COUNTY LIFE
County budget, tax rate up for vote Monday
Montague County Commissioners will conduct public hearings and are expected to adopt the budget and tax rate during its Aug. 24 meeting.
The tax rate hearing will begin at 8:30 a.m., the budget hearing at 8:45 a.m. and the regular meeting at 9 a.m.
Commissioners could make last minute changes to the budget as a workshop is set on the agenda prior to the action item to adopt it. Budget expenses are proposed at: General fund, $9,434,015; indigent health care – $486,984; road and bridge one, $1,163,913; precinct two, $995,975; precinct three, $1,140,975 and precinct four, $1,000,975.
The proposed tax rate will be .5641 cents per $100 in property value. It will be broken down as follows: .4401 cents in maintenance and operation; .1289 special road and bridge and .0168 cents for debt.
Several election topics will be discussed including the order calling the November election, joint election agreements with the Cities of Bowie and Nocona, and schools districts in Montague and Bowie and approve the 2020 Help America Vote Act Election Security sub-grant to Texas counties.
Veteran’s Service Officer Colm Murphy will address the duties of his current assistant. During the recent budget workshops Murphy asked the assistant position salary be increased to a deputy clerk due to additional training.
A data processing service agreement between Justice Solutions and the sheriff’s office will be examined. The sheriff is looking to add six software licenses in use at the his office. He had hoped to purchase new software, but commissioners have indicated they can’t make it work in this year’s budget.
The 2020-21 county clerk records management and archive yearly plan will be reviewed, along with the energy capital reimbursement distribution.
In other agenda items: Precinct four will present a finance agreement for a motor grader; precinct one budget adjustment from gravel to part-time and renting an excavator; precinct one to enter the Mike Berkley property to clean debris from a bridge waterway; precinct one buying two acres on Farm-to-Market Road 455 for a maintenance and storage yard and precinct two accepting donations for chip sealing Tage Road.
When we were going through my grandmother’s house in Nocona after it sold, I found a few neat keepsakes, but the biggest treasure I thought I had found was her biscuit cutter. I was so excited to show my mother (her daughter) and just knew she would be happy it was found and would still be used after all this time.
My mother, however, had a different thought about my precious biscuit cutter. She said, “Suzanne, you know that biscuit cutter is just an old tomato paste can that has both ends cut out.”
I was still no less delighted with my cutter. I continue to use it today. My husband has bought me vintage, new and fancier cutters, but this cutter is something I go back to time and again.
My Memaw was recruited to be a lunch lady from 1952 to 1958 at Nocona Elementary, back when lunches were cooked, not “fixed.” Lenora Brown Burnett was an excellent cook and everyone knew it. She went on to work at the Nocona Major Clinic kitchen from 1958 to 1969.
You could only use shortcuts if you knew how to do it the long way. That is how I still approach cooking. You can only use a cake mix if you know how to make a cake with lots of ingredients, time and effort.
Read Suzanne’s Love & Luck column in the Thursday Bowie News on the On the Table page.
Top photo – Grandmother’s biscuit cutter and hand written recipes. (Photo by Suzanne Storey)
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
It’s a bitter cold January week, so it must be time for the Montague County Youth Fair, which opens Wednesday running through Saturday.
More than 330 students from across the county will compete in everything from golf ball art work to top dairy goat in this annual event where there are 1,160 entries. Almost every contest saw an increase in entries from the prior year.
Scheduling was still in flux at presstime due to pending weather. Watch the fair’s Facebook page for any late changes.
The All Together Show was moved to 5 p.m. on Jan. 8 in the show barn. It had been set for Thursday.
There were no changes for leadership day on Wednesday at presstime.
Read the full story on the fair in the Thursday Bowie News.
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