The College Station City Council met on Thursday to discuss tax rates, traffic control and upcoming voting locations. The council also approved budget changes needed to provide amenities to citizens as well as continued funding for ongoing projects.
Following Texas A&M football games, the city of College Station and A&M will enter into a contract with Buyers Barricades Houston, LLC, for the 2023 TAMU Football Post Game Day Traffic Control project, according to the agenda.
The workshop agenda focused on the creation of a community recreation center and the impacts it may have on the local community. Citing an estimated 1.2 million visits to the Texas A&M student recreational sports facility, the proposed facility would serve the residents of College Station without placing more strain on the student-focused institutions.
“I haven’t had anyone come up to me on the street and ask for a rec[creational] center,” said Place 5 Councilman Bob Yancy. “But I also recognize that our citizens, our families are facing a need that is not answered by existing facilities.”
The proposed tax rates for the 2025 fiscal year include the estimated average homestead taxable value increasing by 10%. Fees from the Planning Development Services and Water Services will increase, and the property tax will stay the same at 51.30 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
“These fees … and increases are well under what the voters approved,” Elizabeth Cunha, Place 4 councilwoman, said. “If we’re spending $300,000 on those ‘Welcome to Aggieland’ signs, I would think we need to refocus.”
The annual budget was also discussed and passed unanimously, with an increase of $939,011 from the previously proposed budget for a total of $541,450,684. With increases in prices, questions were raised by Place 6 Councilman Dennis Maloney.
“This may be placing a burden on families who will now have to find this money from their budget,” Maloney said. “We have to be … careful with spending, with stewardship.”
Also attending the meeting were members of the student organization Aggie Democrats. After a list of early voting sites in College Station erroneously excluded a center in Memorial Student Center, or MSC, and included a location in the College Station City Hall, members attended the meeting to ensure the error was fixed, such as Kevin Pierce, president of Aggie Democrats.
In 2022, Pierce said the group advocated for the return of the MSC as an early voting location after it was removed, and he said the group was willing to do so again if needed. The Brazos County judge issued a correction to the list before Thursday’s meeting after students pointed out the error.
“I went last time and fought against it,” Pierce said. “I went and testified in Commissioner’s Court, so we will go and fight that again if it’s happening.”
The Commissioners Court’s regular meeting on Aug. 27 is set to address the mistake and offer a new order to remove College Station City Hall and replace it with the Memorial Student Center.
