City of Taylor and Electric Reliability Council of Texas reach sales tax agreement

City of Taylor and Electric Reliability Council of Texas reach sales tax agreement

By Community Impact Newspaper Staff Thursday, 02 July 2009

The Taylor City Council accepted a sales tax settlement from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas June 30 for approximately $3 million. The settlement covers sales tax that would be reimbursed to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts by the city for tax proceeds received from ERCOT while it held a 501(c)(6) tax-exempt status.

ERCOT converted its federal tax-exempt status to a 501(c)(4) and was allowed to receive reimbursement from the State Comptroller’s Office for sales tax paid to the City of Taylor for between Jan. 2, 2001 and April 30, 2008. The city would have had to reimburse taxes it had received for that period to the State Comptroller.

The city petitioned ERCOT to consider reimbursing the city for the loss in sales tax revenue due to the negative economic impact it would have on the city.

“This large sales tax reimbursement has been a major concern to the City of Taylor,” said City Manager Jim Dunaway in a statement. “Obviously, a loss of this magnitude would have been very difficult to overcome, but the city was prepared to do just that. This would have meant doing without and cutting back even further in the present economic climate. We are proud to have ERCOT as a major employer in Taylor and we are pleased that we were able to come to a mutually agreeable solution.”

Call 352-5448 or visit www.ci.taylor.tx.us for more information.