CITY & COUNTY
News from League City & Harris County
League City City Council races include several contenders
Harris County cuts proposed budget, waits on tax rate
LOWERING THE RATE
The Harris County tax rate is expected to drop $0.01 for fiscal year 2022-23.
BY JAKE MAGEE
are running for Position 2. Cones was the former League City Volun- teer Fire Department fire marshal and assistant fire chief, and he retired this spring. Hank Dugie is the incumbent Position 2 council member. He is not running for re-election after being elected as Galveston County’s treasurer. He won in the Republican primaries in March and is unopposed in the general election. Tom Crews, Chris Dodson and Brian Hanby are running for Position 3. Larry Millican holds the position and announced in July he would resign from City Council, leaving his seat open for the two remaining years of his four-year term. Finally, Ange Mertens, Larissa Ramirez and Sean Saunders are running for Position 7.
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BY RACHEL CARLTON
LEAGUE CITY Most of the League City City Council positions are up for election in November, and some races are uncontested while others have several candidates. Nick Long, mayor pro tem and Position 7 council member, is running for mayor. With no oppo- nents, Long will automatically become mayor. Incumbent Mayor Pat Hallisey is not seeking re-election. Incumbents Andy Mann for Position 1 and Chad Tressler for Position 6 are running uncon- tested for their own seats. During an August council meeting, they thanked residents for trusting them enough to not oppose them. The remaining seats for posi- tions 2, 3 and 7 will be filled by newcomers to council. Tommy Cones and Billy Fregia
HARRIS COUNTY On Sept. 13, Harris County commissioners voted 3-0 to adopt an amended fiscal year 2022-23 budget but delayed a vote on the county’s tax rates until Sept. 27. As the chairs of Precinct 3 Commis- sioner Tom Ramsey and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle laid vacant in commissioners court, both com- missioners released email statements at the beginning of the meeting confirming they would not show to vote on the proposed overall tax rate of $0.57508 per $100 valuation—a 1% decrease from the previous fiscal year’s rate of $0.58135. “Now is not the time for local government to take advantage of inflated property appraisals to pay for an expanded govern- ment footprint,” Cagle said in a written statement. “Now is when
$.60
$0.57508
$.575 0
2021-22 2022-23**
Fiscal year
SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER *PER $100 PROPERTY VALUATION **TAX RATE NOT YET FINAL
we should be fighting alongside taxpayers to help them dig out from under the rubble.” Without a four-member quorum, the court could not legally vote to adopt a set of tax rates. Instead, the attending commissioners voted 3-0 to adopt the annualized version of the fiscal year 2021-22 bud- get for the county.
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