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County commissioners call two meetings for July 6

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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.

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Amon Carter Lake Board to meet

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Members of the Amon Carter Lake Water Supply Corporation will meet at 6 p.m. on May 26 in the office at 607A Lindsey for a monthly meeting.
Items on the agenda include a consent agenda and minutes and financials. Possible discussion/action may be considered on the following topics: Treasurer’s report, review of finance and current loans; president’s report as to the written agreements with contractual employees; consider current water rates and a possible increase; and review of expenses and areas that need amendment.
An executive session may be entered to discuss personnel issues.

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Saint Jo City Council hires fire marshal

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The City of Saint Jo has a new fire marshal as the city council made the appointment during its May 13 meeting.
Gary Hines, a retired professional firefighter and certified fire investigator, will take the position. City Secretary Debbie Dennis said the post is required by ordinance but has not been filled for a long period.
The council set dates for a budget workshop for 2 p.m. on June 14 and 2 p.m. on June 28 for the ordinance workshop, as the council works to update its rules.

Aldermen gave their support to a proposition by Councilman Jack Dunn who is asking the Legislature to allow Texas’ smallest cities, those with 2,500 or few in population, to receive an additional share of sales and use tax. He would like to see the funds used in these communities to repair and replace aging infrastructure without new taxes or reliance on state grants.
In letter to State Rep. David Spiller, whom Dunn will meet with on June 1, the alderman explains much of the state’s 6.25% share generated locally flows into general funds and is spent on other priorities. He would like Spiller to author this legislation. Dunn gave the letter to the council along with a powerpoint on the plan.
“A single water treatment plant upgrade or sewer rehab carries massive, fixed costs that do not shrink with population size. These communities, often with only a few hundred or a couple thousands residents, simply cannot spread those costs across enough ratepayers or a broad tax based,” the letter states.
Dunn suggests a “graduated sales tax retention policy:” 1% additional share for cities with 2,500 or fewer residents; .75% for those 2,500 and 5,000; and .50% for cities between 5,001 and 10,000. It would be dedicated to infrastructure. Dunn says the overall statewide fiscal impact would be negligible, but could help sustain small, rural cities.

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City of Nocona buys water storage tank, review dam repair

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The Nocona City Council approved a bid for a new 203,000 gallon capacity tank for potable water at the water plant and learned a slide repair to the lake dam is going to be pretty costly.
At its May 12 session the council received three bids on the tank and went with one from Tank Depot of Cleburne for $193,923. It is for a a 217,600 gallon tank usable for 203,000 gallons. The price could change slightly since it was based on estimate freight costs.

Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.

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