Keene Star (Keene, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 14, 2011 Page: 1 of 12
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cyan magenta
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Thursday
July 14, 2011
U l The Star Group
Seventy-five Cents
E-mail the Keene Star at:
keenestar@thestargroup.com
City Council
meets tonight
The Keene City Council
will meet at 7 p.m. today in
the council chambers at City
Hall, 100 N. Mockingbird at
Hillcrest.The agenda:
■ Remarks by Mayor John
Ackermannand public forum.
■ Second reading of reso-
lution authorizing Keene
Community Development
Corporation agreement with
Zitro International.
■ Appoint Bob Hamilton to
the Building Standards Com-
mission as board chairman.
■ Consider appointment
of Jim Bailey, Betty Ballard,
James Chapline, Charlene
Masters and Greg Shelton
to the board of adjustments.
■ Consider services of Cheryl
Estes, CPA, to assist in prepa-
ration for 2009-2010 audit.
■ Consider ambulance bill-
ing service, Intermedix, to
pursue accounts for services
provided outside city limits.
■ Discuss Revenue Rescue to
pursue billing for Keene Fire
and Rescue services paid for
by property owner's insur-
ance company.
■ Discuss accepting dona-
tion of 2005 3/4-ton pickup.
■ Possible renewal of Black-
board Connect contract.
■ Executive session to dis-
cuss hiring an interim city
administrator and consult
with city attorney.
■ Reconvene and adjourn.
Genealogical
society meets
Peggy Fox, former direc-
tor of the Confederate Re-
search Center in Hillsboro,
will speak to the Johnson
County Genealogical Soci-
ety at 6:30 p.m. today at the
Cleburne Public Library, 302
W. Henderson.
Everyone is welcomed,
and attendance is free.
Fox will discuss her proj-
ect to locate the burial sites
of Confederate and Union
soldiers in Hill County.
817-929-8407 or 817-
645-4717.
Blood drive
July 17
The Keene Baptist Church
will host a blood drive in
support of the American Red
Cross from 1-5 p.m. Sunday,
July 17, in the church sanc-
tuary at Old Betsy Village in
Keene.
Donors can make an ap-
pointment online at www.
redcrossblood.org using
keenebaptist as the sponsor
code, or by calling Betty Kirby
at 817-247-8549.
School board
meets July 18
The Keene ISD board of
trustees will meet in budget
workshop at 6 p.m. Mon-
day, July 18, in the district
administration building at
3625 E. Hwy. 67.
Items to be discussed are
the 2011-2012 preliminary
budget, salaries and tax rate.
The board will meet in
regular session at 7 p.m.
The agenda:
■ Open forum.
■ Construction update.
■ Discuss lifting hiring
freeze.
■ Land purchase.
■ White building remodel.
■ Storage building for
track.
■ Learning center con-
tract for 2011-2012.
■ Superintendent's,
financial and enrollment
reports.
■ Executive session.
■ Reconvene.
6 O 3U , O I COO 3 6
A HOOT
Elvis shines in
Plaza’s “Joseph
and the Amazing
Technicolor
Dreamcoat” Page 5
Keenewtar
Y H3MediaNews Group newspaper
Vol. 18, No. 50 “Serving Keene since 1993” Keene, Johnson County, Texas
C TA HOOP CAMP
CTA hoop camp
for younger players
concludes tonight,
next camp starts
July 24 Page 10
School board talks tax increase
PAUL GNADT
keenestar@thestargroup. com
The Keene ISD school board will meet in work-
shop session at 6 p.m. Monday, followed by the
regularly scheduled board meeting one hour later,
to talk about a potential tax rate increase and the
proposed budget for next year.
The meetings, both open to the public, will be
at the district administrative offices at 3625 U.S.
Highway 67.
On April 4, the board decided to offset the budget
shortfall resulting from lower property values and a
reduction in funding from the state by raising taxes.
The board approved a plan proposed by district
CFO Walt Pfeifer that will make up the district’s
shortfall of $339,000 in next year’s budget by rais-
ing taxes from the current rate of $1.49 per $100
valuation to $ 1.51 per $ 100 valuation.
If adopted, the new rate will increase the an-
nual tax on a home valued at $ 100,000 by $21.10,
Pfeifer said.
However, the April 4 vote supported Pfeifer’s
plan. The vote did not increase the tax rate, which
will be discussed Monday and must be presented at
a public hearing before the final vote.
That public hearing and final vote will probably
be Monday, Aug. 15, Pfeifer said.
“We won’t know certified property values until
July 26, and that will influence what the tax will
be,” Pfeifer said Wednesday. “Also, we’ve received
additional interest rebate on our bond financing,
so the board could decide to keep the tax rate the
same and not increase it.”
Elimination of a hiring freeze will also be dis-
cussed Monday.
The district has already cut $274,000 from next
year’s budget, Pfeifer said.
That savings came from each campus cutting
back on student supplies and student travel, rene-
gotiating contracts for services provided by outside
vendors and the resignations of teachers and other
personnel, Pfeifer said.
Looking better
^ City ’s sales tax revenue for July
is up 10 percent over July 2010
PAUL GNADT
keenestar@thestargroup. com
It’s Christmas in July.
Santa, otherwise known
as state comptroller Susan
Combs, sent the city of Keene
about $3,000 more in sales
tax revenue this month than
it received in J uly of last year.
On July 11, Keene received
$32,629 in sales tax revenue,
an increase of 10 percent
compared to the $29,653 it
received in J uly 2010.
July sales tax allocations
represent sales that occurred
in May.
“I am pleased,” interim
city administrator Bill Guinn
said. “We budgeted to be
down 5 percent, so we’re
looking pretty good. I hope
sales tax revenues continue
to increase.”
Keene’s neighbors also
received good news, Combs
said. Alvarado’s sales tax rev-
enue is up 15 percent in July
$77Kvs. $67K) and almost 22
percent for the year ($616K
vs. $506K). Burleson is up
43 percent for July ($1.3M
vs. $950K) and 9 percent for
the year $7.5M vs. $6.8M).
Cleburne had an increase
of 1.5 percent for the month
($665K vs. $655K) and is 5
percent ahead of last year’s
pace $4.9M vs. $4.7M). Josh-
ua is up almost 27 percent of
the month ($108Kvs. $85K)
and is 7.5 percent ahead of
the same time period in 2010
($710K vs. $660K.
Statewide, Texas cities re-
ceived $315.5 million, up 6.2
percent compared to July
2010. So far this calendar
year, city sales tax allocations
are up 6.3 percent compared
to the same time period last
year, Combs said.
Keene, however, is down
a little compared to year-to-
date, receiving $244,128 so
far in 2011, a decrease of 3.2
percent from the $252,207
it had received through July
2010.
With all cities considered,
Johnson County showed an
increase of 25 percent over
July of last year, and is up 8
percent for the year on rev-
enues of $14.8M compared
to $13.7M last year, Combs
said.
Comb’s next sales tax allo-
cation will be Friday, Aug. 12.
JORGE VELEZ/KEENE STAR
Keene resident and Keene ISD technology department administrative secretary Diane York and
her dog ride in the Keene Fourth of July Parade. See pages 6 and 7 for more parade photos.
herifF warns of phone scam in the county
SPECIAL TO THE KEENE STAR
Johnson County Sheriff’s Office investigators
are warning Keene Star readers about a telephone
scam being conducted in the area.
In a recent incident, a county resident received
a phone call from a 867-365-3550 phone num-
ber and was left a message saying that if the vic-
tim didn’t comply, the caller “would come to his
house,” Sheriff Bob Alford said.
The victim was told to go to Walmart and get a
Money Pak reload card and put $200 on the card,
Alford said. The victim was to scratch off the area
on the back and call a person at 1-876-568-9303
and provide them with the number on the back
of the card. Once this is done, the person on the
phone was to provide the victim with a gold stamp
worth more than $ 1 million.”
“If Keene Star readers receive a similar call,
don’t let the intimidation of the threat to, ‘come to
your house’ cause you to become a victim,” Alford
said. “We have established that these calls origi-
nated in Kingston, Jamaica. The caller is hoping
anyone contacted will comply with the demands.
All Walmarts have been notified,” Alford said.
Keene residents Ben Jr and Gina Bunag and Jeffrey pose with the Keene Star at the Petronas Tow-
ers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during the sightseeing portion of their June mission trip to the
Philippines. See Page 8 for the complete story and more photos.
■ JOHNSON COUNTY
Candidates for the
Pet. 2 seat released
BRIAN PORTER
keenestar@thestargroup. com
Some of the most re-
nowned business, civic and
community leaders in Joshua
and Burleson were among
those considered for the Pre-
cinct 2 county commission-
er’s appointment, accord-
ing to the list of applicants
released by County Judge
Roger Harmon to The Star
Group.
Troy Thompson, a North
Joshua resident and owner
of Alvarado Pawn and other
commercial properties, was
selected by the judge in the
search. He was sworn in July
5 by Harmon, the same day
he changed his voter’s reg-
istration to Precinct 2, ac-
cording to records from the
Johnson County Elections
Administration office.
Thompson is a former
Keene resident and commis-
sioner of Precinct 4, which
includes Keene.
The position was opened
June 27 when John Mat-
thews abruptly resigned the
post amid allegations by
county auditor J.R. “Kirk”
Kirkpatrick of misused road
and bridge funds in the pre-
cinct. An investigation by the
Johnson County Sheriff’s Of-
fice and the Texas Rangers is
ongoing. No individual has
been named as the subject of
the investigation, and Mat-
thews’resignation was vol
Turn to CANDIDATES, PG. 8
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Gnadt, Paul. Keene Star (Keene, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 50, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 14, 2011, newspaper, July 14, 2011; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth803999/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Burleson Public Library.