Friendswood, Pearland to issue first votes on budgets, tax rates
Both Friendswood and Pearland will hold a public hearing to discuss and approve their respective fiscal year 2025-26 budgets and proposed tax rates.
The tax rate each city is considering is above the no-new-revenue rate, according to city documents.
The details: Friendswood City Council will hold a public hearing to discuss and approve the proposed tax rate of $0.514172 per $100 valuation at its Sept. 8 meeting.
Meanwhile, Pearland City Council will also consider its budget and tax rate for the first time on Sept. 8. However, to go into effect, it will need two approvals, according to city documents.
Friendswood ISD trustees to consider health, safety advisory committees
Friendswood ISD’s board of trustees will consider members for the district’s school health and safety advisory committees at its Sept. 8 meeting.
The overview: The committee assists in overseeing FISD’s Emergency Operations Plan, audits security and safety, provides space for collaboration with local emergency agencies, reviews mental health interventions and reviews proposals or funding for major safety projects, according to agenda documents.
What else: Trustees will also consider members for the district’s school health advisory committee, or SHAC, to assist the district in ensuring that local community values are reflected in health education instruction, according to the district’s website.
Stay tuned: The board will meet to consider both committees at 5:45 p.m. Sept. 8 at the district’s boardroom, located at 402 Laurel Drive, Friendswood.
Lina Hidalgo talks childhood education, reelection announcement in State of the County address
In her 2025 State of the County keynote address, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo emphasized the importance of funding early childhood education initiatives in the county, just shy of one month after her proposal to let voters decide on a 1-cent property tax increase failed to pass at an August commissioners court meeting.
Quote of note: “We have to be fearless in building what the community deserves,” Hidalgo said at the Sept. 5 event at the Marriott Marquis in Downtown Houston. “And I beg you that if we fight for early childhood education, I think the community would like that.”
The overview: The State of the County address is an annual event hosted by the Greater Houston Partnership. Keynote speakers discuss economic initiatives and opportunities for constituents and business leaders in the Greater Houston area.
GHP President Steve Kean asked Hidalgo directly about her reelection status. Hidalgo said that while she was not going to break news about her reelection at the event, she will be making an announcement “very, very soon.”
‘This will save lives’: New Texas laws require summer camps to remove cabins from floodplains
Two months after 25 campers and two counselors died in the historic July 4 flooding at Camp Mystic, Gov. Greg Abbott signed three new laws Sept. 5 that he said will “make youth camps safer” and ensure Texas communities are better prepared for future disasters. The flood victims' families attended the Sept. 5 bill signing ceremony in Austin.
The details: Under the two-pronged camp safety package, summer camps are required to remove existing cabins from floodplains by Jan. 1.
Camps must also develop and annually update comprehensive emergency plans, set up warning systems to notify campers if something is wrong and install ladders so campers can climb on cabin roofs during floods.
Looking ahead: Two other disaster preparedness bills, as well as legislation designed to regulate Texas’ multibillion-dollar THC industry, did not pass during the recent special legislative session, which ended around 1 a.m. Sept. 4.
When asked Sept. 5 if he planned to call a third legislative overtime to continue work on those policies, Abbott told reporters to "stay tuned."
