Friday's Internet Edition, July 04, 2008.
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| Having fun on Halloween.... The folks at the County Courthouse were dressed for the occasion yesterday. Walking through the courthouse halls might just have been a “scary” proposition. The devilish looking one is none other than County Judge Molinar. |
- Van Horn City Council members met Monday evening to consider bid acceptance for pipe associated with a grant project to separate our water system from Hudspeth County’s coming from the airport.
The grant project, already approved, would build a new water line from the airport water wells complex into town. Once completed, the city water system would be completely separate from Hudspeth County’s and they would then have to care for their own lines and pumping stations.
The city has hoped to be able to do this for some time but the funding has not been there.
At Monday’s meeting, council members learned that the pipe bids for the project were much higher than anticipated. In fact, the pipe costs alone consume nearly the whole amount of the grant.
Accordingly, council members had to look long and hard at whether to proceed or axe the project.
Mayor Lucas told council members that, “if you nix this project, we can kiss any more grant projects good-bye for a few years.”
Council members were concerned because if they awarded the bid, they are going to have to issue Certificates of Obligation or manipulate city reserve funds in order to complete the project.
In the end, council members decided that separating from the Hudspeth County system is worth the added cost to complete this project.
Accordingly, they awarded the pipe bid to Western Industrial Supply in the amount of $213,801. What aided them in making the decision at this time was the fact that the bidders all said that if not awarded by Friday, November 3rd, they could expect the bids to increase by 15% to 20%.
At the same time, council members opted not to seek Certificates of Obligation. They instead decided to see if they could arrange for local bank financing coupled with use of reserve funds to complete the grant project.
After receiving an update on the activities of AdventGX, with regard to grant projects, council members went behind closed doors for an executive session dealing with personnel issues and legal matters.
Key election set for next Tuesday
Local voters go to the polls next Tuesday, November 6th, to cast their ballots to determine whether the school district’s proposed tax rate flies, whether the rest of the county gets taken into the Groundwater Conservation District and whether 16 proposed constitutional amendments pass.
Much has been said about the various constitutional amendments and these will not be addressed herein. Suffice it to say, read the constitutional propositions fully before casting your ballot.
Perhaps the main item on the election ballot is the school district’s “Rollback Election” proposition.
The proposition is somewhat misleading in that one might think that a vote for the proposition is a vote for a tax roll back. Not so. If you vote “For” the proposition, you are voting for the proposed school district tax rate of $1.21771 which is 13 cents over the roll back tax rate.
If you vote “Against” the proposition, you are actually voting for the lower tax rate.
The school district trustees, back in September, approved a fiscal year budget calling for the proposed tax rate to meet it. Should the proposition be defeated, trustees will have to look for ways to cut the proposed budget or take the money out of the district’s fund balance.
And, the district has over $2 million in its un-designated fund balance as of August 31, 2006. We don’t know how much more will be in the fund balance for the year ended August 31, 2007.
And, the district needs to have 3 months reserve in their fund balance to cover them until state monies and taxes come in. In our case, that means the district needs $1.5 million.
At any rate, voters will decide the fate of the proposed tax rate next Tuesday.
The other proposition on the ballot addresses whether some additional land, in the eastern portions of the county, will be included in the geographical area of the Culberson County Groundwater Conservation District.
If voters approve of that proposition, then the whole county will be included in the boundaries of the district.
Since this proposition involves only land in the eastern portions of the county, only voters in that area will be voting on the issue. There is some strong opposition to the proposition from absentee landowners as well as residents.
Again, the voters will determine the fate of this proposition.
Early voting in these elections continues through Friday, August 3rd. To cast your early vote, you must go to the County Clerk’s office anytime during normal business hours today or tomorrow.
Area Oil & Gas Report
By Paul Blankenburg, Blue Quail Oil & Gas Consulting & Leasing Service
Work on the 20 inch pipeline gathering system, that is being put in by COG Operating out of Midland, is in its final stages and is set to be complete around Thanksgiving of this year. I would say that it is a great Thanksgiving gift for Culberson County. I am thankful that there is enough production potential to build it.
Also there are rumors about a 34 inch pipeline that is to be built from Culberson County 80 miles toward Pecos. This is not to start until sometime after the first of 2008.
Culberson County: No new drilling activity.
Hudspeth County: Trail Mountain, Inc. is at it again. They have filed for permit to drill their second well on the University Ranger C 50 lease. The well will be a new vertical 7,000 foot well.
Jeff Davis County: Chesapeake Operating, Inc. is going to jump in big time in Jeff Davis County. They have filed for permit to drill a new vertical 14,000 foot well on the McKnight 11 lease located 20 miles northeast of Fort Davis. Good luck Chesapeake.
Presidio County: No new drilling activity.