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Top Story
Conroe’s proposed FY 2026-27 budget includes police raises, $29M in capital projects

Conroe officials are weighing a balanced fiscal year 2026-27 budget that would keep the city’s property tax rate unchanged, bring police salaries closer to Montgomery County’s pay structure and fund nearly $29.3 million in general government capital projects.

Chief Financial Officer Ariel Khanh Gibbs presented the proposal as the mayor’s budget during a July 27 workshop, although city council members can still make changes before adoption.

The details: The city’s full proposed operating budget totals about $364.7 million in expenditures, documents show. However, after removing transfers between city funds, which can otherwise count the same money twice, proposed expenditures total about $288.2 million.

The general fund, which pays for services including police, fire, parks, public works and administration, includes about $143.57 million in revenue and $143.46 million in expenditures, leaving a projected surplus of roughly $115,300.

The city expects to end FY 2026-27 with approximately $90.83 million in its general fund balance, equal to 231 operating days and well above Conroe’s 90-day reserve policy.

 
County Coverage
Montgomery County commissioners discuss fire and safety updates, proposed jail site

Montgomery County officials learned a federal grant will be available to help cover costs from the Pauline Road Fire, which affected 2,360 acres in the county in March 2025.

During the July 23 Montgomery County Commissioners Court meeting, Jason Millsaps, executive director for the county’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said a fire management assistance grant, or FMAG, for $40,379 approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in March was in the process of being finalized.

Another detail: Millsaps also shared a plan for mobile emergency response barriers to better implement traffic safety measures.

What else: Continuing an ongoing Commissioners Court discussion regarding the location for a new jail, Doolittle proposed the building of a new jail facility by the current jail on 41 acres by the Montgomery County Mental Health Facility located at 700 Hilbig Road.

 

Your Weekend To-Do List

Check out these weekend events across the metro area.

Vintage Media Swap

The Woodlands Farmers Market at Grogan’s Mill

July 31, 2-4 p.m.
Fulshear

Aug. 1, 9 a.m.-noon
The Woodlands

Learn more.

Learn more.

 

Under the Sea Art Workshop

Back to School Bash Family Day

Aug. 1, 10 a.m.-noon
Missouri City

Aug. 1, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Spring

Learn more.

Learn more.

 
To submit your own event, click here.

Statewide News
Texas agencies outline plans to balance affordability with data center growth

Texas’ power grid operator and regulator have laid out their plans to regulate data centers that connect to the state grid and ensure data center companies, not residents, pay for the industry’s growth.

What's happening: To shield Texans from the negative impacts of data center growth, the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas are:

  • Prohibiting data centers from taking existing power resources off the grid
  • Launching a new process to evaluate large projects looking to connect to the grid
  • Creating standards that large consumers must meet before joining the grid
  • Developing incentives for large consumers to reduce their energy use ahead of a grid emergency
  • Requiring large companies to pay for the grid infrastructure needed to serve them
  • Improving ERCOT’s process for projecting future demand

Some context: The agencies outlined their data center policies July 17 in response to a June 10 order from the governor, although many of those projects were already in the works.

 

Your local team

Jake Norman
Managing Editor

Chrissy Leggett
General Manager

Email [email protected] for story ideas, tips or questions.

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