Daily Record poll pulled following misunderstanding

The Daily Record’s online poll from Dec. 6, 2019 - Jan. 3, 2020 asked readers whether they think the city should have approved a resolution of no objection to the submission of an application for low-income housing tax credits. But due to a misunderstanding on the paper’s part, we have discontinued the poll.

The poll was written in regards to a recent decision by the San Marcos City Council to deny a resolution of no objection to the submission of an application for a potential affordable housing development, the Lantana on Bastrop Multifamily Housing Project.

The project was an income-restricted project applying for a housing tax credit program through the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). The TDHCA “awards tax credits to eligible participants in order to offset a portion of their federal tax liability in exchange for the production or preservation of affordable rental housing.”

Previously, no exemptions from local taxes were provided under San Marcos’ Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Policy. On Nov. 6, the San Marcos City Council approved an amendment to the policy which allows the applicant to ask for an exemption from local taxes if the project meets the criteria listed in the policy.

The Daily Record, under the belief that the project had to meet all nine of the housing criteria and not six of the nine housing criteria, published a poll with misleading wording. Since income-restricted projects applying for a housing tax credit program only need to meet six of the nine criteria, we are nullifying the poll results.

We apologize for the confusion this error has caused.