Tee it up again at Quail Valley - Page 2
County commissioner Ken DeMerchant's "Meal Bus" partnered with Fort Bend Senior Meals on Wheels to provide food for the area's senior citizens. Read more inside today's edition on Page 3. (Contributed photo)
WEDNESDAY • MAY 6, 2020
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 44 • No. 89
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By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Thousands in Fort Bend County have filed for unemployment as the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the area’s economy. Adding to the strain is that many county property owners are being asked to pay an increased tax bill at the end of this year. Property owners recently received their 2020
Most Fort Bend County property owners are seeing higher appraisal values this year. (Photo from FBCAD Facebook)
Notice of Appraised Value with an average increase to
residential property values of about $13,000, or 4.71
percent, from 2019. That translates to higher tax bills. “The timing of it is just not good,” said Fort Bend County Precinct 4 Commissioner Ken DeMerchant, who has seen the impact on some of his neighbors in New Territory. “… It can really be a strain on your finances (when you lose your job). The bad news just keeps coming.” According to DeMerchant, about 30,000 people in Fort Bend County have
filed for unemployment as social distancing measures during the pandemic have forced temporary or permanent business closures. At the same time, more than 80 percent of appraised properties in Fort Bend County saw a rise in value from 2019 to 2020, according to chief appraiser Jordan Wise of the Fort Bend Central Appraisal District (FBCAD).
SEE APPRAISAL PAGE 7
Transfer tussle
281-690-4206 Rosenberg approves grant for businesses By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Small businesses in Rosenberg that are feeling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could have some temporary relief on the way. On April 21, the Rosenberg City Council voted 4-3 to approve a Business Resiliency Grant that is intended to assist small businesses in the city that have experienced significant revenue decline due to social distancing measures in response to the pandemic. “It was a matter of looking around at other cities and seeing what kinds of actions they were taking. Like so many others we were at a loss – we didn’t have a game plan,” Rosenberg Economic Development Director Jeremy Heath said. “We were calling plays at the line of scrimmage and looking for ways to help.” According to Rosenberg’s recent survey of 68 businesses in the city, 49 have had to at least partially shut down operations during the pandemic. Twenty-nine have had to close completely at one point or another. “The statistics are kind of depressing,” Heath said. The program will pay for one month’s rent or mortgage for any business with a storefront within the city limits, up to a maximum of $6,000 per eligible business. There is $250,000 in funds available, which will be administered on a firstcome, first-served basis until the funds have been used, according to the city.
SEE GRANT PAGE 8
Fort Bend County Judge KP George speaks to reporters April 30 in front of the Fort Bend County Courthouse in Richmond. George has clashed with officials from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice after he said the TDCJ transferred prisoners infected with COVID-19 to the Jester I prison unit in Richmond without his prior knowledge or consent. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
George feuds with TDCJ over handling of infected inmates By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Fort Bend County Judge KP George and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) are at odds over the recent transfer of 35 coronavirus-positive prisoners to Richmond’s Jester 1 Unit. George criticized the transfers last Thursday. He said he was not made aware that prisoners who had tested positive for COVID-19, the upper-respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus strain, were being brought to the Richmond jail until the transfers already were in progress on April 24. “I was shocked to find out that the State of Texas has been using Fort Bend County as a dumping ground for convicted criminals with coronavirus,” George said in a news release. “It’s outrageous that state officials
COVID-19 positive inmates have been moved to Jester I to recover. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
would jeopardize the health and safety of Fort Bend County citizens, who have sacrificed so much to flatten the curve, by sending all of their sick prisoners here.”
TDCJ spokesperson Jeremy Desel confirmed that George’s office was made aware of the transfers April 24 but refuted the claim that they already were in progress.
Desel said the first transfer did not happen until later that weekend. “I don’t know why he would be shocked to find out anything, since he was notified of it before
it began,” Desel said last Thursday. “We let him know and his chief of staff know.” George said the TDCJ’s policy is to round up all its coronavirus-positive prisoners from around the state and transfer them to the Jester 1 Unit. But Desel said more than 1,000 inmates within the TDCJ system have tested positive for COVID-19, and only 35 of them had been sent to the Jester I unit. Desel also said the 35 inmates all had been discharged from hospitals and are in good health. “There were a grand total of 35 people who were transferred there to the Jester I Unit who were discharged from a hospital because they are recovered from COVID-19,” he said. “They’re just not quite at a level where, for their own healthcare pur-
SEE TDCJ PAGE 7
Fort Bend County opens COVID-19 testing site in Missouri City By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Heath
Fort Bend County officials announced Friday that they have opened a third free COVID-19 testing site in the area. The site is open at Fort Bend ISD’s Marshall High School at 1220 Buffalo Run in Missouri City and has the capacity to administer 200 tests per day. According to the county, 1,245 Fort Bend residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the upper-re-
spiratory disease caused by the new strain of coronavirus. It has caused 30 deaths among county residents as of Tuesday. “More testing is the only way we can find out how deep the problems are here,” Fort Bend County Judge KP George said. Missouri City in particular has become a hot spot for COVID-19, with 206 confirmed cases – the most among area municipalities. “Normally when I speak at (an event like this), I’d say how happy I am to
be here. I am not happy to be here,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Grady Prestage said. “I, like many of you, are scared and concerned about the future of this community and our county.” Missouri City Mayor Yolanda Ford urged residents to get tested so, if they have contracted the disease, they can protect themselves and their loved ones. Ford also reiterated
SEE TESTING PAGE 8
Missouri City Mayor Yolanda Ford speaks Friday at a new COVID-19 testing site. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)