Early voting: Oct. 22 to Nov. 2, 2018 Election Day : Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018
VOL 11 No. 37
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FORT BEND FAIR. BALANCED. INFORMATIVE. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623
Official newspaper of Fort Bend County & Missouri City
Rosenberg budget offers 3-cent tax cut Rosenberg City Council adopted the Fiscal Year 20182019 budget at the Tuesday, Sept. 4 regular council meeting. A public hearing allowed the opportunity for public comment prior to adopting the budget, which lowered property taxes from 46.2 cents to 43.0 cents (per $100 valuation). This was the largest property tax cut in approximately 30 years, lowering the rate below the effective rate of $0.445 and the rollback rate of $0.435. While lowering the tax rate, council also increased the homestead exemptions for citizens over 65 years of age from $30,000 to $45,000 and reduced the debt by $8 million (saving citizens approximately $700,000 in interest over the next ten years.) The new budget will go into effect on October 1, 2018 and end on September 30, 2019. Key changes to the budget include funding for seven additional personnel, including school resource officers; a costof-living (COLA) increase of one and a half percent (1.5%)
for all full-time employees; and a TMRS retirement contribution rate increase from 6% to 7% for employees. Additionally, several capital improvement projects were funded including sidewalks; road improvements and drainage; railroad quiet zones; and water and sanitary sewer line improvements, to name a few. The budget includes water/wastewater projects and construction projects in partnership with TXDoT,
State Rep. Ron Reynolds has turned himself in to authorities in Montgomery County to begin serving his year-long jail sentence. Reynolds, a Democrat from Missouri City, was convicted in 2015 on misdemeanor charges for illegally soliciting clients for his personal injury practice and sentenced to a year in jail. He was out on an appellate bond for years while his case wound through the appeals process. Reynolds has not resigned his seat and state law does not require resignations for misdemeanor convictions. Reynolds is likely to be in jail when the next session of the Texas Legislature convenes in January. Reynolds has won several elections since his conviction, including his primary in March. He faces no opposition in the general election this November. Though Reynolds is sentenced to one year, he may be released earlier if he gets
credit for “good time.” If Reynolds served only one day of every three of his sentence, he could conceivably get out of jail just one or two days before the next legislative session starts on Jan. 8. Reynolds’ office released a statement that said the lawmaker’s attorney is continuing to work on “various legal challenges” and Reynolds was confident that his conviction would still be overturned. “Today, Representative Ron Reynolds voluntarily revoked his appeal bond so that he could be prepared to start the 86th Legislative Session on time. Rep. Reynolds attorney is still working on various legal challenges and he is confident that his misdemeanor conviction will be overturned. Moreover, Rep. Reynolds has full confidence that his experienced staff will be able to handle any immediate needs of his constituents, during his 4-6 month absence.
Benton
the Rosenberg Development Corporation (RDC), and Fort Bend County. For a complete list of projects and the distribution of budgeted funds for fiscal year 2019, visit the City website at: http:// rosenbergtx.gov/wp-content/ uploads/2018/08/FY19Budget-Book-PROPOSED-1. pdf. The adopted budget includes projected revenues and expenditures for City operations while remaining mindful of anticipated growth and increased demand for services. “We’ve been blessed with sales tax increases, our sales tax nearly doubling in the last ten years,” Mayor William T. “Bill” Benton said. “We needed to lower taxes for our citizens and we did that without compromising services. We had to prioritize our spending, funding first our needs before our wants. The government can’t always give a tax break, but when they can, they should. I think we have a moral obligation to try.”
State Rep. Ron Reynolds turns himself in to serve jail sentence
“Rep . Reynolds and his staff have a strong work ethic and have always been very attentive to his constituents. Rep . Reynolds looks forward to continuing to fight for his constituents during the upcoming session.” Reynolds’ conviction stems from a 2012 undercover investigation that revealed a chiropractic firm was persuading patients who had been injured in accidents to sign contracts that named Reynolds as their legal counsel before the patients had physical exams or even met him. Those charges were ultimately dropped after investigators in the case were accused of stealing evidence in unrelated cases, but Reynolds was again arrested a year later after authorities raided his office and the offices of seven other area attorneys. The lawyers were allegedly involved in a $25 million kickback scheme with Robert Valdez, a co-owner of two chiropractic clinics. — Texas Tribune
Kyler Scheiffele of Sugar Land celebrates with two Houston Texans Cheerleaders as a recent winner of the Ashley HomeStore Kickoff Kid program. Kyler’s name was drawn for the opportunity to run on the NRG Stadium field to pick up the opening kick off tee at a Houston Texans home game. Visit any Houston-area Ashley HomeStore to enter for a chance to win.
Missouri City one of America’s best locales for a small business A recent Verizon “Best Small Cities for Small Businesses” report positions the “Show Me City” as one of America’s best places to operate a company in, ranking the area as No. 42 in a list of the nation’s top 50. Evidence of this achievement and the area’s thriving economy was visible last month when City officials and staff hosted a “Doing Business With the City” Leadership Luncheon that drew more than 150 business owners, managers and stakeholders who are interested in seeing the pace of growth and development continue at a steady pace. Overall, the Luncheon presentation focused on how individuals can build a business partnership with the City, how they can register as a vendor and how they can pursue competitive bid contracts. More than 150 small- and medium-sized businesses attended a recent Missouri City Leadership Luncheon series to learn about business partnership opportunities. “Missouri City is a prime commercial location that can provide strategic value to any company, we are open for
business and we are looking to grow our economic development base with companies large and small,” said City Manager Anthony J. Snipes. “The Show Me City also offers an attractive incentive package to businesses and programs that is designed to help industries prosper.” The Verizon findings, compiled of data gathered from about 300 cities nationwide, highlights the City’s dedication to expansion. Criteria for the corporation’s report, included: Population: The network considered cities made up of 50,000 to 75,000 people as “small”; Education: The network examined the percentage of the population older than 25 who held a bachelor’s degree or higher from accredited universities or colleges; Travel time to work: The network reviewed the average total travel time it takes individuals 16 and older to reach work from their residences; this metric takes into account carpooling, public transportation and traffic; Income per capita: The network considered the average
A squad of the Special Forces Assistance Battalion assembled by General Mattis to relieve the Special Forces Teams from the bulk of the training of the Afghan Army, trains and assists the Afghan Army on their missions, freeing up the Special Forces to continue with their other missions. This SFAB squad, at the end of their deployment, wanted to make a special Thank You for Tip Of the TIP OF THE SPEAR. The Special Forces Assistance Battalion crew pose with care packages Spear.org from Missouri City. Please visit www. TipOfTheSpear.org . donated by the Tipofthespear.org.
cumulative income of residents in the cities that are on the list; Broadband access: The network looked at access to Internet service running at speeds of at least 10 Mbps download time and 1 Mbps upload time in each of the cities; Loans per capita: The network looked at the process, convenience for individuals seeking a business loan in the cities; and Tax scores: The network determined how tax-friendly each city is for businesses. In sharing the results, the Verizon team noted that Missouri City is in the top 16.6 percent of small cities across the nation; the full report may be viewed here: https:// vz.to/2wJRNGM. The network also noted that Missouri City is an environment where small businesses can thrive and that City officials and staff are helping to lead the way for the future of entrepreneurs. Missouri City was the only municipality in the region to make Verizon’s national list; other Texas cities recognized are: Mansfield (24) and Georgetown (28).