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Photos courtesy of
Eric Ellis and Frank Banner
City of Weston
301 Main Street
Weston, Texas 75097
(972) 382-1001
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City of Weston
Special Meeting on July 29, 2010
at 7:30pm
NOTICE is hereby given that a Special Meeting of the City Council of the City of Weston
will be held on Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. at the Weston City Hall, 301 Main Street, Weston, Texas
PROPERTY TAX
INFORMATION FOR RECENTLY DISANNEXED AREAS OF WESTON
The information
provided here is to clarify misinformation sent in a letter by former Mayor
Scott Morrissey to Weston residents recently disannexed from the city. The
letter stated that you would no longer be paying Weston taxes. This is only
partially correct.
The Texas Property Tax Code §21.01 provides that real property is taxable by the
City if it is located in the City on January 1 of each year. Chapter 26 of the
Property Tax Code addresses those instances where ad valorem taxes may be
prorated. Currently, chapter 26 provides no authority for the proration of ad
valorem taxes based on the disannexation of property after January 1. Therefore,
property owners in the four tracts disannexed from Weston’s corporate limits on
February 9, 2010 and April 13, 2010 will have to pay taxes for all of 2010.
Statements were made in City Council meetings
conducted by former Mayor Morrissey that property owners in the Pecan Farms and
Honey Creek Country Estates subdivisions would be able to request property tax
refunds from the City of Weston for prior years’ taxes.
Texas Local Government Code § 43.148 provides a mechanism whereby property
owners of disannexed property may request the refund of ad valorem taxes from
the City. Section 43.148 was adopted in 1999 by the 76th Texas Legislature. The
bill that enacted Section 43.148 is not retroactive and provides that the refund
mechanism does not apply to annexations conducted prior to September 1, 1999.
Pecan Farms and Honey Creek Country Estates area property owners will not be due
any tax or fee refunds from the City of Weston since both areas were annexed
into Weston in 1998.
Other disannexed areas were part of the City of Weston’s original incorporation
and therefore are also not eligible for a refund of any ad valorem taxes from
the City of Weston.
Without statutory authority to prorate or refund
taxes, the City of Weston is prohibited by the Texas Constitution from making
payments to property owners within the disannexed tracts.
Contact City Hall with any questions you may have.
Patti Harrington
Mayor
On 02/09/2010 the Weston City Council disannexed large tracts of land (and citizens) out of the City of Weston using Local Government Code 43.144 "Disannexation of Sparsely Populated Area in a General Law Municipality".
This is has been submitted to the Department of Justice for pre-clearance approval as required by the Voting Rights Act. (Read More)
Sec. 43.144. DISANNEXATION OF SPARSELY POPULATED AREA IN GENERAL-LAW MUNICIPALITY.
(a) The mayor and governing body of a general-law municipality by ordinance may discontinue an area as a part of the municipality if:
(1) the area consists of at least 10 acres contiguous to the municipality; and
(2) the area:
(A) is uninhabited; or
(B) contains fewer than one occupied residence or business structure for every two acres and fewer than three occupied residences or business structures on any one acre.
(b) On adoption of the ordinance, the mayor shall enter in the minutes or records of the governing body an order discontinuing the area. The area ceases to be a part of the municipality on the date of the entry of the order.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Weston, Texas is located in Northern Collin County at the intersection of FM 543 and FM 455, approximately 13 miles northwest of McKinney, Texas and 8 miles east of Celina, Texas.
Settlers arriving in the area in the early 1840’s make Weston one of the oldest towns in Collin County, Texas. William Culwell settled one-fourth mile south of present-day Weston in 1842. The city’s logo, a broken wagon wheel on a settler's wagon, was chosen based on the story, whether fact or folklore, that a broken wheel led to the community’s beginnings.
Weston was named by Larkin Adamson after his hometown of Weston, Missouri. Adamson, who settled here in 1850, built Weston’s first store and was named its first postmaster in 1854. Weston was one of the first of five cities in Texas to have rural free delivery beginning March 15, 1900.
In 1880 the town had two churches, a school, five general stores, three grocery stores and two gin mills. A stage coach made daily runs to Van Alstyne. Weston was first incorporated in 1887 with William Denny as its first mayor.
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