NEWS
Saint Jo Council meets tonight
The Saint Jo City Council will conduct its public hearings for the 2025-26 budget and 2025 tax rate in a meeting at 6 p.m. on Sept. 10.
After the hearing the council will convene into its regular agenda, which opens with the 2023-24 outside audit from the staff of Freemon, Shepard and Story Certified Public Accountants.
The meeting then goes into the 2025 financials where the proposed tax rate of .518223 centers per $100 in property value will be examined. That breaks out into a maintenance and operation rate of .363740 cents and debt service of .155483 cents. The present rate is .513334 cents.
A balanced budget of $1,672,706.05 will be reviewed by the council to serve revenue and expenses for 2025-26. The Economic Development 4A and 4B board budgets also will be presented.
In the general fund budget one full-time and one part-time person have been added to public works. An additional $72,959.44 was added to capital improvements that will be split between the streets and other infrastructure needs. Health insurance went up $33 per person, while the property liability remained the same.
Waste Connections has exercised its right for a consumer price index based increase of .59% effective Oct. 1. The total increase for trash service will be $3 per utility account for pass-through costs states the agenda.
The water base rate was increased by $2 for a $17 base rate for 1,000 gallons per utility account. The ambulance subsidy also will be increase by $2 per utility account for a total pass-through cost of $5.
The 4A budget is balanced with revenue and expenses of $135,000 and the 4B budget is $83,127.32 with projected revenue of $50,000.
The final agenda item is a request from Angelica Rojas, Gilberto Santos and Denise Thurman for building plans for West Williams and Mill Street.
NEWS
Amon Carter Lake Board to meet
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.
NEWS
Saint Jo City Council hires fire marshal
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.
NEWS
City of Nocona buys water storage tank, review dam repair
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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