Bellaire council to set tax rate, hear flooding realities and Bellaire HS permit issues

By Charlotte Aguilar
The Bellaire City Council will hold its first meeting since Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc in the city, with a public hearing on Bellaire High School construction matters at 6 p.m. and regular business — if you can call the uncertainties and variables of post-Harvey governance that — starting at 7 tonight.
Both will take place in Council Chambers at City Hall, 7008 S. Rice Ave.
The council will vote on accepting the tax roll from the Harris County Appraisal District and will then vote on a recommendation to increase the tax rate to $0.4159 for each $100 of assessed property value to finance the proposed fiscal year 2018 budget.
With adjustments, the final amount of Bellaire’s taxable property came in from HCAD at $4,894,809,224 on an overall appraised value of $6,010,006,625 — $48 million less than the preliminary roll sent in July. The public will have a chance to be heard on the tax rate at two public hearings, on Oct. 2 and 9.
City Manager Paul Hofmann will focus his monthly report on storm recovery updates, which are expected to include the city’s permit and inspection process that could impact an estimated 2,300-plus homes in Bellaire damaged by Harvey, and on the massive debris collection operation that started last Friday with a FEMA-approved contractor that could see up to 90 percent recovery of costs to Bellaire.
There will also be a monthly financial update from the budget director and a quarterly report from the Evelyn’s Park Conservancy.
Preceding the meeting, the public will be heard by council on a request for a specific use permit by Houston ISD in connection with its long-stalled reconstruction of Bellaire High School and a related permit that would repurpose the former Gordon Elementary/Mandarin Chinese campus at 6300 Avenue B as baseball practice facilities for the high school. Those wishing to speak must sign up with the city secretary before the hearing and will have five minutes to make their points.
The Planning & Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the specific use permits after public input resulted in modifications.
Ironically, that Avenue B campus is being repurposed to replace the severely flooded Kolter Elementary School in Meyerland starting Sept. 25, possibly for the entire school year.