Woodlands Board Sets Aside $2.5 Million for Incorporation

THE WOODLANDS, TX — It's starting to look like The Woodlands might become a city after all.

The perennial question of whether The Woodlands should incorporate as its own city is once again up for debate, as it has been every year since 2014 when the community first became eligible for incorporation.

However, The Woodlands Township Board of Directors took a a major step towards making it happen in the near future.

At its Tuesday night meeting, the board voted to set aside $2.5 million to pay for the incorporation process.

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Whether or not The Woodlands should incorporate is actually a major issue because it gets to the heart of the unique situation The Woodlands has found itself in.

The community is home to some of the highest priced homes in the Houston-area, but since The Woodlands is unincorporated homeowners are only paying county and school district property taxes.

Tax collectors in Houston and Conroe have been practically salivating at the thought of annexing The Woodlands and getting access to all those sweet, sweet market valuations for years.

Which is why The Woodlands has a three-way agreement with both Houston and Conroe preventing either city from annexing the community until 2057.

The current members of The Woodlands board all agree that the area must incorporate before Conroe or Houston decides to annex the area. All current members also hope to be able to begin pursuing incorporation during the 2017 state legislative session.

The only problem is that four positions on The Woodlands seven member board will be on the ballot this November. If a slate of anti-incorporation candidates gets elected this year incorporation efforts could be set back until at least 2019.