WTAW - Interviews

This podcast contains comments from the August 26, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

Six months of attempts by new Brazos County commissioner Fred Brown to end the county's use of Diners Club credit cards is over.

At Tuesday's commission meeting (August 26), a unanimous vote was made to use a credit card that pays Brazos County a rebate based on the total amount of charges and how quickly the county makes card payments.

Brazos County will be part of a credit card account established by the state comptroller's office.

Click HERE to read and download the agreement approved at the August 26, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

Doug Vance, Executive Director of the Brazos Valley Coalition on Suicide Prevention, visits with WTAW's Chelsea Reber.

This podcast contains comments from the August 19, 2025 Blinn College trustees meeting.

Blinn College trustees again set a property tax rate that requires paying a penalty to the state because the rate is under the minimum of five cents.

The rate of 4.38 cents was approved at a special meeting Tuesday (August 26) by a five to one vote.Voting no was Richard O'Malley. Not present for the vote was Dennis Crowson.

During the trustees regular meeting on August 19, vice chancellor Clem Burton said Blinn paid an $870,000 dollar penalty in fiscal year 2024 and a $560,000 dollar penalty in FY 2025. Executive vice chancellor Leighton Schubert said the expected penalty for FY 2026 would be $570,000.

Burton also told trustees the tax rate for FY 26 also reflected a state mandated tuition freeze and the legislature looking at reducing the amount of state funding of community colleges.

Blinn's tax rate, which applies only to property owners in Washington County, is the lowest among the state's 50 community colleges.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the August 26, 2025 Blinn College trustees special meeting.

This podcast contains comments from Brazos County commission meetings on August 19 and August 26, 2025.

In 2019, the Texas Transportation Commission approved Brazos County's application to create a regional mobility authority (RMA) that focuses on local transportation projects.

At the August 19th county commission meeting, opponents to the east loop highway project called for the RMA to go away.

That was followed by commissioners voting three to two to continue sharing in paying for the RMA's required financial audit.

No one on the commissioners court explained their vote, which was approved by acting county judge Kyle Kacal and commissioners Bentley Nettles and Wanda Watson. Voting no were Chuck Konderla and Fred Brown.Brazos County shares in the cost of the RMA audit with the cities of College Station and Bryan and with Texas A&M.

The RMA's new chief presiding officer, Karl Mooney, was not present at the August 19th meeting. But Mooney, a retired College Station mayor and council member, spoke during public comments the following week.Mooney apologized for not attending the August 19th meeting. Then he shared about current and upcoming actions by the RMA board.

Click HERE to read and download the RMA agreement that was approved at the August 19, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

This podcast contains comments from the August 27, 2025 meeting of the Texas A&M system board of regents committee on academic and student affairs.

The start of the new academic year at the Texas A&M system's 12 universities coincides with a board of regents study into student discipline.

The regents committee on academic and student affairs (CASA) launched the study with a 45 minute discussion at their August 27th meeting in College Station.

Speakers included the system's lead attorney dealing with student affairs Jerry Brown, the director of Texas A&M's director of student community standards Douglas Bell, and the director of A&M's Aggie Honor System Office Blair Alvarado.

Seven of the nine regents had questions and comments, in particular about due process rights of students.

The chairman of the regents CASA, Sam Torn of Houston, said this issue will be studied during the entire academic year.

Click HERE to read and download presentation materials during the August 27, 2025 board of regents CASA meeting.

Jose Castro, Bryan's Municipal Court Juvenile Case Coordinator, visits with WTAW's Chelsea Reber about trends in juvenile cases, Teen Court, the Youth Advisory Commission, how to sign up, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast contains comments from the August 26, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

The design of a Brazos County office complex and parking garage across Texas Avenue from the courthouse is on hold.

That's after county staff asked commissioners to consider adding a fourth floor to the office building and a larger parking area.

Commissioners at Tuesday's meeting (August 26) tabled the request until their September 9th meeting.

The proposed $10 million dollar addition is part of the county's proposed fiscal year 2026 budget.

The county's project manager, Trevor Lansdown, was asked to provide information about what would be located on the fourth floor and why there is not enough room in current county buildings to accommodate a growing number of employees.

Commissioner Fred Brown said "timing wise this could not be at a worse time when we're struggling with where the tax rate is going to be. But yet we want to spent $10 million dollars on a fourth floor of a building that we're not even sure that we need a fourth floor."Brown was referring to the commission proposing a property tax rate increase of more than three cents, which is the subject of a public hearing on September 9th.

Lansdown said it would be less expensive to add the space to a project is still in the design phase as opposed to needing another building in the future.

Lansdown also said there is no space to move county offices in an emergency, citing an air conditioning failure in the building that houses the elections office and the county's employee health clinic. Lansdown said the clinic is closed and employees in the elections office is working in the non-air conditioned building.

Click HERE to read and download background information on the proposed expansion of the "101 North Texas" office complex.

This podcast contains comments from the August 26, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.

This podcast also corrects the amount of the increase in the property tax rate proposed by Brazos County commissioners associated with their fiscal year 2026 budget.

Brazos County commissioners propose a property tax rate increase of one third of one cent.

Commissioners cited two factors before the unanimous vote at Tuesday's (August 26) meeting.

One was making up for lost valuation by property owners making successful appeals of valuations set by the Brazos Central Appraisal District.

Commissioners also blamed more restrictions from state lawmakers.

The proposal calls for the Brazos County property tax rate going from .419700 to .423059.

A public hearing was scheduled for September 9th at 8:30 a.m.

Click HERE to be directed to the Brazos County website with more information about the proposed tax rate and the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget.

News release from Brazos County:

Brazos County commissioners proposed a new tax rate today for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. While the No New Revenue rate was preferable among taxpayers and commissioners, recent changes in the Texas legislature have left counties and municipalities across the state working to salvage their budgets and causing Brazos County commissioners to propose the Voter Approval Rate of .423059 per $100 valuation as the ceiling for future discussion.

Senate Bill 10 was proposed to reduce the amount of increase to property tax revenue by cities and counties from 3.5% to 2.5%. However, the House yesterday proposed setting that limit at 1%, with an exception for public safety costs. In addition to the news from the legislature, commissioners also must consider current litigation between taxpayers and the Brazos Central Appraisal District.“

After the current 2024 tax rate was set, $128-million came off the appraised values,” said First Assistant County Auditor Marci Turner. “As of right now, an additional $1.4-billion of appraised property value for prior years is in litigation. We know not all of that will be removed, but we estimate an eight-percent loss, resulting in an additional $112-million coming off the current appraised values.”

As the tax rate is set to cover the proposed budget, losing that much each year presents a challenge. Throughout the budget process, County departments asked for items of necessity to continue providing excellent service to residents of Brazos County, making this a no-frills budget.

Acting County Judge Kyle Kacal said, “Considering the current litigation with the Brazos Central Appraisal District and the potential property tax rate cap coming from the state legislature, proposing the Voter Approval Rate is the only fiscally responsible action I could vote for to be a good steward of Brazos County tax dollars.

The No New Revenue rate, while appealing in the moment, would drain the County’s unbudgeted and uncommitted General Fund balance within two to three years and would force a tax hike in the near future just to keep the County’s services at current levels.”

On September 9, 2025, Brazos County commissioners will hold public hearings at 8:30am to discuss the proposed budget and 9:15am to discuss the proposed tax rate. The budget and tax rate will be adopted the same day during the regular commissioners court meeting at 10:00am.

Bryan Mayor Bobby Gutierrez visits with WTAW's Chelsea Reber about the proposed budget and tax rate, development at Midtown Park, expanding Legends Event Center, and more during his appearance on The Infomaniacs.

This podcast is an interview with the city of Bryan's director of development services Martin Zimmerman and WTAW's Bill Oliver.

An apartment complex in Bryan being considered for closure due to unsafe living conditions gets a reprieve.

A hearing before the city's building standards commission on Monday (August 25) was continued until October 27.

The city's director of development services, Martin Zimmerman, says that was to comply with state law after finding out the Canyon Village complex on Finfeather has a new owner.

Zimmerman also says due to sewer backup issues, all units in the 48 year old complex have utility holds to prevent new tenants from moving in.

The city started receiving complaints in February of 2020, with a tenant reporting the sewer backup in January of 2023.

Click HERE to read and download the city of Bryan's staff report about conditions at the Canyon Village apartment complex.