NEWS
County commissioners call two meetings for July 6
The Montague County Commissioner’s Court has called two meetings for July 6.
The first one at 9 a.m. is a public hearing on the 2021-2022 proposed budget, which was filed on June 14 and placed on the county’s website for review. The second agenda item is to consider adopting the budget proposal.
That budget proposal does not include the $50,000 placed in contingency this past Monday for next year’s budget for additional repairs on sliding doors at the county jail. A request to spend $43,416 to repair five of the doors this year was approved Monday.
The original budget proposal showed a little more than $9.8 million general fund expenses, $486,984 for indigent health care, $1.1 million in precinct one, $985,785 in precinct two, $931,790 in precinct three and $1,006,384 in precinct four.
There also are numerous restricted funds within the budget, but these are the primary ones for county operations.
This budget also does not have a tax rate set. That figure will not be calculated until the certified property values arrive in late July; afterwhich, the court will take another look at the budget to consider a tax rate.
Depending on the projected tax revenue the budget may stay as proposed or face cuts to meet the tax rate the court desires.
In April the preliminary property values for the county came in at $2,025,557,101, which was up $74,306,876 above the 2020 certified values. Using the 2020 tax rate of .5641 cents per $100 in value those values could generate an additional $419,165.09 in revenue.
Certified values tend to stay in the vicinity of the preliminaries, but it is never a sure thing due to protests, property sales, mineral values and other factors. The county’s new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
The second called meeting is to consider confirming the location of an existing county road Frontier Drive and accept a new survey for the property. That meeting is set for 9:15 a.m.
The Bowie City Council will meet at 6 p.m. on June 23.
The agenda includes both old and new business items.
City Manager Bert Cunningham will make his report on the 2026-27 budget process, bid opening for the Glenn Hills lift station on July 16 and the bid for Rock and Pillar repairs.
In new business a pair of planning and zoning committee recommendations for replats at 107 E. Nelson and 412 Green will be reviewed. An ordinance adopting an office of emergency management amending a present ordinance will be offered.
Old business will see the second reading of the pickleball court reservation fee ordinance and the ordinance prohibiting drilling and mining or the reopening of an abandoned well or mine in any public park in the city limits.
A HEAT ADVISORY will be in effect from noon until 9 p.m. today (Thursday). Please plan accordingly.
Hear Audio Alert:https://hrpow.us/oeFZANN
Montague County Sheriff Marshall Thomas has confirmed human skeletal remains were recovered on June 13 in the Sunset area, and they could possibly be those of a flight attendant believed to have been murdered almost a year ago in the Fort Worth.
The murder suspect, Dennis William Day, 66, admitted in June 2025 to strangling Rana Soluri, 47, an Envoy flight attendant who lived with Day during that last year. She was reported missing by a co-worker on June 11 and had not been seen or heard from since March 2025.
Day initially denied any involvement, but later admitted to the murder and indicated he dumped her body somewhere in the Montague County area. Lawmen have scoured the areas in questions in both Montague and Wise County, but found nothing.
Sheriff Thomas said on June 13 the SO received a call of possible skeletal remains in the Brushy Creek area north of Poss Dyer Lane on Farm-to-Market 1749. A deputy went to the scene and confirmed it was human remains.
Investigators responded and kept the scene secure overnight until staff from the University of North Texas Forensic Anthropology Center could arrive and made the recovery on June 14. A Texas Ranger and staff from the Fort Worth Police Department also were on scene.
“There is no determination made yet on how long it has been there,” said Thomas. “The anthropologist was pleased to recover most of the skeleton in these conditions. Heavy rains previously made the past searches difficult. We are working jointly with Fort Worth to make an identification and if it is the victim in their homicide.”
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