Bunch disappointed with county's lack of communication on FM 2978 connector

Gordy Bunch, chairman of The Woodlands Township, speaks about the state of the Township during The Woodlands Republican Women meeting at Landry's Seafood Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, in The Woodlands. Gordy Bunch, chairman of The Woodlands Township, speaks about the state of the Township during The Woodlands Republican Women meeting at Landry's Seafood Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, in The Woodlands. Photo: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer Photo: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Bunch disappointed with county's lack of communication on FM 2978 connector 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

The Woodlands Township board Chairman Gordy Bunch addressed the "State of the Township" at Wednesday's Woodlands Republican Women Club meeting, discussing public safety, the local economy, taxes, Woodlands Parkway extension and planning for incorporation.

Bunch boasted of the community's acclaimed aesthetics, $20 billion in property values, highly ranked fire department and sound finances.

He explained how the township pays for the majority of law enforcement resources through a contract with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, adding that he believes the Sheriff's Office should contribute more resources under its obligation to police unincorporated areas of the county, such as The Woodlands.

"(The Woodlands' tax dollars) are 38 percent of the county budget. They assign us 10 deputies," Bunch said. "That's pretty small. … I don't think we've been getting our fair share."

Bunch added that he had met with the new Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson and is optimistic that he will be open to contributing more resources.

Bunch also addressed the climbing property appraisals, saying it is the increase has made residents' tax bills go up, rather than higher tax rates from the township.

He added that, although The Woodlands has seen a decline in sale tax revenue due to the oil and gas woes, the township's budget is in good shape.

"We are very financially sound," Bunch said. "We have excellent credit ratings."

The Woodlands board voted to reinstate a $2.5 million reserve to save for the costs of eventual incorporation. Bunch said the board is pursuing some initiatives with the state Legislature and will begin to form a planning process, including community input, to move toward incorporation.

Bunch also addressed a question about the re-emergence of the Woodlands Parkway extension after some engineering contracts to survey for a realignment of a road that would intersect with FM 2978 south of Woodlands Parkway.

"The last information we have as an official communication (from Montgomery County) was '(the Woodlands Parkway extension) is not happening anytime soon; and before we get anywhere near doing anything, we're going to start dialoguing,'" Bunch said. "Only to wake up days later to find it on the front page of the paper as a buried agenda item in the county under engineering contracts … that's a disappointment. … It seems to me we're always reacting to things that they're doing that aren't as transparently out there."

Bunch concluded by reiterating his goal to make The Woodlands government more centralized, as opposed to the current system where dozens of entities are responsible for different services.

"My vision for the future of The Woodlands is one Woodlands … that we have a centralized government to serve the entire community," he said. "(The community) doesn't want to remain in this weak position where we have no control of our infrastructure, our services and we're always having to point the finger in a million different directions."

The Woodlands Republican Women Club will hear from Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson at the February meeting.