Vol. 1, No. 1

Friday, September 4, 2026

Good morning. This is the first edition of the Aledo Ledger. It is free, it arrives two or three mornings a week, and it links to the record for everything it says. Reply to this email and a person reads it.

Today

Oct. 13Business

Willow Park

Popeye's Willow Park: what the state filing shows: a 2,350-square-foot conversion of a Taco Bueno restaurant into a Popeye's on the I-20 Frontage Road, $80,000, completion filed for Sept. 28, 2026

The project was registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on March 5, 2026, with a construction start of April 27, 2026 and a completion date of Sept. 28, 2026 as filed; the filing's status is Project Registered.

Sources: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Architectural Barriers project TABS2026014235, Popeye's Willow Park (registered March 5, 2026), read Oct. 13, 2026; Texas Comptroller, Active Sales Tax Permit Holders (data.texas.gov dataset jrea-zgmq), read Oct. 13; Popeyes, company website (link only; not reviewed for this brief)

Oct. 12City Hall

Aledo

October sales tax allocation to the city: $220,671, down 0.5% from a year earlier; 2026 stands at $2,221,575 through ten months, 8.7% ahead of 2025

The October 2026 payment is the first month of 2026 to come in below the same month of 2025. The 2026 total through October, $2,221,575, is the highest ten-month total in the Comptroller's series, which begins in 2013; the same months of 2025 totaled $2,043,811. Calendar 2025 closed at $2,506,603.

Sources: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts: Sales Tax Allocation, City (data.texas.gov dataset vfba-b57j), Aledo; The Aledo Ledger: sales tax series

Oct. 10Business

Willow Park

Rotolo's Craft & Crust Willow Park: what the state filing shows: a 3,800-square-foot interior renovation for a new restaurant at 225 Shops Blvd, Suite 105, $500,000, completion filed for Jan. 31, 2026

The project was registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on Oct. 31, 2025, with a construction start of Nov. 9, 2025 and a completion date of Jan. 31, 2026 as filed; the filing's status is Project Registered.

Sources: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Architectural Barriers project TABS2026004822, Rotolo's Craft & Crust (registered Oct. 31, 2025), read Oct. 10, 2026; Texas Comptroller, Active Sales Tax Permit Holders (data.texas.gov dataset jrea-zgmq), read Oct. 10; Rotolo's Craft & Crust, company website (link only; not reviewed for this brief)

The Growth Ledger

Full edition

Taxing unit	2026 rate	Change	Status
Aledo ISD	$1.1775	-$0.0167	Adopted at a special meeting, late August
City of Aledo	$0.352415	-0.83%	Adopted Aug. 20, unanimous; no-new-revenue rate $0.349703
Parker County (general and lateral road)	$0.284719	-$0.00035070	Adopted by Order 26-42, dated Sept. 28, 2026, all five members of the Commissioners Court For (the notice had set the vote for Sept. 22); $0.185698 general fund and $0.049162 lateral road for operations plus $0.049859 debt

Also on the watch list: the $500 million Beall-Dean Ranch project at I-20 and FM 1187, still tied up in Aledo and Fort Worth's annexation suit against Willow Park; TxDOT's FM 1187 rebuild and the $5.3 million of city utility work that has to move first; a proposed Parker County water agency; and the 43,000-square-foot indoor sports complex planned next to the high school.

This week

Calendar

Mon. Oct. 19

Election

Early voting begins (through Oct. 30)

Parker County early-voting sites

Tue. Oct. 206 p.m.

Meeting

Aledo ISD Board of Trustees

AISD Board Room, 1008 Bailey Ranch Rd.

Tue. Oct. 206 p.m.

Meeting

Willow Park City Council

Willow Park City Hall, 120 El Chico Trail, Suite A

Fri. Oct. 23

Election

Last day to apply for a mail ballot

Parker County

Fri. Oct. 237 p.m.

Football

Bearcats vs. Weatherford

Tim Buchanan Stadium, Aledo

Tue. Oct. 276 p.m.

Meeting (expected; confirm with the organizer)

Willow Park City Council

Willow Park City Hall

On the record

Why Aledo needs a ledger: A town adding nearly two thousand households a year deserves a record it can read on a phone before the coffee is done.

Elsewhere

The Community News has the fuller account of the June e-bike discussion and the sports complex at community-news.com, and it has a new reporter on the Aledo beat, Richard Nelson. The Weatherford Democrat and Fort Worth Report have followed the Willow Park annexation case since February. Fort Worth Report and KERA are following the Ross Fire daily; the Texas Tribune's fire coverage is republishable under Creative Commons, which is why you may see it in several outlets.

The Aledo Ledger is independently owned by its publisher, who lives in the Aledo area. Sponsors never see a story before it runs and never decide what runs.

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