Government
BY SHAWN ARRAJJ & CASSANDRA JENKINS
TIRZ includes funds to renovate Montrose library As work continues on a new Montrose library, members of the Montrose Tax Increment Rein- vestment Zone signaled willingness at an Aug. 19 meeting to fund improvements at the existing Freed-Montrose Neighborhood Library. What happened W. MAIN ST.
Agreement reached with labor union Houston Mayor John Whitmire has reached a tentative agreement with the Houston Organization of Public Employees Local 123 Union. Whitmire announced the terms of the new three-year contract Sept. 23. • The city’s minimum wage will increase from $15 to $18 over the next two years • First-years will see a $3,000 increase • A 3.5% raise in 2025 and 2026 for workers Next steps The agreement will need to be approved by the majority of HOPE members and by Houston City Council’s Labor Committee before appearing before the full council. If approved, the contract will go into effect immediately.
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By a vote of 5-1, Montrose TIRZ board members approved the TIRZ’s 2024-25 budget and 2024-28 Capital Improvements Plan at the Aug. 19 meeting. Projects in the CIP include spending $11.5 million on the renovation of the Freed-Montrose library at 4100 Montrose Blvd., Houston. The plan envisions the TIRZ spending $1 million on the ren- ovations in the 2024-25 fiscal year and just under $2.63 million in each of the four years after that. Sanjay Bapat, a partner with the law firm Allen Boone Humphries Robinson LLC, which provides legal advice to the TIRZ board, said the funds going toward the library in the CIP are not set in stone. “If we do spend money on a study related to the
library or architectural plans, ... it will come back to this board for approval with more details,” he said at the Aug. 19 meeting. Moving forward TIRZ officials said they were instructed by the city in May to include the Freed-Montrose library as a line item in the CIP, but have not been told what the funding would actually cover. The $11.5 million cost could be split with the Houston Public Library system or another TIRZ, officials said. The library is located within the boundaries of the Midtown TIRZ.
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