Friday's Internet Edition, March 12, 2010.
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| New homes going up.... West Desert Builders continnues to construct new homes in Van Horn. In case you haven't noticed, they now have seven homes built or under construction in the first block they're developing here. We have reports that at least three homes are already sold, however, more may be sold by now. This is a good sign for the local economy. |
- At their meeting Monday, commissioners tackled one of their most pressing issues. Budget and taxes.
Commissioners, during the budget work session, mentioned several items which have impacted this year’s budget and ultimately the tax rate. First, commissioners learned from County Tax Assessor/Collector Molly Hernandez that property values this year have dropped by some $16 million. That fact alone, will make the effective tax rate go above last years.
Second, Hernandez also reported that her tax collections for the year were down from an expected 95% collection rate to only 84.75%. This was almost entirely due to the fact that two of the largest taxpayers in the county did not pay their taxes. One, because they’re in bankruptcy and the other because of a change in ownership and a dispute over the unpaid taxes. The total of the two is over $224,000.
And, thirdly, revenues from the Department of Public Safety highway patrol are down by a whopping amount. You will recall that last year the DPS troopers held several drug interdiction operations here. Because of public outcry against these operations, they have not been here this year and the money has ceased to flow.
When commissioners added these three things up, they made the 2009/2010 fiscal year budget come up short. And, commissioners also sought to bring the salaries of county employees up to what other comparable salaries might be, the budget really was short.
The only option left for commissioners was to consider some sort of tax increase.
After approving the proposed budget, which reflected a 4% tax increase, commissioners turned their attention to a tax rate which would fund the majority of that budget.
They settled on a proposed 4% tax rate hike. The rate would break down as follows: General Fund - .68398; FM & Lateral Roads - .05310; and Road & Bridge - .05294 for a total proposed tax rate of .79002 cents per $100 valuation.
Last year’s rate was .70984 per $100 valuation.
Commissioners, because of the proposed increase, voted to hold a series of public meeting on the proposed tax rate. The first meeting will be held on Friday, August 21st at 6 p.m. at the courthouse. The second meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 25th at 6 p.m. at the courthouse.
Taxpayers will have opportunity at these two meeting to express their feelings and ideas.
Additionally, at the meeting, commissioners tackled a host of other items. Actions taken are as follows:
* Commissioners approved continuation of the $10 Road and Bridge fee charged on each licensed vehicle in the county. Commissioners Garibay and Norman voted for the proposition while Commissioners Corrales and McDonald voted against it. County Judge Molinar broke the tie by voting for it on the basis of the already tough budget issues facing the county. The fee generates about $17,000 per year.
* Commissioners approved several grant related items as recommended by grant administrator Becky Brewster and they approved a resolution to submit a Solid Waste Disposal grant application by the August 19th deadline.
* Commissioners learned that Hotel El Capitan was going to petition signatures to hold an election in November to serve mixed drinks in Precinct 4.
* Commissioners approved CIRA Services to continue hosting the county’s web site and at the same time voted to have them perform updates to the site for the county. By so doing, the county is eligible to have them host up to 43 e-mail accounts. Cost to the county will be $350 a year.
* They learned that the iDocket system approved for the Clerk’s office is now up and running. At the same time, they viewed a presentation from Professional Document Services concerning services they could over the county.
* Commissioners accepted some 17.016 acres from the estate of Shirley Potter in Southwest Sunsites. The Potter heirs did not want to pay taxes on the property any more.
* They approved audit firms for the County’s fiscal year audit (Knapp & Co.) and juvenile probation audit (Shaw Skinner).
* Commissioners acted on a variety of other issues as follows: Voted to leave Sheriff and Constable fees the same for this year; Accepted Continuing Education hours from Commissioner, Precinct 4; Accepted the resignation of the Volunteer Fire Chief Efrain Hinojos; and declined to pay a fire department bill amounting to $540.
* After approving budget amendments as recommended by the County Auditor, commissioners accepted the submitted monthly reports and approved payment of monthly payrolls and bills amounting to some $239,218.17.
Last day to sign up for Pee Wee football is tomorrow
Do you want to play Pee Wee football this year? If so, you will want to heed this advice.
The last, final day to sign up to play Pee Wee football this year is tomorrow, Friday, August 14th. If you’re not signed up by tomorrow, you will not be playing Pee Wee football this year.
Please pick up your application/registration form at City Hall and get it turned in no later than the close of business tomorrow.
NRCS Texas Announces Sign-up for the New Conservation Stewardship Program
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) state conservationist for Texas, Don Gohmert, announced a sign-up beginning on Aug. 10, 2009, for the new Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) to assist agricultural and forestry producers. CSP is a new program authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill.
“Farmers and ranchers actively engaged in conservation land stewardship have the opportunity to earn conservation rewards through CSP,” Gohmert said. “This program gives conversation-minded producers the ability to apply and build on their current stewardship efforts.”
CSP is a five-year program which offers continuous sign-up, but all eligible applicants who sign up between Aug. 10 and Sept. 30, 2009, will be ranked as a group in October and November. A second ranking of subsequent applications will likely take place again in January or February.
CSP replaced a program authorized in the 2002 Farm Bill, the Conservation Security Program which was only offered on a watershed-specific basis. The new CSP is now available to landowners statewide.
Gohmert noted only top stewards will be awarded contracts for CSP and receive funding.
NRCS encourages farmers and ranchers actively involved in conserving their natural resources to apply for CSP in order to maintain existing conservation activities and implement additional enhancements or practices on their land.
“CSP is for the best of the best stewards,” Gohmert said. “We have many land stewards in Texas that are worthy of this recognition, and I encourage them to apply.”
Lands eligible for CSP include cropland, grassland, pastureland, and private nonindustrial forestland, a new land use for the program. Agricultural land under the jurisdiction of an Indian tribe is expressly eligible as well.
The CSP application process begins with a self-screening checklist. Interested producers can obtain additional information from the NRCS website at www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/new_csp/csp.html or contact their local USDA-NRCS field office.
GPS Observations Reach New Heights
By Phillip Trudeau
Last month, several students from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) and I hiked up five of the highest peaks in Texas to measure exact elevations and locations. We carried overloaded hiking packs on eight hour treks, endured cold weather, frequent showers, and even ‘slept’ through a lightning storm.
With a 6-foot pole and a $20,000 GPS unit attached to the top fifty feet away from our tent on one of the tallest ridge lines in Texas made the storm one of the scariest we’d ever experiences. It was one of the most exhilarating and most accomplished events of my life because all of the hard work and dedication that I put into his project had a great feeling of accomplishment in the end. We arrived unaware and unprepared of the amount of endurance that loomed ahead.
There were four groups each consisting of three students. Each group had two mountain peaks assigned to them. We were to use Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to take the required measurements at each mountain peak. An equipment malfunction only allowed us to complete five peaks; Busch, Hunter, Pratt, El Capitan and Guadalupe.
Wes Gaetner, Adam McCannis and I were assigned Busch and Blue Ridge. After a night’s sleep at Guadalupe Mountain National Park and breakfast at sunrise, we each prepared our packs. Mine included a tent, sleeping bag, food for 3 days, 3 gallons of water, our groups medical kit, my personal medical kit, 100ft steel tape, camera, an aluminum tripod, and documents for booking the GPS observations (which included ten pencils for some reason), among other things. My two partners had similar equipment with a variation of a few things. All together I would estimate each hiker carried 40 – 50lbs of equipment in each hike pack.
There are four “up-downs” located on Busch Mountain. An “up-down” being a hike down the mountain a ways then back up to reach a higher point. When you reach the first one at Pine Ridge you think you are there. The other three are harder still. Stamina, and morale wore thin the closer we got to Busch Mountain until we saw what we knew to be the the peak.
Each group was required to take two, six-hour observations, one at 6 p.m. and another at 12 a.m., in order for our post-processing to work correctly and stay in sync with the other GPS units. We started collecting at 6 p.m. and would stop collecting at 6 a.m. with a battery change at midnight.
Stuck at yet another up-down, this gave us only an hour and a half before all of the groups should start their GPS observations simultaneously. Our team leader, Wes, radioed to base camp, “This is Gaetner group, I don’t think we’re going to make it.” A motivational speech and an hour later we made it to Busch with less than thirty minutes to begin our data collection.
I told my group, “Guys, we are here for a reason and we need to do this, I know your legs a numb but we really need to push it if we are going to make this hike and start collecting our data like everyone else.” Busch was a success. We filled out our required forms which included basic information like general location, time, and took the necessary pictures and finally called it a night at 7pm.
The following morning our group woke up at 7 a.m. to hike to Blue Ridge. We had no idea how far or how long it would be to travel to the next peak. Surprisingly, it only took us one hour.
This time around we had over eight hours to spare before we were scheduled to begin data collecting. When the time came to collect the data on top of Blue Ridge, we saw a storm on the horizon. The lightning storm wouldn’t necessarily corrupt the data being collected but sleeping on one of the highest peaks during a storm isn’t exactly entertainment. At 11:30 p.m. the lightning storm hit and hit hard. Our tripod with the GPS unit was at the edge of a 1200 foot ridge, sandbagged down and tied to a tree stump. The three of us lay in the tent for safety as the lightning storm fell around us.
I recalled the park ranger telling us if we got hit in a lightning storm to move down the mountain as quickly as possible. Nobody left the tent. Finally the lightning faded off in the distance and it came time to change the batteries. It sure felt good to be alive after that night. It felt like the three of us were all just waiting for the hairs on the back of our necks to stand up right before we would get struck. Our hike in the morning was the same route as the one we came up. We estimated a nine hour hike back to base camp.
We woke at 6 a.m. because we estimated a nine hour hike back to base camp and needed to be back before the other groups for pride purposes. Nine hours turned into five and we were back at base camp before we knew it where sandwiches and plenty of fluids awaited us. It was the best sight I had seen in what felt like too long. It was an oasis of welcome.
All of the groups finally made it down and we exchanged our exciting, funny, and weird stories. I sat and looked around; everyone covered in dirt, blood, and sweat, smiling and laughing, and realized that I got to do this for TAMUCC undergraduate credit. I asked myself, “What other degree or department could take students on an exhilarating trip like this?”
I am very proud and fortunate to be studying G.I.S. (Geospatial Information Systems) TAMUCC and would invite anyone looking for an exciting and well-paid career to look into joining our program here in Corpus Christi, Texas.
When I go back and do it all over, I will definitely add a fourth person to the group. The hiking packs were almost unbearable. Another person means 30% less weight each person would have to carry for a more comfortable hike up. For my first hike, I did well and I am happy to have experienced this adventure with my classmates and future colleagues.
Mountain Before After
Guadalupe Peak 8749ft 8751.6ft
Bush Mountain 8631ft 8633.6ft
Hunter Peak 8368ft 8377.7ft
Mount Pratt 8343ft 8348.0ft
El Capitan 8085ft 8100.6ft