07-17-2025

Last night the Huntsville City Council passed a measure that could increase the City of Huntsville property taxes as much as 8 percent. The Texas Legislature capped cities from increasing property taxes by more than 3.5 percent. A loop hole is being used allowing cities in a Federal Disaster Zone to increase property taxes as much as 8 percent.

The Council passed a measure allowing the Walker County Appraisal District to calculate the Voter Approval Tax Rate with an 8 percent increase. While this isn’t an increase in taxes yet, this allows the process to start. The Council could vote on a measure to increase taxes as early as September 17th.

The council passed a spending measure to hire an attorney group that partners with other Texas cities to represent the city before the Texas Utility Commission regarding rate increases from Entergy Texas. The group employees attorneys and utility rate experts to represent cities to fight unwarranted rate increases.

During the budget session, the City Manager Aron Kulhavy layed out the existing budget City leaders are working on. The budget currently has a $2 million shortfall, down from the $10 million shortfall from an earlier proposed budget. The City departmental leaders will likely need to make further cutbacks.

The Council held a hearing on the latest planned 86 acre subdivision off of FM 247. The Council heard testimony from Armon Irones, Huntsville’s City Planner, along with managing partners Joshua Rinstein and Stefan Parade from SPJR Properties LLC, the projects developers. Questions were raised by council members about planned water shed and drainage issues.

SPJR will addresses the issues raised later in the city permitting process.

The City Council went into executive session and later emerged voting to approve a new contract with the City Manager Aron Kulhavy.

07-10-2024

TXDOT (Highway Department) will hold a public meeting on the future Interstate 14 project through Walker County. The meeting that was to be held at the Walker County Fairgrounds July 11th was cancelled.

TXDOT released maps showing possible routes through the western part of the Huntsville / Walker County area. Included in these maps are the Huntsville Thoroughfare Planned Loop.

Currently TXDOT is in the planning phase for Interstate 14 through Huntsville. Approximately 25 miles of the system have been designated as an Interstate 14 in Texas from I-35 in Belton to US 190E in Copperas Cove.

The FAST Act created the Central Texas Corridor that would run near Highway 190 from Interstate 10 near Iraan to State Highway (SH) 63 in Jasper, connecting Louisiana to Texas at the Highway 63 Sabine River Bridge.

Federal legislation authorized a loop encircling the Bryan/College Station area as an interstate highway to be numbered I-214. A future loop (Huntsville Thoroughfare Planned Loop) is being planned around the Huntsville area.

Possible routes through western Walker County may go through areas of Crabbs Prairie or use Highway 30. A longer route could go through Madisonville.

Property right of way acquisitions will require TXDOT to purchase property for the expansion. This may not be a bad thing for Walker County property owners who could reap millions of dollars with increased land value. Others may not be as lucky and may only be reimbursed the market value of their property through the eminent domain process.

The planned Interstate will be between 300-500 feet wide.

07-09-2024

Hurricane Beryl caused widespread outages Monday morning. Over an estimated 2.1 Million CenterPoint customers in Houston alone were without power.

Locally the storm produced major outages with over 10,267 Entergy customers and 3,754 Sam Houston Electric customers without power in Walker County.

Elsewhere in the service area Entergy reported 152,048 Montgomery County Entergy customers without power.

Beryl left most of Southern Walker County without power. The storm rapidly lost intensity upon entering higher elevations in Northern areas of Montgomery County and Southern Walker County. Huntsville was greatly spared the wrath of the storm as the eye of the storm dramatically shifted.

As of 6:30 PM Monday, approximately 247,000 Entergy Texas customers were without power. Entergy Texas stated “a workforce of more than 1,300 damage assessors, vegetation crews, line workers, and support personnel have been mobilized to diligently restore power as quickly and safely as possible.”

People shouldn’t attempt to clear debris in contact with power lines, even though the power may appear to be off. A team of utility crews will be in the area over the next several days clearing debris from utility infrastructure and restoring the power.

Be patient and plan ahead as most restoration will likely take days, instead of hours due to the scope of the damage to the regionally impacted infrastructure.

The National Hurricane Center now predicts the eye of Beryl to pass near Huntsville. The Huntsville Area is predicted to receive the dirty side of the storm which is expected to be upgraded soon.

Huntsville area residents should secure all outside items to prevent flying debris and projectiles. Beryl shifts course closer to Huntsville. The Huntsville area can expect sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph. Wind gust of 80-90 MPH may occur, dangerous lightning, and the risk of tornadoes. This storm may produce tornadoes, dangerous lightning, and life threatening flash floods for our area.

The Huntsville Police is alerting people there is a new traffic pattern for tonight’s fireworks.

The fireworks display start at 9:15 PM.

Vehicle access to Kate Barr Ross Park ends at 8 PM.

The Huntsville Police stated, “due to damage to the road between Kate Barr Ross Park and Airport Road, the traffic plan for leaving the park on July 4th has changed from years past. All vehicles that are parked in the lower parking lots near the Softball Fields and the Soccer Fields will need to leave on Kevin Williams Drive, the main entrance to the park. Cars in the upper lots on the north and south side of the youth baseball fields will exit at the light on the north side of the fields. All traffic exiting the park will be directed north on 75. All traffic exiting from the HEARTS Veterans Museum and the Prison Museum will be directed South on 75. Please be patient and expect delays leaving the area of Kate Barr Ross Park when the fireworks show has concluded. Additionally, vehicles will not be allowed into the park after 8:00PM”

The storm is now a dangerous Category 5 Hurricane with sustained wind of over 150 MPH.

The latest storm models show the storm making landfall along the Northern Gulf Coast of Mexico and South Texas after crossing the Yucatan Peninsula. 

A weakening high pressure in the Gulf could change these models by this weekend. Stay updated as storm predictions are rapidly changing.

Ramiro Gonzales will likely face execution by lethal injection at 6 PM today June 26, 2024. The convicted sexual predator was found guilty of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 18-year-old female before fatally shooting her on January 15, 2001.

The convicted predator received two life sentences for another aggravated sexual assault with a deadly weapon from Bandera County. While serving time for the sexual assault, Gonzalez confessed to the kidnapping, murder and rape of Bridget Townsend in Medina County leading law enforcement to her remains.

Unless Texas Governor Abbott issues a stay for any reason, Gonzalez will likely face execution at the Huntsville Unit at 6 PM on Wednesday June 26th.

Construction on the $750,000 building will be completed soon and is targeted to open in Fall 2024.