News
BY MELISSA ENAJE, RACHEL LELAND & JAMES T. NORMAN
Clear Creek ISD approves $381.5 million budget Clear Creek ISD’s board of trustees approved its budget for the ongoing school year at its Aug. 21 meeting and, pending voter approval in November, could see a balanced budget. The overview CCISD’s budget for fiscal year 2023-24, which began Sept. 1, anticipates $381.5 million in both rev- enue and expenses, about $16.1 million more than last year’s budget, according to district documents. Breaking even, however, will come only if the district can get an additional $17.4 million through a voter-approval tax rate election, also known as a VATRE, which will be on November’s ballot. By the numbers The breakdown of expenses for the district, according to district documents, is: • $337.72 million on payroll
Council lowers tax rate, passes budget League City residents will pay a lower tax rate than last year, a trend the city has kept over the past nine consecutive years. In a nutshell On Sept. 12, League City City Council voted to approve the budget for fiscal year 2023-24 with a property tax rate of $0.395 per valuation. The tax rate is lower than the no-new-revenue rate of $0.396783 and lower than the FY 2022-23 tax rate of $0.415526. The approved budget funds: • Additional city staff and vehicles • New and replacement equipment for public safety and public works • The reinvestment program, which includes $750,000 to fund sidewalk repairs, according to a city news release
Harris County officials adopt $2.7B budget Harris County will be operating fiscal year 2023-24 on a $2.7 billion budget, a $500 million increase from last year’s budget of $2.2 billion, after commissioners unanimously approved the amount on Sept. 19. The budget, according to agenda documents, will strategically invest countywide in: • Employee retention, with cost-of-living adjust- ments for civilian employees • Public health and safety • Additional district criminal courts • Expanding the county’s public defender’s office • Infrastructure • Flood resiliency Quote of note Commissioners pointed out the united efforts to reach this year’s budget compared to last year, which resulted in two Republican commissioners,
Texas Supreme Court denies county request to run election Senate Bill 1750, a contested election bill affecting Harris County, went into effect Sept. 1 after the Texas Supreme Court issued a decision Aug. 22 denying Harris County’s emergency motion to block the bill before the Nov. 7 election. Election responsibilities will no longer be under the discretion of the Harris County elections administrator because SB 1750 eliminates the elections administrator’s office, turning oversight to the county tax assessor-collector and county clerk’s office. Going forward The Supreme Court set a date for the oral argument on the state’s appeal for Nov. 28.
Revenue breakdown The bulk of Clear Creek ISD’s revenue comes from local sources, but this year its state sources are expected to nearly double.
Building a budget Harris County commissioners passed the $2.7 billion budget on Sept. 19, a $500 million increase from last year.
$2.4B
General fund
Federal
Other
Local
State
Harris County Flood Control District Harris County Toll Road Authority
$128M
FY 2023-24
FY 2022-23
$398M
$888M
Harris Health System
Local: $215.87M State: $155.68M Federal: 9.22M Other: $0.73M
Local: $252.38M State: $88.75M Federal: 13.63M Other: $11.97M
SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
including Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey, sitting out of the tax rate votes. “How the budget process was done at this table was a stark difference to how it was done last year. May this be an example of how we do this in the future,” Ramsey said. Going forward Oct. 1 is when the adopted budget will go into effect, lasting until Sept. 30, 2024.
SOURCE: CLEAR CREEK ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT
• $17.91 million on contracted services • $13.23 million on supplies and materials • $11.92 million on other operating costs • $715,000 for debt service
BAY AREA 1033 Bay Area Blvd (281) 486-9558 LEAGUE CITY
KEMAH 243 FM 2094 (281) 538-9095 SEABROOK 3126 Nasa Pkwy (281) 326-5127
196 Gulf Fwy S (281) 316-2140
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