Sugar Land and Fort Bend ISD taxpayers won't see sticker shock when they see their property tax bills this year. This week the two entities approved the same tax rates as last year. FBISD also addressed performance issues at Briargate and Ridgemont elementary schools and approved a design plan for a new Career and Technical Education Center. In Sugar Land, city officials are preparing for the annexation of Greatwood and New Territory.

1. Sugar Land and Fort Bend ISD adopted tax rates.

Budget season for Sugar Land and Fort Bend ISD is over. Both entities adopted their respective tax rates this week and Sugar Land also approved a $259.2 million budget. Sugar Land and FBISD's tax rates remained flat from last year. Sugar Land's adopted tax rate is  $0.31595 per $100 valuation while the FBISD board of trustees approved a tax rate of $1.34 per $100 of assessed property valuation.

2. FBISD plans to address its two elementary schools that require improvement.

Based on State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests, both Briargate and Ridgemont elementary schools require improvement. To help both schools, the district started intervention programs called Educators Dedicated to Growing Excellence, or EDGE, this year. This is the second year the schools received an Improvement Required rating while every other school in the district received a MET Standard rating. The greatest challenge for Briargate was in fifth grade reading with only 40 percent of students receiving passing scores, according to 2015-16 STAAR results. For Ridgemont, students struggled most in fourth grade writing with only 30 percent of students receiving passing scores. Briargate has 85.6 percent economically disadvantaged students and Ridgemont has 88.9 percent economically disadvantaged students.

3. Sugar Land is getting closer to annexing Greatwood and New Territory.

An ordinance for Sugar Land to annex Greatwood and New Territory is anticipated to go to City Council in November. If the city annexes the communities, it would increase the population by 34 percent, taking Sugar Land from 87,703 people to 117,343 people. With the annexation, the city estimates it would also need to add about 71 full-time employees. A budget workshop for the issue will be held Oct. 13 at 7:30 a.m.

4. FBISD approved the schematic design of the new Career and Technical Education Center in Telfair.

A two-story FBISD Career and Technical Education Center will be located on a 65-acre site near Hwy. 6 and Hwy. 90. The construction contract is expected to come to the board of trustees' for consideration in March 2017, while construction is due to finish in June 2018. Construction is estimated to cost $44.5 million with Stantec Architecture Inc. designing the building. The CTE Center features spaces for programs including: construction, agriculture, arts, audiovisual and communications, cosmetology, robotics, culinary arts, health science, automotive technology, law and public safety, and education and early childhood training.