June2008

News

06/29/2008

Bury+Partners, Inc. Underwrites the First Annual Chamber Mobility Forum

Transportation planners and experts are expected to travel from near and far (on Cy-Fair’s own Highway 290) to take part in the Bury+Partners, Inc. Annual Mobility Forum on Monday, August 25 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at The Berry Center at Barker-Cypress and West roads, 8877 Barker Cypress.

Area businesses and Cy-Fair citizens will have the chance to discuss key mobility issues facing the fast growth in the Cy-Fair region at this landmark event, which will feature the Chamber’s own transportation “guru,” Bill Rowden as moderator.

The panel of mobility experts from Harris County Toll Road Authority , Texas Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Houston Airport System, and the Houston-Galveston Area Council will provide brief introductions and then open up the floor to a question & answer session.

“Those involved in the area’s mobility projects and issues will be here to talk about the future of our transportation system,” said Cy-Fair Chamber President Erin Al-Salman. “It promises to be very educational and informative.”

In addition to Bury+Partners, Inc. underwriting the event, the following are sponsoring tables; Bridgeland, Caldwell Companies, CenterPoint Energy, Cobb, Fendley & Associates Inc., Jersey Meadow Golf Course, Landtech Consultants Inc., LJA Engineering & Surveying Inc., Lone Star College-CyFair, Pate Engineers Inc., Raba-Kistner Consultants Inc., Terracon Consultants Inc., West Houston Association and WM Shirley & Associates.

Reservations for this luncheon are required in advance. Table sponsorships are still available for $750. Individual tickets will also be available for $60. For additional information or reservations, call Sherri Padalino at the Chamber Office at 281.373.1390.

06/22/2008

Towne Lake Independence Celebration is set for July 5 th

Come and join us where the stars and stripes proudly wave on the shores of Towne Lake to help us launch our First Annual Towne Lake Independence Celebration. Enjoy an evening of food, drinks, entertainment, activities and, of course, a Texas-sized fireworks display on Houston’s fourth largest lake and first place for lake resort living – Towne Lake a Caldwell Community connected by water.

• Saturday, July 5 th 7:30-9:00 pm

• Free Admission

• Food and Drinks Available

• Family Zone

• Activities will be at the Community Center, 9214 W. Bridgeport Pass Circle

• Fireworks begin at nightfall over the lake

• Cy-Fair Fire Department will host a free truck demonstration

• Bring your lawn chairs and blankets

• No Coolers or pets, please

• TowneLakeTexas.com • (281)256-2772

Sponsors for the event are CenterPoint Energy, Chuy’s, Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce, Cy-Fair Magazine, David Weekley Homes, David Powers Homes, HEB, Houston Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Jason's Deli - Copperfield, JNS Insurance Agency/Farmers Insurance Group, K Hovnanian’s Four Seasons, Keller-Williams Realty Greater Northwest, New York Pizzeria – 290 & Highway 6, North Cypress Medical Center, The Backyard Grill, Village Builders and Waste Management.

06/22/2008

Houston Distributing Company Monte Carlo Night is coming up!

High - and low - rollers and their entourages should make plans for the Chamber's 2008 Houston Distributing Company Monte Carlo Night scheduled for Friday July 25, from 7:30 - 11:30 pm at Houston Distributing Company, 7100 High Life Drive .

The jet-setting event will feature a cash bar and hors d'oeuvres provided by Hooters – Northwest Freeway, and Cy-Fair Magazine will be providing desserts.

"This will be a great opportunity to network with community members and their guests in a relaxed fun atmosphere," said Erin Al-Salman, president of the chamber explained. "You can try your hand at one of the gaming tables or dance to the lively music provided by our disc jockey or even just sit and visit at our 'café' tables," she added.

Receipts from the gaming tables will be exchanged for chances to win several exciting raffle prizes.

In addition to Houston Distributing Company and Coors Brewing Company , which is underwriting the event, sponsors to date include: Alpine Field Services Inc., AmegyBank of Texas, Comfort Suites, Cy-Fair Lifestyles & Homes, Cy-Fair Magazine, Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center Hospital, Executive Inn & Suites, Hooters – Northwest Freeway, Houston Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Houston Community Newspapers/The SUN, Independence Bank N.A., Jersey Meadow Golf Course, Kwik Kar of Copperfield, Legacy Learning Center, Maid Brigade of NW Houston, Motel 6, Signs Now and Strong Vision Center.

"We appreciate the generosity of our underwriter and sponsors," Al-Salman said. "Their commitment to our Chamber and our members provides the funding necessary for these kinds of networking events. One of our major objectives is to offer 'relationship-building' opportunities in as many varied situations as we can," she added.

For additional information or reservations, call Sherri Padalino at the Chamber Office at 281.373.1390.

06/17/2008

Chamber Member Offers Advice on Wading Through the Revised State Business Tax

2008 marked the first year businesses paid the revised state business tax – or “gross margin” tax – and the paperwork and guidelines were so confusing that the Texas Comptroller’s Office extended the deadline for filing returns by one month, said David McKinney, CPA, a principal with MH&S Accountants & Consultants and a Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce board member.

That deadline has passed – June 16 – but Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce members can start preparing now for next year’s tax return, said McKinney. He walked Chamber members through a sample return at the June 17 General Membership Luncheon at Raveneaux Country Club.

“My goal is to provide you with the planning tools you need next year,” McKinney said. “This topic seems complicated because it is. There are 28 pages of instructions for a two-page return.”

The Texas Legislature passed a bill that created the basic structure of the revised business tax in a special session during the 2005 legislative session. Some adjustments were made to the legislation during the 2007 session.

“Legislators were under pressure from homeowners to reduce property taxes, so they put forth this plan,” McKinney said.

McKinney said that after filing returns this year, businesses that brought in more than $10 million in revenue paid between 5-20 times the amount of tax they paid under the previous business franchise tax structure, and businesses that brought in less than $10 million paid 5-7 times the amount of tax they paid in 2007.

Fewer businesses are exempt from this tax, McKinney said. Sole proprietorships, general partnerships owned directly by the partners, and businesses that derive at least 90 percent of revenues from “passive” sources – dividends and interest, royalties, etc. – are exempt from the margins tax.

Businesses with total revenue below $300,000 per year do not pay the tax. The same goes for entities whose tax bill is less than $1,000.

Margin Tax Details

Based on the information in the original bill filed – House Bill 3 – about 150,000 to 200,000 more entities that do business in Texas will pay the margin tax than paid Texas’s franchise tax.

Under the previous franchise tax only corporations and limited liability companies pay the tax, which is .25 percent of net taxable capital or 4.5 percent of net taxable earned surplus.

Under the new margin tax, corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, professional associations, joint ventures, business trusts and other entities with liability protection pay the tax, which is either 1 percent, or .5 percent of one of the lesser of the following three options:

• 70 percent of total revenue

• Total revenue minus cost of goods sold

• Total revenue minus compensation and benefits

The margin is the percentage of business conducted in the state of Texas. Companies must file combined tax returns.

Companies primarily involved in wholesale and retail trades, and eating and drinking establishments pay the .5 percent tax rate. All other companies pay the 1 percent tax rate. There is also an “EZ” rate - .575 percent – for companies with $10 million or less in total annual revenue.

Some deductions are allowed.

“A company must decide which is greater – the cost of goods sold or compensation,” McKinney said. “The goal is to make our gross margins smaller, and to pay less.”

McKinney said he believes the margin tax penalizes start-up companies and those that operate at a loss for the year.

“Many businesses will suffer and the additional cost is passed on to you and me,” he said. “It leads to what I call the ‘gross margins pyramiding,’ where you pay a tax on a tax on a tax.”

“Retail prices go up in the end, and then we also have to pay higher sale tax on the higher prices,” McKinney said. “We may start to see more businesses doing business out of state.”

Additional information about the margin tax is located on the Texas State Comptroller’s web site at http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/franchise/.

06/22/2008

Sprint Presents Salute to Law Enforcement donates to local Charities

Co-Chair April Jones (left) with Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union, Chief Alan Bragg (left center) with Spring I.S.D. Police Department and Sponsor Tod Doughty (right) with Sprint presented a $5,000 check to Richard Hartley(right center) with The 100 Club, Inc.

Co-Chair April Jones (left) with Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union, Chief Alan Bragg (left center) with Spring I.S.D. Police Department and Sponsor Tod Doughty (right) with Sprint presented a $1,000 check to Carol Lane (right center) with Greater Houston C.O.P.S.

06/22/2008

June Officer of the Month

This months Officer of the month award goes to Deputy James Baker with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Northwest Command Division. The sponsors for the award were Justin Lindstrom (left) with Cy-Fair Rotary Club and Jersey Meadow Golf Course.

06/05/2008

Highway 290 Reconstruction Project has Uncertain Future

The future of the current Highway 290/Hempstead Highway reconstruction project is up in the air due to the state transportation department’s budget challenges, and the project may be done in pieces or stretched over a longer-range timeline if the state does not identify more funding options during the 2009 Texas Legislative session, said Patricia Waskowiak, the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Public Outreach and Policy Program Manager in the agency’s Transportation Department.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council is an organization that provides various services to governmental agencies in a 13-county region. On the transportation front, H-GAC’s Transportation Policy Council is the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for an eight-county region, and in that capacity sets spending priorities for federal transportation dollars that come to the region and administers a 20-year list of transportation projects that are needed to improve mobility in that eight-county area.

The Highway 290/Hempstead Highway project is on that list, but is under scrutiny because the Texas Department of Transportation does not have funds in the budget to complete all, or even a significant part, of the $4.9 billion project in the next 10 years.

“Highway 290 is up in the air,” Waskowiak told members of the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce’s Transportation Committee June 5. “We (H-GAC) are working with the Texas Department of Transportation to see what projects can move forward.”

“I think something will happen with Highway 290, but it may not be the massive redevelopment project that is now planned,” she said.

According to the current plan, TXDOT will widen Highway 290 from the U.S. 290/Loop 610/Interstate 10 interchange to FM 2920 near Waller. TXDOT or the Harris County Toll Road Authority will build a toll-road facility with free frontage lanes on the parallel Hempstead Highway . Space is set aside on Hempstead Highway for a possible commuter rail or light-rail line, which would probably be built by another transportation agency, such as the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County.

Waskowiak said TXDOT’s Katy Freeway reconstruction project cost more than planned, and therefore “ate up” future federal transportation funding that would have been use on other projects, such as Highway 290.

She said H-GAC’s Transportation Policy Council and agency officials are looking for ways to provide short-term relief to Highway 290 commuters. She said Metro has expressed interest in building a commuter rail system on the Union Pacific Railroad line that parallels Hempstead Highway and Highway 290, and UPRR officials say they are open to discussing the possibility.

The Chamber’s Transportation Committee/Highway 290 Passenger Rail Coalition (290 PRC) has been lobbying for a Highway 290 passenger rail line for years, and applauded the corridor’s designation as one of the top five candidates for a commuter rail system in the Houston region in H-GAC’s Regional Commuter Rail Connectivity Study.

Metro does not have a Highway 290 commuter rail project in place now, but a Metro project team is studying all possibilities. They have said they will focus at first on the section of road between Beltway 8 and Loop 610, or the Northwest Transit Center .

Waskowiak said H-GAC’s Transportation Policy Council committed about $40 million toward the reconstruction of the U.S. 290/Loop 610/Interstate 10 interchange, which is also part of the Highway 290 reconstruction project. That part of the project was scheduled to launch in the next two to three years under the original project timeline.

HCTRA is also committed to building the Hempstead Highway toll road once they come to an agreement with TXDOT, she said.

“We are looking at pieces so we can move forward,” she said.

Waskowiak said one major transportation project in the Cy-Fair area that is still on the drawing board is the construction of a section of the Grand Parkway between Interstate 10 and Highway 290. She said TXDOT is looking to form an agreement with a public or private entity to build the entire 200-plus-mile Grand Parkway loop, which will be a toll facility, and HCTRA is one of the contenders.

However, HCTRA officials have stated that they would prefer to build one or two segments that are forecasted to generate significant revenue, and then use that funding to build future segments. The I-10-to-Highway 290 segment would be one of the first segments constructed by HCTRA.

Cy-Fair Chamber Chairman Reginald Lillie said it would be beneficial, in the short term, to synchronize traffic signals on Highway 290’s heavily-travelled arterial roads, such as Barker-Cypress Road .

Waskowiak said there were Regional Computer Signal System program funds available for those projects. She said they are distributed to the county governments and divided between the separate precincts.

“We are also looking at doing more access management studies on the arterial roads to help with traffic flow and safety,” she said. “The big question remains: How do we develop the most efficient transportation system given the funding we have? We need something that moves the most people quickly and safely.”

Cy-Fair Chamber President Erin Al-Salman said Chamber and community members will have the opportunity to talk with local and state transportation planners about transportation projects and issues at the Cy-Fair Chamber of Commerce’s first annual Mobility Forum on Monday, August 25 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Cy-Fair ISD’s Richard Berry Educational Support Center at Barker-Cypress and West roads.

The panel of mobility experts from Harris County Toll Road Authority , Texas Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Houston Airport System, Union Pacific Railroad and the Houston-Galveston Area Council will provide brief introductions and then open up the floor to a question & answer session.

Members are encouraged to make reservations for this luncheon in advance. For additional information or reservations, call Sherri Padalino at the Chamber Office at 281-373-1390.

06/05/2008

State Representative Harless Talks Eductation Funding, Business Tax with Chamber Investors

State Rep. Patricia Harless told Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce Governmental Affairs committee members that she will continue to work with Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District school officials to find answers to a pending school funding crisis in the 2009 Texas Legislative session.

Harless also said there also could be changes made – or a replacement suggested for - the current business activities tax that Texas business owners started paying in 2008 in place of the business franchise tax.

“During the interim we ( Texas legislators) are studying issues we could not address, or that will be of interest, in the 2009 session,” Harless said at the committee’s June 5 meeting.

Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District Superintendent David Anthony said he and other administrators appreciated Harless and state Sen. Dan Patrick’s help in setting up meetings during this interim period with top legislative officials to discuss the details of the district’s current funding crisis. Based on the state’s complicated education funding formula, Cy-Fair ISD officials have projected that, without any preventative action, the district would become insolvent within two years.

Anthony said because Cy-Fair ISD is one of the few districts currently in this precarious position, it would be difficult to grab legislators’ attention during the busy and hectic legislative session, which starts in January. He said more and more school districts will be faced with funding challenges under the current formula in years to come if changes are not made.

Anthony said if Cy-Fair ISD received funding in line with neighboring school districts, the board and administration would not have had to make significant cuts to the 2008-09 budget, and, in fact, the district could have considered a reduction in its property tax rate. Cy-Fair ISD’s state funding allocation was about $4,489 per student, which is about $1,000 less per student than Tomball ISD and significantly less than some school districts in Texas that receive up to $12,000 per student.

“We spend $700 (per pupil) below the state average, and we still spend more than we get from the state,” Anthony said.

Harless said she realized Cy-Fair ISD officials did an excellent job managing financial resources, which is the state’s goal, and she would do her best to continue educating fellow legislators about the need for reforms in the state education funding formula.

As for education funding sources, Harless said several groups are lobbying for changes in the state’s business activities tax.

Businesses required to pay the new tax did not have to file a return until May 15, 2008, and could file for an extension to Nov. 15, 2008.

Under the new tax, corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, professional associations, joint ventures, business trusts and other entities with liability protection pay the tax, which is either 1 percent, or .5 percent of one of the lesser of the following three options: 70 percent of total revenue; total revenue minus cost of goods sold; or total revenue minus compensation and benefits. Companies primarily involved in wholesale and retail trades, and eating and drinking establishments pay the .5 percent tax rate. All other companies pay the 1 percent tax rate.

Harless said the state would not know how much that tax brought in this year until November. At least $11 billion - $14 billion is needed for the property tax reduction the state agreed to fund for all school districts in the 2007-08 budget year.

“They are looking for alternative ways to phase out the business tax and the (school districts’) property tax,” Harless said. “Some say the answer may be an increase in the state sales tax.”

Harless said the problem with a sales-tax-only funding method is that school districts could be negatively affected if sales significantly decreased due to downturn in the Texas economy.

Harless said other major issues that would dominate the 2009 Texas Legislative session include illegal immigration and the Texas Department of Transportation’s budget problems.

She said the State Affairs Committee has been meeting during the interim to come up with solutions to defray the costs associated with providing housing, education and medical care to illegal immigrants. She said there probably will not be a lot of action taken, but a voter identification bill could pass.

Harless said the Appropriations Committee is looking for additional funding for Texas Department of Transportation projects, as well as what actions to take based on recommendations made in a Sunset Review Committee report on the transportation agency.

“It will be an interesting and busy session,” she said.

Archived News

05/01/2008 Chamber Urges Residents to Vote "YES" in Lone Star College Bond Election

05/01/2008 Chamber voices strong support for three Grand Parkway road segments

04/24/2008 Rock 'N Bowl is Set for May 27

04/15/2008 Dynamo Leader Divulges Team's Stadium Goals

04/03/2008 Sprint Presents Salute to Law Enforcement

04/03/2008 Highway 290's Communter Rail Future Remains Bright

04/03/2008 Chamber Urges Residents to Vote "YES" in Lone Star College Bond Election

02/29/2008 2nd Annual Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union Spring Swing Golf Tournament

02/29/2008 Partnership with Lone Star College-Cy-Fair is a Success

02/29/2008 Salute to Law Enforcement Renamed in Honor of Underwriter