Killeen Councilman to Call for Land Banks as a Solution to Abandoned Properties
One Community Update
October 6, 2025
Source: kdhnews.com
Killeen Councilman Ramon Alvarez is expected to make a request that a land bank program be considered on a future City Council meeting agenda in light of abandoned properties within the city.
Alvarez says in a city document that he wants to “create and disseminate an RFP (request for proposal) to entities like the Center for Community Progress” and similar organizations and bring them back for future consideration “as expeditiously as possible.”
“Our city is facing a growing number of abandoned properties, mostly vacant and dilapidated,” Alvarez writes in his request, which is attached to Tuesday’s meeting agenda. “Other communities throughout Texas have utilized land banks, or similar alternatives, to help address the issue.”
Land bank programs would involve the city buying and selling abandoned properties.
This request comes a year after an internal audit found that the city of Killeen was losing $260,000 in revenue from abandoned properties, many of which were in the downtown Killeen revitalization area.
This included approximately $58,000 in lost property tax revenue from 37 tax delinquent properties and $200,000 in unreimbursed maintenance costs for code enforcement.
The report further detailed that the resulting blight from the abandoned properties had lowered the property values of the area from the citywide average of $246,000 to $109,000. The blight also contributed to a lower quality of life for people living in those areas.
The audit report, completed by City Auditor Matthew Grady, recommended acquiring and repurposing the land to address the neighborhood blight.
“While the City’s inventory of abandoned properties is comparatively small, it nonetheless could benefit from such a program by increasing its tax revenue, reducing its maintenance costs, and boosting its revitalization efforts,” the report reads.
Alvarez was not immediately available for comment. However, Mayor Debbie Nash-King said last year that the beautification of Killeen was a “top priority.”
“If buildings are abandoned, then the property owner must be accountable,” she said.
Thirty-seven properties were cited in Grady’s report, which at the time city officials didn’t consider large comparatively speaking to other cities. There was also disagreement among city officials, including Alvarez, on exactly how much money or revenue was being lost to abandoned properties.
KDH News has filed an open-records request on the number of abandoned properties and their location so it can provide updated information.
For full report, please click the source link above.
