Three Rights Make a Left

I feel like Rip Van Winkle

In 1998, shortly after I was elected Kaufman County Commissioner from Precinct 2, Judge Wayne Gent asked if I would serve on the board of directors of the North Central Texas Housing Finance Corporation. I had little idea what it was and what it did, but I agreed. I learned that the board was created in the early eighties when Judge Gent was a County Judge the first time. (He is one of the few judges to serve at two different times.) At that time, there were several Housing Finance Corporations created across the state. Some were single cities or counties, and some were a mix. The North Central Texas Housing Finance Corporation was created as a combination of ten counties and five cities. The Counties were Kaufman, Hunt, Rockwall, Ellis, Navarro, Parker, Johnson, Somerville, Hood, and Palo Pinto Counties. The five city members were: Duncanville, Cedar Hill, Lancaster, De Soto, and Waxahachie.

After I served on the board a couple of years, our president, Makia Epie, who was Mayor Pro tem of Cedar Hill told me he needed to step down as President and asked if I would take his place. I agreed and was elected President for five years.

In those days, we were a conduit for financing of mortgages for first time homebuyers, and we also financed multi-family projects. A couple of those are still in operation along I-20 in Terrell and in Waxahachie along I-35. The part I loved the most was the singlefamily program. We would be allocated $25 million in “volume cap” through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to put prospective homeowners into their first homes. Although we were a nonprofit, we generated enough revenue through our multifamily projects that we could pay down payments and closing costs for our single-family program.

A year or so after I became president, our advisors said that if we split into two entities, we would double the number of single- family projects because each entity would qualify for $25 million in volume cap. So, we decided that the five counties to the west would split and form the Northwest Central Texas Housing Finance Corporation. As I remember, at that time we had about half a million dollars in the bank and, when asked how we should divide it, I suggested “down the middle”. And that’s what we did.

In 2007, I left Commissioners Court and resigned as president of the North Central Texas Housing Finance Board. Makia Epie again took over as President. I was off of the board for fifteen years.

A few months after we moved to Lone Oak in Hunt County, I talked to County Judge Stovall and asked about the board. He said they had pretty much been inactive for years, and Hunt County’s board member was Jessica Sims, his Executive Administrative Assistant. I told the judge my background with the organization and said I would love to serve on the board again. A few weeks later, Judge Stovall asked me to be at a Hunt County Commissioner’s Court meeting where I was once again appointed to the board.

Here is the Rip Van Winkle part. First, because of Covid, they had been meeting via Zoom for the past couple of years, so my first meeting was via Zoom. Secondly, when I got my packet for the meeting, I learned that there were two apartment projects on the agenda, one in Royse City which has city limits in both Rockwall and Hunt County and another project in Greenville on one of the most prime properties in the city.

I read through the details and found that the projects now being proposed were very different from anything we had ever done before. The proposal was for our little non-profit Housing Finance Corporation to be a one percent owner of the apartments and serve as the General Contractor. Keep in mind, we have no staff, and we are run completely with volunteers. The primary effect of our one percent ownership was that the property would not pay ANY ad velour tax. What’s more, there would not be any sales tax collected in the construction of the apartments. And, only about half of the units were actually “affordable housing” and would be offered for reduced rent. The rest of the units would pay full rent.

My first thought was the impact on schools. First, how can the school educate a new influx of students with no offsetting revenue? My second though was how can schools who finance the construction of new schools based on future revenues absorb property being taken off of the tax rolls?

Another concern was the impact on existing properties who are paying taxes being put at a competitive disadvantage.

Keep in mind, this was just a Memorandum of Understanding, the first step in the process. At the meeting, I made a motion to table both the Royse City and Greenville projects and ask the developer to go to the taxing entities affected (city, county, school, hospital district etc.) and to ask them to consider a resolution supporting the project. My motions died for lack of a second.

Both motions to pass the Memorandum of Understanding passed with only one dissenting vote….mine.

Fortunately, both projects were dropped in Royse City and Greenville due, in large part, to involvement of Hunt County Judge Stovall, but several others in Dallas County member cities and Waxahachie are ongoing.

It turns out that all of the officers of the organization are from member cities in Dallas County and Waxahachie with no County Member in leadership. In my earlier service on the board, there was equal participation by Cities and Counties. As I said in the headline, I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle waking up in a different world.