HTX-CYF: Impact 9/9/2025

Harris County commissioners will meet Sept. 9 with several agenda items addressing the fiscal year 2025-26 budget and elected officials’ salaries before the scheduled Sept. 18 budget vote and adoption.

The background: Commissioners and department leaders have spent the last eight-plus months weighing how to offset at least $102 million in cuts and other savings surrounding the projected $2.95 billion FY 2025-26 budget. Factors impacting county department cuts in the budget process, according to the proposed budget document, included jail costs, indigent defense costs, health care costs and law enforcement contracts.

Items worth mentioning: The county clerk and administration offices will request discussion as part of a Texas law that allows for the creation of a salary grievance committee for elected officials. Several officials from elected offices went to Commissioners Court seeking higher pay in August, including judges within the county’s district courts and the county’s eight elected constables.

The Cheesecake Factory officials confirmed via email the new location near the Houston Premium Outlets has plans to open on Nov. 18 and is looking to hire over 270 staff members.

On the menu: According to officials, the new location will feature a menu with over 250 selections prepared from scratch and over 30 cheesecake flavors. Menu items offered, per the website, include a variety of bowls, flatbreads, burgers, salads and pastas. Cheesecakes offered range from original to strawberry and red velvet.

The details: Per the email, the new location is hiring hospitality-minded individuals, including:

• Bartenders
• Bussers
• Cashiers

Costco plans to build a new superstore and gas station in Cypress, according to Sept. 5 filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The exact address is unknown as of press time, but the TDLR filings show the store will be located off of the Grand Parkway. 

The details: Construction of the 160,000-square-foot warehouse and 11,680-square-foot gas station are set to begin in March, with expected completion in November 2026, according to the architectural filings. In total, the privately-funded project is projected to cost approximately $67.8 million. 

Most Texas public schools are required to display donated posters of the Ten Commandments in classrooms under Senate Bill 10, a state law that took effect Sept. 1.

The details: On Aug. 20, a Texas federal judge temporarily blocked the following 11 school districts from displaying the Ten Commandments:

• Alamo Heights ISD
• Austin ISD
• Cy-Fair ISD
• Dripping Springs ISD
• Fort Bend ISD
• Houston ISD
• Lackland ISD
• Lake Travis ISD
• North East ISD
• Northside ISD
• Plano ISD