Thread regarding ExxonMobil Corp. layoffs

What groups moved in?

I guess this is resolved without exxonmobil paying a dime.

ExxonMobil to pay $4M in property taxes to Montgomery County after default
Catherine Dominguez March 29, 2021 Updated: March 30, 2021 8:40 a.m.

https://www.ctinsider.com/neighborhood/moco/news/article/ExxonMobil-to-pay-4M-in-property-taxes-to-16061230.php

Montgomery County commissioners approved a tax abatement default notice to ExxonMobil after the company failed to meet the terms of the agreement per the company’s January report to the county.

The default, if the company does not meet the abatement requirements within 30 days, will result in the company repaying about $4 million in property taxes to Montgomery County, The Woodlands Township and The Woodlands Road Utility District.

Montgomery County Tax Assessor-Collector Tammy McRae said the company was required to maintain 470 jobs. However, the company has maintained a minimum of 284 and a maximum of 438. McRae noted the default only applies to the company’s 331,840-square-foot Building B in Hughes Landing in The Woodlands. Building A, she added, is in compliance.

“Their payroll over the last six months was down just over a million dollars,” she said.

Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack said he spoke with officials with The Woodlands Development Co. who contacted ExxonMobil officials after the county receive information from the Texas Workforce Commissioner the company would be laying off 722 people in December, 45 of those at the company’s Hughes Landing location. At that time, Noack said, company officials indicated they were aware the tax abatement agreement with Montgomery County with regards to the number of employees required.

“In conversations with ExxonMobil since then that I have had directly, they did not follow through with that, they knew they were going to have fewer people in Building B than they should have had,” Noack said, noting he told the company officials he would recommend the county put them in default with 30 days to cure. “The responded to me was that business division would rather just default then have to go through the process of hiring more people.”

By defaulting, ExxonMobil will repay Montgomery County about $4 million in property taxes.

The county originally agreed to the tax abatement for the company in 2013 when ExxonMobil announced it would be constructing two multi-story buildings in Hughes Landing.

Then Tax Assessor/Collector J.R. Moore told commissioners the 10-year agreement with ExxonMobil and HL Champion Holding Company LLC would be 100 percent for Building A and 50 percent for Building B. The agreement would expire in 2023.

County Judge Mark Keough asked McRae why the county “didn’t hold their feet to the fire now.”

McRae said statutorily, the company has 30 days to cure after receiving a notice of default.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Robert Walker asked if the layoffs were related to the COVID-19 pandemic but McRae said company officials never mentioned that to the county. She added ExxonMobil officials were invited to attend the county’s meeting to discuss the default but no officials attended.

cdominguez@hcnonline.com

Catherine Dominguez
Catherine Dominguez is a reporter at the Conroe Courier.

OPINION
ExxonMobil, Anadarko abandon Montgomery County
Nov. 18, 2015
Updated: Sep. 30, 2016 6:05 a.m.
The Courier of Montgomery County

https://www.yourconroenews.com/neighborhood/moco/opinion/article/ExxonMobil-Anadarko-abandon-Montgomery-County-9506228.php

To the editor:

United Way of Greater Houston is attempting to force a merger with Montgomery County United Way, and ExxonMobil and Anadarko, both represented on UWGH’s board, are participating by refusing to allow their employees to designate to MCUW through their company campaigns.

About three years ago, Anadarko asked their employees to state where their donations would be used, rather than automatically designating UWGH as the default agency for employee donations. This change resulted in an increase in donations to MCUW of about $500,000 … residents wanted their dollars to benefit their community.

It is my belief that when ExxonMobil announced the construction of a new campus on the southern boundary of Montgomery County, UWGH envisioned ExxonMobil also allowing its employees to designate, rather than UWGH being the default agency. Given that an increasing number of employees were likely to live in Montgomery County, such a change would significantly reduce donations to UWGH, as happened with Anadarko. This was of particular concern to UWGH because as MCUW’s donations increase year after year, UWGH’s donations are decreasing. (Note that Anadarko only changed course after their previous CEO, who lived in Montgomery County and supported MCUW, retired.)

ExxonMobil’s new campus location, past history with Anadarko’s employee requirement to designate their donations, a new Anadarko CEO, ExxonMobil and Anadarko’s participation on UWGH’s board, increasing financial support for MCUW and decreasing financial support for UWGH resulted in UWGH’s impetus to merge.

UWGH’s attempt to merge with MCUW by using ExxonMobil and Anadarko to force itself on our community is arrogant, self-serving and abusive. Over the past couple of weeks, myself and others have spoken to Montgomery County leaders and MCUW volunteers. None have been approached by UWGH to understand the needs and desires of Montgomery leaders and residents. UWGH’s interest in Montgomery County, I believe, is singular … a need and desire to improve their finances.

Why should you care? Today, over 40 percent of Montgomery County’s children live at or near the poverty line. Montgomery County’s population is 500,000 and projected to rise to over 1 million by 2040, warranting a focus on its social needs, which MCUW provides (in addition to its work in adjacent counties). Without such a focus, the number of families in poverty in our community will climb at a much steeper rate. The social problems that brings will have a negative effect on us all.

You can help by writing/calling/emailing United Way of Greater Houston, Montgomery County United Way’s board, ExxonMobil and Anadarko. All provide contact information on their websites. If you are an ExxonMobil or Anadarko employee, raise your concerns about the restrictions placed on your donated dollars to your management.

Robert G. Evans

ExxonMobil Retiree

ExxonMobil and Entergy lease space in The Woodlands
Nancy Sarnoff
March 1, 2019
Updated: March 1, 2019 10:42 a.m.

https://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/ExxonMobil-and-Entergy-lease-space-in-The-13655370.php

Oil giant ExxonMobil and power producer and retailer Entergy have signed leases for office space in Lake Front North, a two-building office complex on the north side of Lake Woodlands at 2103 Research Forest Drive.

ExxonMobil, which already leases space in The Woodlands and has a massive corporate campus in Spring, leased 26,103 square feet and Entergy leased 54,010 square feet in the complex. ExxonMobil will move in this month; Entergy recently took occupancy of its space.

Howard Hughes Corp., which operates and controls development in The Woodlands, recently acquired the buildings from Chicago Bridge & Iron for $53 million. The four- and six-story properties total 257,025 square feet.

The two deals follow the recent signing by Arena Energy of an 87,231-square-foot lease at Lake Front North for a company headquarters for Arena Energy and its affiliate Arena Offshore.

The new leases, together with Chicago Bridge & Iron's existing 53,710 square feet of space, brings Lake Front North to 91 percent leased.

"Our recent acquisition of Lake Front North and the rapid pace at which the campus continues to lease demonstrates the strong market demand for premium office space here in The Woodlands," Paul Layne, central region president for the Howard Hughes Corp., said in an announcement.

The Woodlands is a 28,000-acre master planned community located 27 miles north of downtown Houston.

Nancy Sarnoff covers commercial and residential real estate for the Houston Chronicle and the paper's two websites: Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. She also hosts Looped In, a weekly real estate podcast about the city's most compelling people and places. Nancy is a native of Chicago but has spent most of her life in Texas.

ExxonMobil resolves tax abatement default, moves employees from Spring to The Woodlands

By Vanessa Holt | 1:59 PM Apr 29, 2021 CDT | Updated 2:08 PM Apr 29, 2021 CDT

https://communityimpact.com/houston/the-woodlands/government/2021/04/29/exxonmobil-resolves-tax-abatement-default-moves-employees-from-spring-to-the-woodlands/

ExxonMobil has resolved a default on a tax abatement agreement with Montgomery County by moving employees to its Hughes Landing facilities in The Woodlands, county officials said at a Montgomery County Commissioners Court meeting April 27.

The corporation had failed to meet a requirement to have 470 employees at each of its buildings in The Woodlands as of the January reporting period, county officials previously reported. It would have faced paying about $4 million to taxing entities including Montgomery County unless it complied within 30 days, Community Impact Newspaper previously reported.

“We have received notification from ExxonMobil that they are in compliance; they have moved 477 employees from their campus located in Spring and the adjoining building, to building B, bringing them into compliance with the terms of the agreement,” Montgomery County Tax Assessor-Collector Tammy McRae said at the April 27 meeting.

McRae said the company would follow up with other governing bodies that have granted an abatement, including The Woodlands Township.

In 2013, Montgomery County Commissioners Court and The Woodlands Township board of directors each approved two 10-year 100% tax abatements to ExxonMobil for one and a half office buildings and an 11-story parking garage in the Hughes Landing development in The Woodlands.