VOL 11 No. 36
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FORT BEND FAIR. BALANCED. INFORMATIVE. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2018
P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623
Official newspaper of Fort Bend County & Missouri City
Sugar Land City Council split on 1-cent tax hike for parks
By BARBARA FULENWIDER Sugar Land City Council on Aug. 28 discussed the proposed one cent increase in the city’s taxes to complete the park projects approved by voters in a bond referendum in 2013. Voters approved $31.46 million in bond projects, with a potential 3.1 cent increase to the tax rate. The City has issued $21.2 million in bonds and completed several projects, with less than one cent tax increase towards the park bonds. Implementation of the remaining projects requires the issuance of $10.26 million in bonds that will result in an estimated increase to the tax rate of one cent. The remaining park projects include: Ditch H Trail, First Colony Trail and Brazos River Park: Mid-Lake. City Council is split on the issue. One view is that park improvement is not a priority and flood control is critical. Another view is that the citizens voted for the park improvements and their decision should be honored. Sugar Land is no longer a fast growing city so sales taxes and property taxes have declined. Mayor Joe Zimmerman said, “Our city manager and staff said, based on a conservative assessment of flat property tax rate and sales tax, they can fund the city’s $245 million budget.” He said the tax rate now funds the $245 million but does not include the park bonds. “We had to publish the highest tax rate (of $0.32762 per $100 valuation) to give ourselves the
flexibility of what we’re not going to have on Sept. 18th.” (City council is scheduled to take a formal vote on the tax rate on Sept. 18.) Jennifer Brown, the city’s finance director, told council the city’s filed budget can be funded by a flat tax rate of $0.31762, which was the city’s rate last year. At council’s Aug. 9 meeting they voted to propose a tax rate for consideration of $0.32762, which included 1-cent for potentially including the voter approved park bond projects in the final budget. With a tax rate of $0.31762, the average tax bill this year would be $1,072 on a home valued at $375, 201. It amounts to an average increase of $34 in the tax bill. A public hearing on the proposed 2018 property tax rate opened and three citizens spoke. Leon Anhaiser was the first and said, “In looking at the tax rate and budget first thing, I asked myself what did we learn from Hurricane Harvey? We learned if we’d had flood levels that were predicted at the Brazos River we’d have had flooding over U.S. 90A and Hwy. 6 because water levels were right at the top. “My concern is we need to take care of our houses before we take care of our parks. We need to raise those levees 2 to 3 feet and look at what it did to the city’s Brazos River park. It tore every thing up during Harvey. We use to have 100-year events and now we’re looking at 5-years.
Anhaiser went on to say, “We need to seriously reconsider taking out things in that park because of the floods we are going to have. Eventually we will have to put a gate at the end of Ditch 8 and the Brazos River to prevent flooding. I don’t see why we need to do parks for 1-cent and not do our flooding first and then parks. I hope we’ll do flooding first and look at parks later and not do the 1-cent.” John Lucey was next and said he agreed with everything Anhaiser had said and was just glad last year’s flooding wasn’t any worse than it was. The third speaker was Christopher Meyer who told council, “The homestead exemption won’t help citizens next year because there could be large increases in taxes. We need to know what taxes will be before they are raised, not after.” He also said veterans should be exempt from “this type of property tax” and not have to pay the additional 1-cent raise. After the mayor closed the public hearing, he said the city council led by former mayor Jimmy Thompson “committed real funds to identify problems with the Brazos River. A study of the hydrology of the river had to be made to understand the erosion of it since.” Zimmerman said, “They had several meetings and coordinated with the LIDS and MUDS and all the counties up and down the watershed so we could share the information we uncovered” in order to be part of See TAX, Page 3
FBISD hosts community meetings on Nov. 6 Bond Referendum
At the August 13 Board meeting, the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees called a $992.6 million bond election for November 6, 2018 to address capital needs related to new construction, safety and security, renovations to address maintenance and adequacy throughout the District, and transportation and technology. To provide the community with details about the 2018 Bond package, FBISD is hosting a series of community information sessions in September and October. All FBISD parents, staff, students and community members are welcome to attend. The information sessions will give community members an opportunity to receive detailed information about the 2018 Bond, engage in open discussions and ask any questions they may have. You can learn more about the 2018 Bond Program on the Bond webpage. October 9 is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 6 election.
For more information about registering to vote, check with the Fort Bend County Elections at http://www.fortbendcountytx. gov/, under Services/Elections. The Community Information Sessions will be held on the following dates, from 6-8 p.m.: September Meetings: Tuesday, September 18 Hightower High School Auditorium 3333 Hurricane Lane, Missouri City 77459 Austin High School Auditorium 3434 Pheasant Creek Dr., Sugar Land 77498 Wednesday, September 19 Kempner High School Auditorium 14777 Voss Rd., Sugar Land 77498 Fort Settlement Middle School Commons 5440 Elkins Rd., Sugar Land 77479 Wednesday, September 26 Ridge Point High School Auditorium 500 Waters Lake Blvd., Missouri City 77459
Clements High Auditorium 4200 Elkins Dr., Sugar Land 77479
School
October Meetings: Thursday, October 4 Hodges Bend Middle School Commons 16510 Bissonnet, Houston 77083 Wednesday, October 10 Dulles High School Cafeteria 550 Dulles Ave., Sugar Land 77478 Travis High School Auditorium 11111 Harlem Rd., Richmond 77406 Tuesday, October 16 Bowie Middle School Commons 700 Plantation Dr., Richmond 77406 Willowridge High School Auditorium 16301 Chimney Rock, Houston 77053 Wednesday, October 17 Elkins High School Auditorium 7007 Knights Court, Missouri City 77459
Fort Bend Education Foundation hosts 4th Annual Sugar Shindig
Enjoy a sweet time with the Fort Bend Education Foundation at the 4th Annual Sugar Shindig presented by Dally + Associates, Inc. on Friday, October 26, at 6:30 pm. Shimmy over to Safari Texas for a casual evening of fun and frolic to raise funds for the teachers and schools of FBISD. The evening includes a fajita dinner, a dessert auction and dancing to the music of Password. This is camaraderie at its finest as staff from our schools and community members vie for the best cakes made by local bakers. The event is hosted by the Angels of Education Auxiliary, whose mission is to create community awareness for the Foundation’s Grants to Teachers and Schools programs. Have your cake and eat it too at this shindig! To purchase tickets, adults only $27/person, or make donations, visit www.fortbendisd.com/foundation. Above, Nappinnai Natarajan, Dr. Charles Dupre, Noreen Covey, Richard Embrick and Stephanie Clayton. —Photo courtesy of Mary Favre and Jasmine Raziuddin.
“The Arts of Russell Autrey” Exhibit at George Memorial Library, Richmond
Fort Bend County Libraries’ George Memorial Library announces the opening of a special exhibit, “The Arts of Russell Autrey: Artist, Photographer, Raconteur,” on September 9, in the Bohachevsky Gallery of the library, located at 1001 Golfview in Richmond. The public is invited to attend an opening-day reception for the exhibit from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. The exhibit, which showcases Autrey’s pen-and-ink drawings and storytelling skills as well as his magnificent photography, will be on display through October 31. A long-time photojournalist for Hartman Newspapers’ The Herald-Coaster (now the Fort Bend Herald and Texas Coaster), as well as for the Houston Chronicle, Autrey is best known for his photographs that caught snippets of the daily lives of Fort Bend County residents for more than 25 years, from 1983 until his retirement in 2009. Denise Adams, a fellow reporter at The Herald-Coaster, once remarked that Autrey “captures the every-day in an extraordinary way.” Through
the lens of his camera, Autrey documented wholesome Americana, from cotton harvests and livestock shows to children dancing through water puddles, creating masterpieces of art from simple, everyday life. As the photography world evolved from manual film to digital images, Autrey’s skills also grew. Digital photography has enabled him to manipulate photographs and add imaginative elements for a new generation of artistic creations, often with humorous features that reflect his view of life with all of its quirks and idiosyncrasies. A longtime fan of newspaper columnist Leon Hale, who is known for his folksy tales of country life, Autrey often shares stories and tidbits about the photos he takes. His simple observations of life have become as captivating as his artwork, and he tells his anecdotes in true Leon Hale style. Visitors to the exhibit will have a unique opportunity to hear Autrey’s stories while they are viewing his works of art. Photos for which he had a description will have a coordinating QR code with an audio recording of Autrey shar-
ing his memories of the photo and the story behind each one. This innovative element to the exhibit enables visitors to appreciate both the visual and aural talents of the artist. To experience this multidimensional feature, visitors will need a smartphone that has WiFi, active internet access, and a QR reader (various free QR reader options are available for download from the Apple App or Google Play stores). George Memorial Library provides free WiFi access to the public throughout the building. For convenience, visitors may also wish to bring earphones for their smartphones. While best-known for his brilliant photography, Autrey also enjoys expressing his creativity through pen-and-ink drawings. He credits an early art teacher for awakening his appreciation for all kinds of art, architecture, and music, and he initially began his artistic pursuits as a sketch artist. When a high school assignment placed a mail-order 35mm camera in his hands, his artistic eye became focused on photography, but his love of sketching has always continued in the background. The exhibit includes some of these lesser-known hidden gems that shine no less brightly beside their photographic counterparts. The exhibit may be viewed during regular library hours. For more information, call the library system’s Communications Office at 281-633-4734, or visit the Fort Bend County Libraries’ website, www.fortbend.lib.tx.us.