Brazos County commissioners adopted a $482.3 million fiscal year 2026-27 budget and set the county’s property tax rate at $0.443474 after lengthy discussion about spending, property values and the county’s long-term financial strategy.

Budget explained: The budget represents a roughly 12% decrease from the FY 2025-26 budget, said Budget Officer Nina Payne.

It includes about $2 million in additional employee health insurance costs, nearly $851,000 for a fully staffed medical examiner’s office and more than $334,000 for a new felony associate court.

Cost to the taxpayers: The county considered three scenarios for its adopted tax rate, ultimately landing on a $0.443474 rate.

For a hypothetical $400,000 homestead, Turner estimated the adopted rate would result in approximately a $95.10 annual increase in the county portion of the property tax bill.

Sports bar, restaurant and arcade franchise Dave & Buster’s has announced its opening date set for October at Post Oak Mall in College Station.

About the project: With a variety of alcoholic beverages, bar food and many different arcade games, Dave & Buster’s tagline is “Eat, Drink, Play.”

The restaurant also has deals on certain items throughout the week, along with half-price games on Sundays and Wednesdays.

As previously reported by Community Impact, the $12.8 million project took over Conn’s after it closed in 2024. Construction started at the 31,000-square-foot facility earlier this year, adding a new service yard.

Before you go: Dave & Buster’s has been expanding in other parts of Texas, including McKinney and Sugar Land. It would also be the second bar and arcade opening in Bryan-College Station in recent months, with the official opening of Final Score Sports Bar & Arcade in downtown Bryan in early September.

• Opening Oct. 26
• 1502 Harvey Road, Ste. 100, College Station

College Station City Council unanimously voted Aug. 27 to amend the city's Comprehensive Plan to remove the bike lanes and sidewalks from the planned Spring Creek Trail due to conflicts with a planned midtown ball park development.

In a nutshell: According to the 2025-26 Capital Improvement Plan, the Spring Creek Trail project was created to extend the current 10-foot trail in the Spring Creek Greenway development. In 2024, the Bicycle, Pedestrian and Greenways Advisory Board ranked it as the seventh-highest priority for unfunded projects.

The $470,000 project will now be amended for the proposed 90-acre baseball and softball complex in midtown College Station. As previously reported by Community Impact, the city anticipates the complex will bring in up to $30 million in revenue and generate 60,000 hotel room bookings each year.

The vote: The council voted unanimously to approve the ordinance, with the official amendment to the plan to take place later on.

For the first time in over a decade, there is no incumbent in the Texas attorney general's race as Republican Ken Paxton runs for U.S. Senate.

Democrat Nathan Johnson, a state senator from Dallas; Republican Mayes Middleton, a state senator from Galveston; and Libertarian Tom Oxford, an attorney from Nederland, are running to replace him this November. Community Impact asked the candidates for their perspectives on Texas' open records laws, state litigation and other topics.

How we got here: Johnson and Middleton each won their primary runoff elections in May, Community Impact reported, while Oxford was selected as the Texas Libertarian Party's candidate during an April nominating convention.

Looking ahead: Early voting in eight statewide races and dozens of local elections runs from Oct. 19-30. Election Day is Nov. 3.