Texas Local Government Code 271.003 – Definitions
Terms Used In Texas Local Government Code 271.003
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Municipality: means a general-law municipality, home-rule municipality, or special-law municipality. See Texas Local Government Code 1.005
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
In this subchapter:
(1) “Conservation and reclamation district” means a district or authority organized or operating under Article III, § 52, or Article XVI, § 59, of the Texas Constitution.
(2) “Contract” means an agreement entered into under this subchapter but does not mean a contract solely for the construction of improvements to real property.
(3) “Governing body” means the board, council, commission, agency, court, or other body or group that is authorized by law to acquire personal property for each respective governmental agency.
(4) “Governmental agency” means a municipality, county, school district, conservation and reclamation district, hospital organization, or other political subdivision of this state.
(5) “Hospital organization” means a district, authority, board, or joint board organized under the laws of this state for hospital purposes.
(6) “Net effective interest rate” means, with reference to a contract, the interest amount considered by the governing body of a governmental agency to accrue on a contract.
(7) “Net interest cost” means the total of all interest to accrue and come due on a contract through the last date a payment is due on the contract, plus any discount or minus any premium included in the contract price or principal sum.
(8) “Personal property” includes appliances, equipment, facilities, and furnishings, or an interest in personal property, whether movable or fixed, considered by the governing body of the governmental agency to be necessary, useful, or appropriate to one or more purposes of the governmental agency. The term includes all materials and labor incident to the installation of that personal property. The term includes electricity and cloud computing services. The term does not include real property.
(9) “School district” means an independent school district, common school district, community college district, junior college district, or regional college district organized under the laws of this state.
(10) “Improvement” means a permanent building, structure, fixture, or fence that is erected on or affixed to land but does not include a transportable building or structure whether or not it is affixed to land.
(11) “Real property” means land, improvement, or an estate or interest in real property, other than a mortgage or deed of trust creating a lien on property or an interest securing payment or performance of an obligation in real property.