Houston Is Nominating United, Waste Management and Enchanted Rock for $8.75 Million in State Tax Refunds - and One Company's Math Does Not Match the State's Rules

Buried in Tuesday's consent agenda - the part of the meeting council usually passes in a single vote - items 15, 16 and 17 nominate three companies as Texas Enterprise Projects. If the state approves all three at the full amounts in the city's paperwork, United Airlines, Waste Management and Enchanted Rock could get back up to $8.75 million in Texas sales tax over five years.

The program's arithmetic is public. Under the Texas Enterprise Zone Program, a designated company claims back state sales tax it already paid: a project of $5 million to $150 million earns $2,500 per job, and a Triple Jumbo of $250 million or more earns $7,500 per job, with every tier capped at 500 jobs. Houston holds nine nominations in the current two-year cycle, which ends August 31, 2027, and had used two of them as of October 21. United's nomination fits the top tier exactly: about $250 million of investment at 2800 North Terminal Road in District B, 500 new jobs at an average wage of $112,000, supporting the airline's Terminal B rebuild at Bush Intercontinental - $3.75 million over five years. Enchanted Rock, the natural-gas backup-generator company headquartered on Vine Street in District H, plans $32 million with 400 new jobs, worth $1.25 million at the ordinary tier.

Waste Management's paperwork is where the numbers stop agreeing. The Houston-headquartered company, at 800 Capitol Street in District I, plans $250 million over five years, mostly in software and hardware - but lists 75 new jobs and 425 retained jobs, while stating a ceiling of $7,500 per job for up to 500 jobs, or $3.75 million. The city's own October 21 slide labels the Double and Triple Jumbo tiers new jobs only, and the governor's office is plainer still: those projects may not count retained jobs for benefit, and a Triple Jumbo must create at least 500 jobs. On the state's published rules, the $3.75 million figure in Tuesday's resolution does not add up.

The state, not the council, makes the final designation, so the likeliest outcome is a smaller award or none - and the nominations cost the city budget nothing, because the refunds come out of state sales tax paid by every Texan. The city's filing to the state is due December 1, which leaves three weeks for anyone who wants the Waste Management numbers explained to ask their council member before the paperwork goes to Austin.