Got 4.4 inches of rain on the outskirts of Black Creek during the last couple weeks and seems like that’s gonna be it for a while. Not complaining…thankful. Danny Lawler down the road got more but, that’s always the case…first liar ain’t got a chance. Thank God for the rain!
Seems the bulk of the Agenda items this week were trivial in nature but, nonetheless required action. One item dealt with the annual renewal of the Bulletproof Vest Program Grant that replaces or updates the vests for the Sheriff Deputies. This is not trivial at all. I’ve got a picture of a good friend of mine’s vest that was hit dead-center with a shotgun blast. Thanks to his vest, Doug Phillips is still with us. I kept this picture in the pocket of my vest as a reminder.
The Castroville Annex expansion is gaining steam and soon, the second floor of the building will be occupied and more services will be available to the folks in that area.
The new furniture has arrived for the Courthouse Annex and is in boxes awaiting the time when the construction comes to a point where it can be set up and positioned. Soon as possible, we will be deconstructing the Elections Office and make way for more parking next to the Annex.
The Devine Fields Subdivision was approved out CR 777 and will probly be sold out soon as the sites hit the market. We have a couple more out along IH 35 South that should be on the market soon.
Randy is gonna need to build a storage facility for his office that will also serve as a protective cover for vehicles in case of severe weather. This is gonna be built in a vacant lot next to the Sheriff’s Office/Jail.
Noticed that folks I have spoken with, concerning their tax appraisals, have seen an increase in their tax bill’s bottom line of eggzackly 10%, mine included. The provision in the Statutes put the maximum annual increase at 10% and it seems that number is used without justification, other than that is the maximum increase that the District is allowed. Anybody, and I mean anybody, could do this job using those parameters and we could probly reduce the salary for the Chief Appraiser from the current rate of $103,000 per year to something more fitting.
I believe that the State requirements put on Appraisal Districts statewide are there to lessen the States responsibility to provide adequate funding for our Public School system by mandating these increases and passing it to the local taxpayers. Seems that when pressed, the Appraisal office alludes to the State requiring annual increases and attributes them to the need to fund schools. Shiplap…
How bout a noticeable reduction in School taxes when folks reach a certain age instead of just freezing them? Deadline for filing your protest letter to the Appraisal District is June 11th.
Speaking of taxes, we are getting into Budget season and have two workshops scheduled for June 22nd and 24th at 9 AM. If you wanna attend, the public is welcome.
Been getting calls about potholes…never ending chore. Please be aware that we know the roads need attention and that we can only be in a couple places at once. Patience….
Only 199 days til Christmas and one year, 6 months, 21 days and some hours to the other thing. Lewis Stroud was late for a function the other day….that’s about as rare as a copy of the Devine News without his picture in it.