NEWS

Bowie Council asks for more information on water rate hike proposals

Published

2 years ago

12/11/2024

By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
The Bowie City Council took no action Monday on a pair of proposed water rate increase plans asking for additional figures before making a decision.
City Manager Bert Cunningham reviewed two rate plans for water which he said are needed to “ensure the financial stability of the city.” The manager said no one wants increases, but rates must be raised periodically to progress and make improvements.
In the presentation the CM said just like citizen’s costs have increased the city’s cost also have gone up especially this past year, pointing to costs in some supplies going up 30 to 40%.
“The cost of operations, treating water and requirements of our state regulatory agency, TCEQ, have made it so that on average we are losing money in our water fund. We cannot continue to let this happen,” he explained.
In 2018 the water rates were inadequate to rising costs so they were increased by 4% to pay for inflated costs of treating water, maintenance of the water plant and replacing old lines throughout the city.
An infrastructure fund was established and can only be used for water and sewer line projects with council approval. Cunningham said since then, the city has self-financed several water and sewer lines in all parts of the city replacing more than 5,000 feet of line.
In the last three years due to increasing costs, new funds have not been added to the infrastructure fund. It has gone from about $1.2 million to $426,000 in July of this year.

Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.

Click on the link below to read the full three-year water rate study and rate proposals.

https://bowienewsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/THREE-YEAR-WATER-RATE-STUDY.pdf

COUNTY LIFE

Montague County sees 56.1% voter turnout in midterms

Published

9 minutes ago

11/05/2026

bowienews

Montague County voters joined the rest of the state with a tremendous turnout in Tuesday’s elections.
The elections administration office reported with all 10 precincts counted a turnout of 56.01% or 8,732 casting ballots. There are 15,591 registered voters in the county.
While there were no county contested races, there were two city council and two school board elections.
The Bowie City Council has three places on the ballot. Laura Sproles, incumbent, was not challenged for her place two.
Levi Bailey won the precinct one seat with 925 votes. Valerie Thomerson received 328 votes.
In precinct three, Terry Gunter won with 1,027 votes and Glenda Durham was second with 383

Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.

NEWS

Nocona teen dies after apolice chase

Published

16 minutes ago

11/05/2026

bowienews

A 15-year-old Nocona boy was killed in a crash following a law enforcement pursuit just after midnight on Nov. 1.
Sgt. Aaron Brandle, public information officer with the Montague County Sheriff’s office, said the crash occurred on Nov. 1 at around 12:21 a.m.
The vehicle in the pursuit crashed in the 3600 block of Cardwell Road in Montague County. The juvenile was the sole occupant of the vehicle and was ejected as a result of the crash.
The release states responding law enforcement personnel immediately initiated life-saving measures at the scene. The juvenile was subsequently transported to Nocona General Hospital, where despite continued life-saving efforts, he was pronounced deceased.

While the authorities have not publicly identified the deceased, several community efforts have been launched to assist the family of AR “Mando” Alcantar, a sophomore at Nocona High School. Students and staff also have taken steps to remember the popular young man.

A Gofundme account also has been sent up under the name Small Town, Big Hearts – Help support the Alcantar Family. It was organized by Kelsey Cabrera.

(Top photo – AR “Mando” Alcantar)

Read the full report in the Thursday Bowie News.

The Bowie News staff apologizes for the error in spelling of the the young man’ s name in the print edition. It stated “Mondo” and that was incorrect. We did not find the error until after press time.