A number of construction projects and road improvements are nearing completion in the Conroe and Montgomery area.

Hwy. 105 widening segment 1

Project: Between 10th Street and South Loop 336, Hwy. 105 is being widened from two to four lanes.

Update: Per TxDOT’s Sept. 4 media update, this project is 65% completed.

• Timeline: March 2023-second quarter 2028

• Cost: $52.65 million

• Funding source: state funds

FM 1097 widening

Project: From Blueberry Hills Road to Lake Conroe Hills Drive, FM 1097 is being widened from two to four lanes.

Update: This project is 96% completed, according to TxDOT’s Sept. 4 media update.

• Timeline: second quarter 2022-third quarter 2026

• Cost: $20.21 million

• Funding sources: federal, state funds

This list is not comprehensive.

According to data from Tammy Sohl with JLA Realty, the number of homes sold across the Conroe and Montgomery area fell year over year as prices followed.

The big picture: Home sales declined in all eight of Community Impact's coverage zones in Conroe and Montgomery. With the northeast Conroe area seeing the sharpest drop in sales year over year for August.

At the same time, home prices saw a slight decline in six out of eight ZIP codes with northeast and downtown Conroe seeing the only year-over-year increases.

What else?: The number of days a home spent on the market saw large swings across the eight ZIP codes. In the downtown Conroe area, the number of days homes stayed on the market more than doubled. However, in areas east of Lake Conroe and in Willis homes spent 37.8% less time on the market year over year.

Some Texas Republican leaders have vowed to get rid of the property taxes that homeowners pay to their local public school districts, and lawmakers are analyzing how much it would cost to do so.

The big picture: Texas school districts collect about $29 billion per year in maintenance and operations taxes, which cover schools' daily expenses.

Of that $29 billion in school tax revenue, the state comptroller's office estimates that about $8.6 billion is paid by homeowners, and the rest comes from commercial and industrial property taxes.

This means the state would need to spend at least $8.6 billion annually to zero out homeowners' school property tax bills, officials said.

Quote of note: "Broadly speaking, you have a question about how much you want to fund schools, and then separately, where does that money come from?" Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said during a Sept. 15 legislative hearing. "If you have a target of how much you want to spend, you need to make sure you have enough variable revenue sources to reach that."