South Walnut Avenue repaving project completed on schedule, under budget
The $1.06 million repaving project on a section of South Walnut Avenue from County Line Road to Klein Road was completed at the end of July.
Zooming in: The project was funded through the additional $2 million of street maintenance funding approved in the fiscal year 2024-25 budget, according to a news release. Initially budgeted at $1.2 million, the project came in $140,000 under budget, according to city officials.
The project began June 22, with Lone Star Paving executing alternating lane closures from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. to allow crews to mill and repave the road. After paving was complete, utility adjustments and striping took place during the day.
The details: The project was initially expected to be completed by July 30, and was completed on schedule, according to city officials.
Comal ISD adopts lower tax rate for 2025-26 school year
The Comal ISD board of trustees approved a $1.0748 tax rate for the 2025-26 school year on Aug. 28, which is $0.0121 less than the 2024-25 rate.
What you need to know: Certified property tax values were submitted to the Texas Education Agency Aug. 1 to set the district’s Tier I tax rate within the limits of House Bill 2.
HB 2 was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott June 4 and will give nearly 9,000 public schools $8.4 billion in new funding, according to previous reporting by Community Impact.
The maintenance and operations, or M&O, tax rate is a combination of the Tier I rate of $0.6048 and the Tier II rate of $0.12 to total $0.7248. The interest and sinking tax rate is $0.35, according to board documents.
One more thing: Comal ISD’s Chief Financial Officer Larry Guerra said the tax rate for homeowners in the district is lower compared to other districts in the area on the M&O side.
Gov. Abbott signs new congressional map; Texas Democrats vow to fight in court
Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas’ new congressional map into law Aug. 29, declaring in a video posted to social media that “Texas is now more red in the United States Congress.”
The details: Under Texas’ current congressional boundaries, Republicans hold 25 of Texas’ 38 congressional seats. State lawmakers have said the new map will help them gain up to five more during the 2026 midterm elections.
Texas Democrats have called the mid-decade redistricting effort unconstitutional and "racially discriminatory," while Republicans asserted that the map "complies with the law" and was designed to help more Republicans get elected to the U.S. House.
Next steps: Texas’ new congressional map is set to take effect in early December, although it will be discussed in court two months earlier. After state senators approved the map Aug. 23, the League of United Latin American Citizens and a group of Texas residents filed a lawsuit asking that the map be found unconstitutional.
A panel of three federal judges will hear arguments in the case Oct. 1-10 in El Paso.
