The PID predicament

People want information about what's happening with our PID - I can tell this from my search stats.

I had to put a redirect on my original post because the older post ranks highest in Google and will continue to do so, given the way that Google works. 

Here is a synopsis of the available information. 

The PID, if you recall, is an infrastructure cost which is attached to each property as a separate assessment, rather than being rolled into the initial purchase price of the real estate.  It differs functionally from a MUD tax in that it has a finite lifespan: we only have to pay it for a certain number of years until the debt is satisfied. 

At some point and for reasons that aren't clear to me, it came to the attention of the powers-that-be that we were paying a higher-than-necessary interest rate on our PID assessments.  That set the wheels in motion for steps to be taken to get it reduced.

GCDN ran this story (paywalled) explaining the mechanism by which lower payments could be realized.  Screengrabbed from a GCDN search. 

So where are we now?  Here is a status report from the most recent POA email blast:

Screengrabbed from an email.  

The corresponding Mayor's report for October 22 didn't provide much lay language: "Council considered and took action on an ordinance levying an assessment against properties located in the City of League City Public Improvement District No. 3 (Centerpointe). This item passed 8-0 in a first and final reading." 

This explains why I'm getting so much search traffic - as stated and without elaboration, the situation is now as clear as mud to the average reader (get it?  As clear as MUD?). 

Basically what I suspect it means is that the City has leveed against us so that the original debt can be disposed of in a pending reciprocal transaction. 

In other words, you'll have to wait a little bit longer for the other shoe to drop.  Everyone wants to know how much less they'll be paying this year, but that information apparently isn't available yet.  It ought to be soon, though, because this is the time of year when our happy PID bills arrive in the mail.  I myself have a seventy-foot lot, so my assessment is usually a large, sucking number.

Many lots in Centerpointe are 60 footers or 50-ish footers, and their corresponding assessments are almost certainly lower. 

Screengrabbed from this Galveston Central Appraisal District map. 

I'll post again when we know more about the new calculations.  Sorry I can't be more specific at this point.