of overall budgets.
'In order to make a huge impact in our community, in providing thousands of affordable housing opportunities, it seems like a reasonable expenditure to have that kind of impact,' Allsup said.
'This is for the public good,' he said. 'I really think that's where we should focus our attention here is, 'Does Corpus Christi need workforce housing?' And if the answer to that is yes, then we've helped with that. If the answer's no, then I think they're seeing different … needs than I see because I hear constantly that we have a huge need for affordable and workforce housing.'
Questions about legality and impropriety have been raised.
Following a closed-door session, the Del Mar College Board of Regents unanimously approved authorizing college leaders and legal experts to take the 'necessary and appropriate action, including the engagement of outside counsel, to protect and pursue the college's legal status and potential claims.'
The City Council, subsequent to its executive session on the same day, issued a resolution that among other items authorized city management to 'to use all administrative, legal, and legislative means to prevent the improper and/or illegal use of property tax exemptions by the Corpus Christi Housing Authority, affiliates, and entities connected thereto.'
The housing authority's actions 'may be illegal — we're looking into that — but it's definitely improper,' said City Attorney Miles Risley, responding to questions raised by City Councilman Gil Hernandez about using verbiage that includes the word 'illegal.'
'I agree that it's improper, maybe unsavory,' Hernandez said. 'I don't know if it's 'and/or illegal.''
Allsup, responding to the resolution adopted by the council, said he believes 'there continues to be a misunderstanding of what the law is and under what programs that this is done for.'
'There's certainly not anything that's improper, and nothing illegal, in the way that these deals have been done,' he said. 'It's been very transparent.'
A new majority of board members who oversee the Corpus Christi Housing Authority were selected by Mayor Paulette Guajardo this week.
The board of directors comprises five members who serve in two-year terms.
Two new appointees replaced sitting board members whose terms had recently expired and who had been seeking reappointment, while another new appointee filled an open seat vacated by a former member who had moved, officials said.
Dated March 14, a letter addressed to Allsup shows the new appointees as former mayor Joe McComb, former councilman Greg Smith and Judith Gonzalez-Rodriguez, a school counselor at West Oso Independent School District.
The terms of Smith and Rodriguez-Gonzalez are shown as ending in April 2027. McComb is slated to serve a partial term that will expire in April 2026.
Officials identified the two sitting board members who were not reappointed as Curtis Clark, shown on the housing authority's site as an assistant vice president at IBC Bank, and Christine Belin, who was serving a partial term.
Allsup said May 15 that he was disappointed by the decision, adding that he believed the members who were not reappointed had 'done a great job.'
'I think the board has been effective,' he said, noting that the positions are held by volunteers. 'I think the board has demonstrated an excitement and a care for the citizens of Corpus Christi.'
Guajardo asserted that there hasn't been adequate explanation about the recent housing deals, saying that greater oversight is needed for the housing authority to 'ensure that transparency (and) accountability are in place because these are public funds.'
She praised the new appointees.
'I think the three of them together bring new leadership that's going to provide greater direction and transparency to the housing authority, and they're outstanding community volunteers. … They're going to be great assets,' Guajardo said.
Caller-Times reporter Olivia Garrett contributed to this story.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Corpus Christi, Del Mar College oppose housing authority program