City & County Politics – The Devine News

Devine resets public hearing for Sept. 29th after date and wording mix-up on tax rate

CITY OF DEVINE RESIDENTS:
In the September 3rd edition of the Devine News, the City of Devine provided incorrect information regarding the tax rate for fiscal year 2025-2026.
The city stated that the proposed tax rate of 0.05900 is NOT greater than the no new revenue rate; in fact, it is greater than the no new revenue rate at .05675
On a previous meeting it was announced by Mayor Cook that revenue from property taxes would bring in an additional $39,348.00. The information he was given was incorrect. The new tax rate will raise more revenue from property taxes than last year’s budget by an amount of $61,685.00. This is a 4.09 percent increase.
The property tax revenue to be raised from the new property tax roll this year is $11,624.00.
To ensure the public has ample opportunity to participate in the budget process, we will be republishing the budget and tax notice in the Devine News on September 17th, and the new dates for the public hearing and passage on the budget and public hearing and passage of the tax rates are Monday September 29th. at 6 p.m. at George S. Woods Community Center in Devine. Everyone is Welcome to come and participate.
The City apologizes for…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!

Devine eyes same tax rate as last year

Click here to see who is pictured above

Devine City Administrator David Jordan, left, and Mayor Butch Cook confer during a special session of the Devine City Council held Sept 9 Photo by Anton Riecher.

By Anton Riecher
At its Sept. 9 special meeting, the Devine City Council voted unanimously to stand pat on the same property tax rate as last year – 59 cents per $100 valuation. But, after the meeting it was discovered that the city had published the wrong date for the public meeting to set the tax rate and part of its wording, so it will have to be redone and be voted on again on Monday, September 29, 2025 at a 6:00 p.m. public meeting for a Proposed Budget and Tax Rate for fiscal year 2025/2026. (See both corrected public notices published in this week’s Devine News.)
(Apparently when you keep the tax rate the exact same, but take in more money than the prior year due to property value increases, the tax rate is considered a tax increase in the end).
Mayor Butch Cook said a lack of attendance at the public hearing (Sept. 9) on the tax rate apparently signifies that “everyone is in agreement with what we’ve decided.”
“All things considered, with our water rate increases and such, we wanted to do our best to keep things as manageable as possible for the citizens,” Cook said.
With all five council members in attendance, District 2 Alderman Michael Hernandez made the motion putting forward the tax rate. The motion was seconded by District 1 Alderman Ray Gonzales.
Cook noted that as a result of increased appraisals the approved tax rate will bring in about $40,000 or nearly three percent more in tax revenue that the same rate last year.
“I don’t want to mislead anybody into thinking that we’re getting the exact same amount of money,” he said.
Of the added revenue, $11,641 of it will result from new property added to the tax roll in the past year, Cook said.
A breakdown of the tax rate shows $.4864 per $100 valuation dedicated to maintenance and operating (M&O) funds, same as last year. Likewise, the debt service rate or INS will stand at $.1036 per $100 valuation, also the same as the previous year.
Debt obligation under the general fund stands at…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!

Lytle council postpones annexation on future subdivision

By Anton Riecher
Action by the Lytle City Council on the annexation of nearly 100 acres designated as the site of a future residential subdivision has been postponed until Sept. 22 due to recent changes by the Texas Legislature in the posting requirements for governmental meetings.
Located south of Interstate 35 and east of Rolling Meadow Drive in Bexar County, City Administrator Zachary Meadows said the yet unnamed subdivision will host between 100 and 200 new houses. The annexation is listed as “voluntary” on the agenda for the council’s Sept. 10 special meeting.
That meeting had been postponed from its original Sept. 8 date due to the wide spread confusion among local government entities following changes to the Texas Open Meetings Act during the recent 89th session of the Texas Legislature.
Previously, notice of a meeting of a governmental body had to be posted at least 72 hours before the scheduled time of that meeting. However…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!

City, County, ESD tax rate public hearings set

City, county and ESD leaders set public hearings for the proposed increase or decrease in tax rates for year 2025. Due to property tax changes the rate increase or decrease still always brings in more tax money than the previous years. It is quite confusing at times. Do you look at the rate or the amount expected to be brought in as the factor for an increase or decrease argument. Leaders have to figure out each year how much taxes must be brought in to provide the services they are required to or want to provide with those tax dollars.
Tax notices have been posted online and in the newspapers to include:
City of Devine -Proposed Tax Rate is 59 cents, which is a 0% decrease from the current rate of 59 cents per $100. Public Hearing is set for Sept.16 at 7:00 pm at community center. Total tax levy on all properties will increase from $1.519 million to $1.58 million or $61,694 increase or 4% increase in total tax levy.
City of Natalia- Proposed Tax Rate is 44.49 cents, which is a 6.87% decrease from the current rate of 47.77 cents per $100. Public Hearing is set for Sept.15 at 6:45 pm at city hall.
City of Lytle- Proposed Tax Rate is 43.93 cents, which is a 9.79% increase from the current rate of 39.83 cents per $100. Public Hearing is set for Sept.16 at 7:00 pm at city hall. Due to average homestead taxable value decreasing by 38.84 %, the tax on average homestead decreased 29%. Total tax levy to be brought in on all properties went from $1.167million to $1.358 million a increase of 15.16% in total property tax levy.
City of LaCoste- Proposed Tax Rate is 58.81 cents, which is a 1.4% increase from the current rate of 58 cents per $100. Public Hearing is set for Sept16 at 7:00 pm. at city hall.
City of VonOrmy- Proposed Tax Rate is 14.37 cents, which is a 0% increase from the current rate of 14.37 cents per $100. Public Hearing is set for Sept11 at 12:00 pm at the Municipal Building.
Medina County- Proposed Tax Rate is 44.34 cents, which is a 1.71% decrease from the current rate of 45.11cents per $100. Public Hearing was Sept.8. The budget will raise more revenue from property taxes than last year’s budget by an amount of $2,311,087, which is a 8.73 % increase from last year’s budget. The property tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year is $1.724 million.
ACESD#1- Proposed Tax Rate is 10 cents, which is a 0% no change from the current rate of 10 cents per $100. (Due to annexations and growth of overall property value, the same 10 cents will now produce a lot more money since there are more properties. The total tax levy on all properties went from $3.3 million to $9.3 million which is an increase in funds of $6 million or 178.3% change. All while the average homestead will see a decrease of $16 or 8.4% since the average homestead taxable value decrease by 8.4%)
MCESD#2 Proposed Tax Rate is 10 cents, which is a 3.13 cent or 45.56% increase from the current rate of 6.87 cents per $100. Public Hearing is set for Sept. 16 at 7:00 pm at the fire house. Total tax levy on all properties increase by 41.09% to produce $827,194 in taxes an increase of $240,920.
MCESD#4 Proposed Tax Rate is 5.21 cents, which is a 5.04% increase from the current rate of 4.96 cents per $100.Total tax levy on all properties increased from $788, 548 to $821,261 which is an increase of $32,713 or 4.15%. Public Hearing is scheduled for Sept. 10 at 6:00 pm at the ems station.
MCESD#5- Proposed Tax Rate is 10 cents, which is a 4.06% increase from the current rate of 9.61 cents per $100. Public Hearing was held on August 21, 2025.

U.S. Government seizes online marketplaces selling Fraudulent identity documents used in Cybercrime Schemes

Press Release by US Attorney’s Office
Thursday, August 28, 2025–ALBUQUERQUE – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico announced today the seizure of two marketplace domains and one blog used to sell fraudulent identity documents to cybercriminals worldwide. The operators of VerifTools produced and sold counterfeit driver’s licenses, passports, and other identification documents that could be used to bypass identity verification systems and gain unauthorized access to online accounts.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began investigating in August 2022 after discovering a conspiracy to use stolen identity information to access cryptocurrency accounts. The investigation revealed that VerifTools offered counterfeit identification documents for all 50 U.S. states and multiple foreign countries for as little as nine dollars, payable in cryptocurrency.
The FBI used the VerifTools marketplace to generate and purchase counterfeit New Mexico driver’s licenses, which were paid for with cryptocurrency. The FBI has identified the equivalent of approximately $6.4 million of illicit proceeds linked to the VerifTools marketplace. The following counterfeit documents are an example of New Mexico driver’s licenses obtained from VerifTools.
“The internet is not a refuge for criminals. If you build or sell tools that let offenders impersonate victims, you are part of the crime,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison. “We will use every lawful tool to disrupt your business, take the profit out of it, and bring you to justice. No one operation is bigger than us together. With our partners at every level of law enforcement we will protect New Mexicans and defend those who stand up for our community.”
“The removal of this marketplace is a major step in protecting the public from fraud and identity theft crime,” said Philip Russell, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Division. “Together with our partners, we will continue to target and dismantle the platforms that criminals depend on, no matter where they operate.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Acting Special Agent in Charge Philip Russell of the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office made the announcement today.
The FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided valuable assistance.
The Justice Department collaborated closely with investigators and prosecutors from multiple jurisdictions in this investigation, including the District of New Mexico, Eastern District of Virginia, the Dutch National Police and the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service.

ESD#2 Fire board proposes increase to 10 cent tax rate to fund full time service, debates who to hire

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Former Devine Fire Department volunteer and Smoke Eater of the Year Daniel Ehlinger offers his opinion during the Aug. 19 ESD2 board meeting. Photo by Anton Riecher

By Kathleen Calame
Publisher
MCESD #2 Fire has called a meeting for Thursday, September 4 at 7:00 pm at the fire house in Devine to discuss the fire service contract which is up on October 1st. Proposals have been submitted by Devine Volunteer Fire Dept. as well as MCESD #1. They will also discuss other things, among them the tax rate which they proposed to increase to 10 cents per $100 valuation to provide for 24 hour around-the-clock full-time paid firefighters, which would be needed no matter which agency they decide to contract with (the 9.5 or 7.43 rates would not fund full time paid departments under either proposal).
Their regular meeting will be on September 16 at 7:00 pm at the fire house. Prior to that meeting they will host a Public Hearing on the proposed tax rate and set the tax rate that night.
Both meetings are…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!

Lytle council reduces new tax rate from earlier proposal

By Anton Riecher
In the last scheduled budget workshop for the upcoming 2025-2026 fiscal year, Lytle City Manager Zachary Meadows presented the city council with a reduction in the previously approved proposed tax rate of $.446405 per $100 valuation.
The new rate put forward Monday by Meadows is $.439434 per $100 valuation. The previous proposed rate was approved by the council at its Aug. 11 meeting.
“After going through and trying to rework some of the numbers, along with trying to get the water fund back closer in line, we moved some of the payment over to debt service,” he said. “By doing that it adjusted the tax rate.”
The proposed rate still amount to an increase over the current 39 cent rate. Still, Mayor Ruben Gonzalez noted that even at 43 cents “we’re still way below anybody around in this area, both in Atascosa and Medina County.”
A graph submitted by Meadow shows that the proposed rate is slightly below the highest tax rate paid by Lytle residents in the last 10 years.
An adjusted general fund summary submitted to the council now shows an expected surplus of $20,298.
“We’re in the black which is great,” Meadows said.
The proposed city budget shows total general fund revenue of $4.767 million against total department expenditures of $4.747 million.
Quorum for the budget workshop included District 1 Alderwoman Anna Carrillo, District 2 Alderman Richard Hughes and District 4 Alderman Michael Rodriguez.

Medina and Atascosa County landowners to be affected by proposed transmission line project

By Kayleen Holder
CPS Energy submitted the following answers to questions we asked regarding the Howard-Solstice Transmission Line Project. The project is a proposed 370-mile high-voltage line stretching from San Antonio to Fort Stockton, crossing up to 14 Texas counties, including Medina and Atascosa Counties”

Will ya’ll be using eminent domain, or will it be along the roadway?
We need to acquire new easements to safely construct, operate, and maintain the new lines. We negotiate with land owners to purchase the necessary easement, and will only use eminent domain as a last resort.

Does it involve Medina County or Atascosa County and to what extent?
CPS Energy and AEP Texas are evaluating multiple geographically diverse transmission line options for the project, which includes Medina and Atascosa counties. The PUCT will ultimately select the transmission line option that will be used. At the moment, there is no selected route, only preliminary segments at this time.

What is the driving factor behind this new transmission line?
The project is proposed ERCOT’s forecast of rapidly growing energy demand in the Permian Basin.
To learn more about the transmission project, visit cpsenergy.com/infrastructure. Please visit our public displays athttps://www.cpsenergy.com/content/dam/corporate/en/Documents/Infrastructure/howard-solstice/Open_House_Displays_ADA_72425.pdf
If ya’ll move forward with this project, at what point, would affected landowners be notified?
In February 2026, CPS Energy and AEP Texas plan to submit an application to the PUCT and will notify affected landowners at that time of the application submitted. Once the PUCT approves this project and selects the final Transmission line route (around August 2026), we will once again notify affected landowners of their decision.

How are these lines different from existing transmission lines? As in are they really bigger than others we currently have?
The 765 kV transmission lines are only slightly taller than our typical existing 345 kV transmission lines. However, they are wider to maintain safe clearance between the phase conductors. The big difference is the ability 765 kV lines have to transmit higher amounts of power, and do so with less (power) loss than a 345 kV transmission line. Essentially, there is an efficiency gain by using a higher voltage. A typical 765 kV transmission circuit can transmit the same amount of power as approximately six single 345 kV transmission circuits. From this perspective, a single 765 kV line will occupy much less overall space than running the equivalent six 345 kV circuits in parallel with one another.
How large is each structure supporting transmission lines approximately?
The typical tower height will range between 140 and 160 feet. The base of the self-supporting lattice structures will be about 45 feet wide. For the guyed structures, the guy wires will be attached to the ground about 60 feet from the center of the structure.

The typical span length (between structures) will range between 1,250-1,400 feet….structures may be closer or further apart to account for terrain or other constraints.

How many miles would the line be in Medina County and Atascosa County and where can I see a detailed map?
The length of the transmission line in each county will be dependent on the route that the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) selects and won’t be known until the final route is approved.
The preliminary study area map showing all segments and counties. Direct link to the map is here: https://www.cpsenergy.com/content/dam/corporate/en/Documents/Infrastructure/howard-solstice/Howard_Solstice_Study_Area_Map_ADA_71625.pdf

City of Devine hires Michelle Martin as new City Secretary

The City of Devine announced the hiring of Michelle Martin as City Secretary to replace retired City Secretary Dora Rodriguez who served the city for 41 years and retired in July.
“My family and I moved to the area 7 years ago,” stated Michelle Martin in her resume.
“I have worked for the State of Texas and City of San Antonio in supporting city infrastructure programs, grant projects, community engagement, non-profit support, and small business development with a total of 10 years experience. I have also worked on large corporate projects for USAA and Medtronic. I attended Texas A&M University – San Antonio where I attained my Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Masters in Business Management.”
“I am so grateful and humbled by the opportunity to be the next City Secretary for Devine. I look forward to meeting you all and building a partnership for a stronger community,” said Martin.
Rodriguez retired after 41 years
Dora Rodriguez served the citizens of Devine working at the City Office for the past 41 years in several capacities including the position of City Secretary as well as Interim City Administrator in her later years. Rodriguez graduated from Devine High School in 1984 and went to work for the City of Devine.
She announced her retirement on May 21 but with July 31 being her last day.
Rodriguez worked under many mayors and councils over the years and was a constant steady for all those coming and going. She earned many leadership and continuing education hours throughout her years of dedication to the citizens of Devine. She helped out her hometown through tough times and took on the city administrator job while serving as City Secretary also until the next City Admin was hired. This happened multiple times where she worked many 60 hour weeks.

Lytle eyes tax rate, hearings soon

During a regular session Monday the Lytle City Council voted 4-0 to approve a proposed tax rate of $0.446405 per $100 valuation for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
The tax rate will be subject to public hearings before a final vote on passage. City Administrator Zachary Meadows said the proposed rate is slightly below the calculated maximum rate allowed by law without requiring voter approval.
However, the proposed rate does exceed the “no new revenue rate,” the amount that would produce the same amount of tax revenue as the previous year. The proposed rate was approved on a motion by District 3 Alderman David Emery, seconded by District 1 Alderwoman Anna Carrillo. District 5 Alderman Matthew Martinez was absent for the vote.