CITY & COUNTY
News from Harris County & Jersey Village
QUOTE OF NOTE
Harris County invests $25M in court case backlog fight HARRIS COUNTY To help Harris County departments work through backlogged cases, commissioners voted June 6 to allocate $25 million from federal American Rescue Plan Act funds toward the effort. BACKLOG BREAKDOWN Harris County commissioners voted unanimously June 6 to allocate $25 million in federal funding to tackle the county’s court case backlog. Disposing cases: $11.2M Case preparation: $7.9M BY EMILY LINCKE Total: $25M
Harris County Commissioners Court will meet at 10 a.m. July 18 at 1001 Preston St., Ste. 934, Houston. 713-274-1111. www.harriscountytx.gov Harris County Emergency Services District No. 9 will meet at 6 p.m. July 28 at 10710 Telge Road, Houston. 281-550-6663. www.cyfairfd.org Jersey Village City Council will meet at 6 p.m. July 17 at 16327 Lakeview Drive, Jersey Village. 713-466-2100. www.jerseyvillagetx.com MEETINGS WE COVER NUMBER TO KNOW City Council approved the hiring of a consultant to study its state required capital improvement plans. City Council approved a budget amendment in a June 12 meeting that funded a $149,000 contract with Quiddity Engineering LLC to conduct a study of capital improvement plans, completed city projects and impact fees collected during the first six months of fiscal year 2022-23. $149,000 Jersey Village HIGHLIGHTS HARRIS COUNTY Residents and registered voters serving jury duty from across Harris County will get a pay bump starting in September after the Texas Legislature approved the first pay increase in the state since 2005, according to Harris County officials. Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 3474 on June 13 that calls for jury pay to increase from $6 to $20 for the first day and from $40 to $58 on subsequent days. Harris County District Clerk Marilyn Burgess, whose office oversees the jury summons and court process, said in a statement that she traveled to Austin several times this year in order to push for the passage of jury pay increase for Texas jurors. “THIS IS GREAT NEWS FOR HARRIS COUNTY VOTERS! ACCOUNTABILITY OVER ELECTIONS HAS BEEN RESTORED BACK TO YOU.” HARRIS COUNTY PRECINCT 3 COMMISSIONER TOM RAMSEY ON THE PASSAGE OF SENATE BILL 1750, WHICH ABOLISHES HARRIS COUNTY’S ELECTIONS ADMINISTRATION OFFICE
Case flow process and management: $1.2M
Evidence management: $4.8M
The background: Harris County has been experiencing a court case backlog since courts were shut down in early 2020 due to COVID-19. Harris County previously invested $39 million toward reducing the backlog, and since January 2022, misdemeanor and felony cases in the county’s backlog have decreased by 44% and 41%, respectively, according to county documents.
SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT/ COMMUNITY IMPACT
By the numbers: The funds will be used in different ways, according to a June 7 news release: • $11.2 million for disposing cases via emergency response dockets for district and county courts
Harris County approves updated guidelines for tax incentives • $7.9 million to aid case preparation • $4.8 million for better evidence management • $1.2 million for improving the case flow process Melissa Enaje contributed to this report.
INVESTING IN HARRIS COUNTY’S HEALTH A total of $2.9 billion worth of projects have been proposed for the Harris Health System, $2.5 billion of which may be covered by an upcoming bond. Proposed projects include:
$1.6 billion toward the creation of the new LBJ Hospital $500 million toward improvements at existing community clinics and the opening of three new community clinics in underserved parts of the county $400 million toward improvements at the existing LBJ Hospital $400 million toward improvements at Ben Taub Hospital
BY MELISSA ENAJE
HARRIS COUNTY Commissioners approved updated guidelines for projects to qualify for tax abatement in Harris County’s reinvestment zones. What happened: Precinct 1 Commis- sioner Rodney Ellis said Harris County’s updated guidelines aim to increase and strengthen existing community benefits and worker protections. City of Houston officials said 28 sites are designated as tax increment reinvestment zones. According to Texas Tax Code, a county or municipality may designate a geographic area as a TIRZ to promote development or redevelopment, and attract new investment in an area. The details: The policy builds on changes for competitive wages, access to affordable health care and safety training, and encourages minority- and women-owned businesses to participate in developing projects in TIRZ areas. The policy updates will: • Incentivize businesses to reduce carbon emissions • Require at least 50% of new hires at a project location to be county residents • Require that full-time employees be paid a fair wage and offered affordable health care plans
SOURCE: HARRIS HEALTH SYSTEM/COMMUNITY IMPACT
Harris Health System pitches $2.5B bond
BY SHAWN ARRAJJ
expand to 450 beds as needed.
HARRIS COUNTY Officials with the Harris Health System pitched a $2.5 billion bond pro- posal to Harris County commis- sioners at a June 6 meeting. The background: HHS owns and operates Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital and Ben Taub Hospital; it also operates 17 community- based clinics, a dental center, a chronic dialysis center and three outpatient specialty clinics. The big picture: HHS President and CEO Dr. Esmaeil Porsa said under the proposed bond, a new 390-bed LBJ Hospital would open with the capacity to
The need: Porsa said the hospitals are nearing their end of useful life if improvements aren’t made. The takeaway: If approved, the tax rate for the HHS would increase by an estimated 2 cents over the course of the bond. Over that time, the owner of a $300,000 house in Harris County would see property taxes increase by less than $6 per month. Next steps: Commissioners could call a bond election in August, which would come before voters in November.
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CYPRESS EDITION • JULY 2023
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