The purpose of this Mayor and Council Communication (M&C) is to re-designate the Polytechnic/Wesleyan Neighborhood Empowerment Zone (NEZ) as Fort Worth Neighborhood Empowerment Reinvestment Zone No. 6 so that the City can continue to provide tax abatements for properties within the NEZ. The City is currently eligible to participate in NEZ tax abatements and has established guidelines and criteria to govern tax abatement agreements (Resolution No. 4782-05-2017, M&C G-19010). The Polytechnic/Wesleyan Area was originally designated as a NEZ (Resolution No. 2894) and as Neighborhood Empowerment Reinvestment Zone No. 6 (Ordinance No. 15344) on November 26, 2002 (M&C G-13815), both of which were subsequently renewed on November 6, 2012 (M&C G-17728) through Resolution No. 4144 and Ordinance No. 20488. The NEZ is in place for a period of 10 years; however, under state law, reinvestment zones have maximum terms of five years. As a result, the designation of the original NEZ reinvestment zone expired on November 5, 2017 and needs to be re-designated through the remainder of the 10-year term of the NEZ to remain eligible to participate in the NEZ tax abatement program. The Texas Property Redevelopment and Tax Abatement Act (Act) requires a public hearing. Notice of the public hearing was (1) delivered to the governing body of each affected taxing unit and (2) published in a newspaper of general circulation in the City at least seven days prior to this public hearing. The Polytechnic/Wesleyan NEZ and Fort Worth Neighborhood Empowerment Reinvestment Zone No. 6 are located in COUNCIL DISTRICTS 5 and 8. This M&C does not request approval of a contract with a business entity.
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