Category: Top News Stories

By Anton Riecher
Action to approve the proposed 2025-2026 budget for the city of Devine originally slated for the Sept. 16 Devine City Council meeting has been formally postponed until Sept. 29 in light of incorrect information published by the city as to the no new revenue rate.
Mayor Butch Cook noted that the official notice given by the city to be published in The Devine News incorrectly stated that the proposed tax rate of $.05900 per $100 valuation is not greater than the no new revenue rate. In fact, it is greater than the no new revenue rate of $.05675. (The error was on the city’s part.)
“For the sake of transparency we have prepared a statement that went to the newspaper today,” Cook said. The statement was also published on social media also.
A corrected notice was published in the newspaper on Sept. 17.
A motion by…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!

By Anton Riecher
With no opposition voiced during a preceding public hearing, the Lytle City Council voted 4-0 Monday to approve a 2025 tax rate of $.439372 per $100 assessed value effective Oct. 1. The council also voted 4-0 to approve an $8.086 million budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
Mayor Ruben Gonzalez said Lytle continues to offer an ad valorem tax rate lower than any of the surrounding communities.
“That speaks highly of our city staff and everything that we are doing as a council to take care of the citizens,” he said.
District 4 Alderman Michael Rodriguez offered both the tax rate motion and the budget motion, both seconded by District 3 Alderman David Emery. District 5 Alderman Matthew Martinez was absent from the regular meeting.
The final tax rate represents a reduction from the proposed rate of $.446405 approved by the council at its Aug. 11 meeting. The rate approved by the council represents an increase over the 2024 rate of 39 cents.
In separate actions requiring a roll call vote, the council approved a debt service rate of $.078293 and maintenance and operations tax rate of $.361079.
As with the tax rate, a preceding public hearing on the proposed city budget heard no comment in opposition.
In other action…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!

By Anton Riecher
At a public meeting held Sept. 16, the Medina County Emergency Services District No. 2 board of commissioners took final action to approve 2025 ad valorem tax rate of 10 cents per $100 valuation, effectively a 43 percent increase.
On a motion by board vice president Jeff Howard, seconded by assistant treasurer Jerry Stevens, the tax hike was approved by a 4-0-1 vote. Board secretary Abigail Beadle was absent for the vote.
The approved rate represents the maximum that state tax law allows an ESD to set its rate. It also exceeds the voter approval tax rate calculated at $.0630, leaving the district vulnerable to a possible election petition.
Also approved was a 2025-2026 budget of $1.3 million, including $900,000 to cover the management takeover of local fire protection by Medina County’s Castroville-based ESD1 led by Fire Chief Clint Cooke. As with the tax rate, the budget was approved by a 4-0-1 vote following a motion by Stevens, seconded by board treasurer Ken Nighswander.
Complete video coverage of the board meeting is posted on the Devine News YouTube channel.
Not including the new management contract, the new budget represents a $179,100 increase over the previous budget, ESD2 bookkeeper Nancy Pepper said. Revenue over expense leaves a $293,000 surplus, not including an upcoming $80,000 forensic audit ordered in the investigation of recent financial improprieties.
On hand for the meeting was ESD1 Battalion Chief David Powell, scheduled to take charge of Devine fire operations effective this past Monday,Sept. 22.
“My last day as a battalion chief (in Castroville) is Sunday morning at 0600 hours,” Powell said.
Devine Fire Assistant Chief Scott DeLucia confirmed to the ESD2 board that Jessica Martinez, named chief by the Devine volunteer fire department after the resignation of Greg Atkinson last February, has herself resigned effective October 1.
Of the two district residents to comment during the public hearing preceding the tax rate vote, both spoke in support of the rate hike. Former city council member Debbie Randall said she supported the increase despite being a retiree living on a fixed income.
“How I see it is this raise in the tax rate is allowing our community to have a much better level of service from our fire and EMS, so much more than we’ve had in the past,” she said.
According to her calculations, a homeowner with a $100,000 home can expect to pay $31.30 more a year. The owner of a $300,000 home can expect to pay $94 more a year, or $7.84 a month.
Former county commissioners Jerry Beck, currently serving on the ESD4 board, said that older homeowners will have the increase offset by the new homestead exemption approved by the district this year.
“So it won’t be that big a deal for all of us,” Beck said.
In other financial matters, the board voted 4-0 to amend the current 2024-2025 operating budget by adding $100,000 to the sales tax revenue account. As of August, sales tax revenue stood at $448,000 with another $35,000 received in August, ESD2 bookkeeper Nancy Pepper reported. Already $48,124 more than expected. September sale tax revenue is $35,991.
Included in the $100,000 amendment is $85,000 in additional funds given to the Devine Volunteer Fire Department, plus $9,000 in interest and sinking fees not included in the budget, $3,500 in website development and $2,000 as a financial cushion, Pepper said.
“That’s pretty close to what our budget was with some changes here and there,” Pepper said.
As of August, revenue for the current budget stands five percent short of the projected amount, Pepper said. The district ended the fiscal year with $438,000 in revenue over expenses.
With the balance on the note for the DVFD DuBose Fire House standing at $81,687 as of August, Pepper recommended paying it off to save the interest on continuing monthly payments. The move would leave nearly $40,000 in the district’s interest and sinking account.
“We need to leave some money in there because we keep that account open for delinquent taxes that will be coming in,” she said.
She recommended taking $35, 000 from interest and sinking and the balance due from the general fund. On a motion by Nighswander, seconded by Howard, the board voted 4-0 to pay off the note.
A financial report by provided by the Devine Fire Department Volunteer Association president Eric Quintanilla showed an opening balance of…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!

The words “truth, trust and empathy” are inscribed on a coin that Rowan Digital Infrastructure CEO Charley Daitch presented to Lytle Mayor Ruben Gonzalez earlier this year. He referred to those words at the groundbreaking for the company’s Project Cinco data center campus Monday.
“That’s the biggest thing that reflects what this organization is about,” Gonzalez said.
Medina County officials gathered at the construction site on Highway 132 near the Coal Mine neighborhood to break ground on the massive hyperscaler. Joining Gonzalez at the podium were Medina County Judge Keith Lutz and Lytle ISD superintendent Dustin Breithaupt.
With earth moving equipment rolling across…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!

In 2011, we interviewed these two love birds as they were celebrating their 49th anniversary. Almost fifteen years later, these two are still as in love as ever, and remain pillars of the community. This year, they will have the honor of leading the parade as Mr. and Mrs. Grand Marshall, through downtown Devine, a community they have loved and generously supported for many, many years through their family business, Chaparral Ford, and also raised their family.
Don and Irma Dunford met when they were teenagers at a birthday party in San Antonio, and they are now celebrating 64 years together. Back in an interview years ago, they shared a little about how their story began. We enjoyed and hope you will too….
“My cousin Leroy had a little birthday party, and Irma was there too because she was best friends with Leroy’s sister. That’s where we met and, and where I fell in love. We had chemistry. I just felt it. Do you know what I mean?” Don says.
Irma remembers that Don started coming over to “visit his cousin” an awful lot after that birthday party.
“Don said he was coming over to visit his cousin, but he really just wanted to see me,” Irma laughed. “We all went out together. Everyone pitched in a quarter for gas and piled in Don’s car,” she said.
Irma and Don married only a year after they met, at the ages of 16 and 17. Shortly after they married, Don joined the Air Force and the couple had to move to Missouri for four years.
“I think that helped us so much, being on our own for awhile, without anyone else’s influences,” Irma said.
But Don remembers that times weren’t always easy when they first started out in that little apartment in Missouri .
“When we were young, we were just trying our best to make it. Everything in our apartment was used—all of our furniture. My grandma sent us five dollars each month, and that helped us pay our electric bill. Irma always kept me grounded,” he said.
About a year after moving back to Texas, the couple bought a small trailer house behind a local car dealership, now Chaparral Ford, which Don and Irma currently own now.
“When I bought this dealership, Irma freaked out. I started with nothing. I sold all my guns, my boat, and my car, anything I could to invest in the company. But my wife wouldn’t let me sell our house in San Antonio until we were sure the dealership would be successful. We’ve come a long way since then,” Don said.
When it comes to staying happy, after spending nearly half a century together, Don swears by the old cliché: If momma ain’t happy, nobody’s happy.
“That old cliché is really very true,” he says.
With a more serious tone, Don acknowledges that he and his wife don’t always agree, but stresses the importance that a husband and a wife respect eachother’s opinions.
“I always listen to what my wife has to say. I think that’s really important,” he said.
The two love birds see the importance of working together and that is clear.
Irma says her favorite thing about marriage is “partnership, always having a partner.”
“Marriage is a really wonderful experience,” Irma said.
“It’s about giving and taking. I think the biggest thing about a lasting marriage, though, is knowing that you can do it if you want to. Differences always work out if you want them to,” Don added.
All these years later, they reside in Devine where they’ve raised their family. They have two children, three grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and one on the way! Two of their grandsons, son-in-law, and their son and daughter are helping to carry on the legacy of the family business, Chaparral Ford, which began over 44 years ago.