NEWS
Bowie mayor says ambulance costs ‘just tip of the iceberg’ in budget issues
By BARBARA GREEN
Nearly 200 people filled the Bowie Community Center for a Mayor’s Town Hall meeting Monday night to review the financial status of the city.
The elimination of ambulance runs outside the city limits may have been the initial impetus for the meeting, but Mayor Larry Slack said this is just the “tip of the iceberg” of the financial problems.
“We inherited a lot of this through the years and there are some tough decisions that will be required. Electric rates have been disguised as a tax for years. It is going to take a cooperative effort within all the departments. If we continue the same spending habits we will have to borrow money to make payroll next year,” said the mayor.
The audience was filled with a variety of citizens. Numerous fire departments were represented including the City of Bowie and its volunteer department.
Bowie Rural VFD had members present as did Saint Jo VFD and officials from the Nocona General Hospital Ambulance.
The meeting opened with a review of the city’s budget operation which centers on the utility fund that sells products including electricity, water and sewer, and then the general fund which receives taxes and fees as its revenue stream.
Read the full story in the mid-week News.
After nearly three months of no rain, Mother Nature brought the showers this past week.
Downtown Bowie rain reports varied from 7 to 8 inches, while the Saint Jo area reported a 10-inch total. The city water plant in Bowie reported 5.55 inches on Sept. 30 with 1.6 Oct. 1-3.
Nocona saw a total of 6.31 inches of rain across Sept. 26 to Oct. 3.
On Oct. 6, Lake Amon G. Carter saw a level of 917.39 mean sea level rising to 81.31% full. Just one week earlier the lake was 73.6% full, while one year ago it was 94.01%. The lake is full at 920msl.
Lake Nocona was 73.7% full at 823.02 on Oct 6. One week earlier it was 70.41% full and one year ago it was 92.41%. The lake is full at 827.5 msl.
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
One Montague County City has joined the battle against any data centers being built in this county and there is a petition drive underway to urge the commissioner’s court to keep data centers out of Montague County.
At a Sept. 28 called meeting of the Saint Jo City Council, officials unanimously approved a resolution stating its opposition to the “siting, permitting, construction or operation of data centers and similar hyperscale computing facilities within the city limits or the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.”
City Secretary Debbie Dennis said several citizens approached Councilor Jack Dunn about their data center concerns and he helped prepare a resolution. The council gave unanimous support.
Read the full story in your Thursday Bowie News.
Montague County Judge Kevin Benton has signed an order lifting the outdoor burn ban effective Oct. 7.
Persons are still urged to be cautious when they are out working in the countryside to avoid any spark that could cause a wildfire.
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