NEWS
Bowie City Council meets on Monday night
The Bowie City Council will consider the second reading of the budget adoption ordinance and conduct the final public hearing on the proposed tax rate when it meets at 6 p.m. on Sept. 9.
After months of working on the budget the council approved its first reading at the Aug. 26 meeting.
This budget ordinance shows $8,251,643 in general fund allocations and $9,471,000 in the utility fund. The budget proposal includes several big ticket items.
There is a three percent pay raise for employees, a $700,000 loan that will be used to replace the 40-year-old fuel tanks ($250,000) at the airport and for a new UV system ($441,000) at the water plant replacing its 25-year-old system; and a fleet program to replace about a dozen vehicles across the city service at a cost of $108,000 a year projected to save the city about $133,000 in maintenance and purchase costs during the next three years.
A second public hearing on the proposed tax rate opens the agenda. The rate is offered at .5445 cents per $100 in property value compared to .5250 cents in 2018. The tax rate adoption is listed for its first reading in new business.
City Manager Bert Cunningham pointed out this tax rate increase is offset in the budget by a reduction in the small business commercial electric rate. For a customer with an average 2,000 kilowatt hours this will bring a reduction of about $14.40 per month and impact 656 meters in the system.
In new business an ordinance amending the subdivision rules will be examined. The planning and zoning commission has made a recommendation to make a change that relates to an owner conveying a portion of his land to an adjoining land owner in order to settle a boundary line discrepancy involving permanent structures which are encroached. The commission members believe this small change will expedite this process instead of requiring a full replat.
The final two items of new business is a resolution to nominate a candidate to the Montague County Tax Appraisal District Board and an ordinance amending the municipal budget for fiscal 2018-19 for specified funds, account and line item designations.
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
The 2026 certified property values for Montague County were released to the 16 taxing entities for which it sets values and for Montague County the total numbers were up 3.591%.
With the arrival of these numbers, the taxing entities can begin serious work on creating their budgets and proposed tax rates. Last year the Montague County Tax Appraisal District had to create two sets of values pending the November homestead election so they were happy things were back to just one set.
Certified values are based on property sales made as of Jan. 1, 2026. Chief Appraiser Kim Haralson said the values held up well during the protest hearings, and while minerals went down some there were a lot of new properties added.
New taxable property totaled $87,505,775 for 1,208 properties. Haralson said people appear to be setting up manufactured homes on some of the two-acre tract subdivision and other subdivisions are seeing people start to build houses.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
It is going to be a tough budget season for the Bowie City Council as it works through a draft budget proposal that tries to figure out how to pay for major projects and maintain present operations for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
As per the city charter, City Manager Bert Cunningham presented the budget proposal to the council on July 14, emphasizing without the final certified property values, as well as the final health insurance rates, it truly is a draft. The city staff also await the final bid numbers for the Rock and Pillar drainage project hovering around $2 million with plans to fund it through the budget.
A budget workshop was scheduled for 6 p.m. on July 27 with a public hearing to follow on Aug. 11.
Cunningham said the certified figures may become available by the end of the week, but that is uncertain. Two months ago the city’s preliminary values were up $70,530,035 from the 2025 final values, however, usually the certified values fluctuate slightly from the preliminary numbers, which totaled $497,939,568.
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
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