Denton City Council will vote Sept. 22 on a $2.22 billion budget and lower property tax rate laid out by city staff after it holds a public hearing Sept. 15 on the subjects.

What’s happening? The proposed budget was presented at the Aug. 8 work session and shows a balanced budget for fiscal year 2026-27. The public hearing will allow for public feedback on the proposed budget and lower property tax rate before council members vote on the items one week later at their regular meeting.

The budget is structured across five major pillars that support day-to-day operations, or the general fund, self-sustaining public utilities, internal city operations, restricted-use accounts and long-term capital investments, according to a presentation from Chief Strategic Officer Aimee Kaslik.

Zooming in: Council members will also vote on a property tax rate decrease value of $0.548485 per $100 property valuation, which is a 7.88% decrease from last fiscal year's budget. Kaslik said the average property valuation for a home in Denton would see a decrease of $203 annually.

The Salata location at Rayzor Ranch permanently closed at the end of August.

What happened? The fast casual salad chain announced in a social media post that it shuttered the location. The post encouraged people to visit its south Denton restaurant off South Loop 288.

Salata offers a build-you-own salad model where customers could customize their salads or create a wrap, according to its website.

What’s next? A Chicken Salad Chick will move into the location permitted by Salata, according to previous reporting.

• 3420 N. I-35, Ste. 100, Denton

The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport’s Terminal C renovations continue and a Taiwan-based company is opening a manufacturing facility in McKinney. Check out some of the latest North Texas construction filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

1. Lite-On manufacturing facility in McKinney: Lite-On Technology Corp., a Taiwan-based manufacturing company that specializes in semiconductor components, is moving into an existing warehouse facility in McKinney, per a TDLR filing. The move will bring at least 600 jobs to the city, per previous reporting.

• Location: 310 Cypress Hill Drive, Ste. 310, McKinney
• Estimated timeline: Sept. 15, 2026-Aug. 31, 2027
• Estimated cost: $90 million

2. MRI Equipment Replacement at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center—Plano: Officials at the medical center officials are replacing its MRI equipment, per a TDLR filing. Equipment replacement is estimated to last four months.

• Location: 4700 Alliance Boulevard, Plano
• Estimated timeline: Nov. 16, 2026-March 31, 2027
• Estimated cost: $3 million

The Texas Department of Transportation manages over 200,000 miles of state highways. Roughly 72% of all vehicle travel in the state occurs on TxDOT-maintained highways, TxDOT Executive Director Marc Williams said.

As Texas’ population continues to grow, so does “demand on our transportation systems, from busy urban corridors to rural communities,” Williams told lawmakers during an Aug. 17 hearing held by the Texas House Transportation Committee.

What's happening: More than 11,000 TxDOT projects are currently in the works, according to the agency’s website.

To keep motorists informed about road construction, TxDOT collects public input during the project planning process, then conducts outreach on social media, on project websites and through email notifications before and during closures, according to Eric Lykins, TxDOT’s senior director of district operations. The agency also places electronic message signs on roadways ahead of closures or detours, he said.

Some state lawmakers are encouraging transportation officials to improve outreach to motorists when roads, lanes and exits are closed or adjusted.