Tax rates, budgets, appraisals, debt, pensions, contracts and fees.
The Houston City Council approved new requirements on Wednesday, October 28, 2026 for businesses receiving tax abatements from the city, including an $18 minimum wage, health insurance and workers' compensation for injuries. The rules also bar contractors with recent OSHA violations or wage theft history from participating in tax abatement construction projects.
The City of Humble is undertaking three road projects: widening South Houston Avenue to three lanes with traffic signals and drainage improvements ($10.3 million), repaving Meek and Manning roads with drainage work ($1.7 million), and replacing asphalt with concrete curb and gutter on McDugald Road, Sharon Drive and Carolyn Court while realigning the intersection at Rankin Road and Kingfisher Drive ($3.5 million).
Harris County began implementing 24/7 monitoring of ankle monitors worn by defendants on bond for violent crimes, replacing a previous policy that only monitored during business hours. The new initiative, funded by $1.5 million from Harris County Commissioners Court, includes 15 new pretrial officers and immediate notification procedures to law enforcement if a monitor is cut.
Houston officials celebrated the grand opening of Boulevard 61 on Monday, October 26, 2026, marking the addition of 90 affordable homes to a 100-unit mixed-income apartment community in southwest Houston at 6101 Richmond Avenue. The development sets aside 90 homes as income-restricted and 10 as market-rate, with 25 of the apartments connected to project-based housing vouchers administered by Housing Alliance HTX.
The Humble City Council approved a $20,000 funding increase for the Humble Museum during its Oct. 22, 2026 meeting to help with rising operating costs.
The San Jacinto Watershed, which experienced the worst flooding in Harris County during Hurricane Harvey, has received only 14% of the $367.45 million in flood-mitigation assistance promised under the 2018 Flood Bond, according to spending data through the third quarter of 2026. The Harris County Flood Control District has spent $2.33 billion of a total $5.3 billion in bond and partnership funds across all watersheds.
Harris County Emergency Services District No. 11 held a public hearing and voted on its property tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. The board approved a tax rate of $0.039072 per $100 in home valuation, estimated to add $2.74 to the average homeowner's property tax bill.
Gerardo Segundo, a 21-year-old Harris County detention officer who has worked for the sheriff's office for three years, crashed into a homeowner's fence in the Humble area around 1:50 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, and left the scene. He was charged with misdemeanor DWI and placed on administrative leave.
CenterPoint Energy reported third-quarter 2026 net income of $331 million, or $0.50 per diluted share on a GAAP basis and $0.53 per diluted share on a non-GAAP basis on October 27, 2026. The company raised its 2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance to $1.90–$1.92, initiated 2027 guidance of $2.07–$2.09, and expanded its 10-year capital plan by $4.0 billion to $70.7 billion to support customer demand in Greater Houston.
Harris County Commissioners Court will meet on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026 to consider extensions to federal pre-disaster mitigation project grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The extensions will give the Harris County Flood Control District more time to complete detention basin and debris removal projects without changing funding amounts.
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with Houston-area members of Congress, labor leaders and immigration rights activists on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, and called for cutting off all federal funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying the agency should not receive money from Democrats without structural changes and greater accountability.
Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones and the Houston Parks Board announced the start of construction on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026 for a new 1.7-mile segment of the Spring Branch Trail West in northwest Houston, part of a larger effort to create an 11-mile trail network connecting Addicks Reservoir to White Oak Bayou Greenway.
Every fact sheet from the last 24 hours is checked off.