Jackson County Herald-Tribune (Edna, Tex.), Vol. 105, No. 46, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 10, 2012 Page: 2 of 18
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2A Jackson County Herald-Tribune, Wednesday, October 10,2012
Around the County continued
The Edna Invitational
Marching Contest will be
Saturday, Oct. 13 at Cowboy
Stadium. The Edna Cowboy
Marching Band, Ganado Pride
of the Tribe Band and
Industrial’s Golden Cobra
Band
Trinity Episcopal Church
in Edna will hold a pet bless-
ing in honor of St. Francis at
10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20.
Pet treats and refreshments
will be provided. For more
information call Glenda
Specht at 361-649-3247.
The Ganado Farmers and
Handmade Market will be
from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. on
Saturday, Oct. 20 in Ganado.
First Pentecostal Church
of Edna, 807 Apollo Drive,
will hold its 18th annual Fun
Day on Saturday, Oct. 20 from
10 a.m. - 5 p.m. There will be
games, inflatables, horse rides,
a kiddie train, petting zoo,
duck pond, auction, cake-
walks, concessions, candy rain
from heaven, and Nona’s
Country Store. Proceeds bene-
fit the Edna Christian
Academy building project.
The public in invited.
The Jackson County
Hospital District will hold a
flu shot clinic from 4-6 p.m. on
Tuesday, Oct. 23 at Ganado
City Hall and Thursday, Oct.
25 from 6:30 - 8 p.m. at the
hospital drive through.
The Children’s Ministry
of First Baptist Church in
Edna will host “Trunk or
Treat” from 6-8 p.m. on
Sunday, Oct. 28 for children
through fifth grade.
The IFF A Extension Club
is taking Pecan orders for the
4H scholarship fundraiser.
Call 782-3312 to order.
Jackson County Happy
Tails Animal Shelter will host
a Howl “O” Ween Bunco
fundraiser on Tuesday, Oct. 30
from 6:30 - 9 p.m. at the
Jackson County Services
Building auditorium. Tickets
are $20 presale and $25 at the
door. Tickets are available at
The Sweetheart Boutique in
Ganado.
Viewpoints
The People Speak
Questions about
JCAD budget
During my primary cam-
paign this past spring a tax-
payer asked me to look into
the operations of the Jackson
County Appraisal District.
There was skepticism over the
size of the budget as well as a
potential lack of accountabili-
ty.
Due to the information I
was provided I decided that
there are certainly areas of
alarm. As a taxpayer I offered
the following letter to the var-
ious taxing entity’s executive
boards this past month. It is
my hope that the appraisal dis-
tricts budget process will be
thoroughly reviewed.
To: GISD, EISD and USD
Board of Trustees, Jackson
County Judge and County
Commissioners, Edna Mayor
& Edna and Ganado mayors
and city council members, and
Jackson County Hospital
District board members:
The information provided
below was obtained from the
Jackson County Appraisal
District after filing two Open
Records Requests.
In 2010 the Jackson County
Appraisal District committed
to a building lease agreement
for $44,000 per year (404
North Allen). Beginning in
2014 the lease commitment
will grow to $48,000 per year,
and in 2017 the agreement for
the final term will be $53,400
per year. The final term of the
lease agreement terminates on
Dec. 21, 2020. The lease
agreement signed by JCAD
does not include utilities. In
aggregate the lease agreement
commitment over the 10-year
period comes to a little over
$490,000.
Within the lease JCAD is
provided with an option to
purchase the building. Prior to
Dec. 31, 2013 the JCAD’s
purchase price for the building
is $469,000. from Jan. 1, 2014
through Dec. 31, 2016 the
price increases to $516,000.
After Jan. 1, 2017 the price
jumps to $540,000. If JCAD
leases the property until the
end of the contract and then
decides to buy it, the total
expense to the taxpayers of
Jackson County could be
approximately $ 1 million.
Keep in mind the appraised
value, as established by
JCAD, is only $279,000 or 28
percent of the potential cost if
the property is leased and then
purchased after 10 years per
Oct. 10 - Oct. 17 meetings
• Oct. 15, 6:30 p.m. Edna ISD trustees, Edna Junior High
cafeteria
• Oct. 16, 7 p.m., Ganado ISD trustees, media center
• Oct. 17, 7:30 a.m., Lavaca-Navidad River Authority direc-
tors, LNRA offices, 4631 FM 3131
Jackson County
Herald-Tribune
The Jackson County Herald-Tribune (USPS 168-400).
Established Nov. 22, 1906. Published each Wednesday
by Jackson County Publishing, LP, 306 N. Wells, Edna,
TX 77957. Jim Moser, Publisher. Periodicals postage
paid at Edna, TX.
General Manager Advertising Director
Chris Lundstrom Pam Harvey
Staff Writer
Lisa Shapiro
Advertising Design
Connie Moseley
Sue Capak
Sports Writer
Paul Harrison
Office Manager
Kerry Karl
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Jackson
County Herald-Tribune. 306 N. Wells, Edna, TX
77957. Yearly subscription rates: $31.50 in Jackson
County; $41.50 elsewhere in Texas; $44.50 outside
Texas in USA, Phone (361) 782-3547.
The Jackson County Herald-Tribune and www.jacksonconews.com, as
well as any reasonable derivative of these names, are trademarks of
Jackson County Publishing, LP and use of these trademarks without the
express written consent of Jackson County Publishing, LP is strictly pro-
hibited. The entire contents of each issue of The Jackson County Herald-
Tribune and www.jacksonconews.com are protected under the Federal
Copyright Act. Reproduction of any portion of any issue will not be per-
mitted without the express permission of Jackson County Publishing, LP
the agreement.
The chief appraiser
informed me that the rent paid
could be applied to the pur-
chase price, however the copy
of the agreement that I
obtained does not indicate that
option. There are guidelines
offered by the State
Comptroller for purchasing
property. In cases of signifi-
cant property purchases the
guidelines provide for preap-
proval by the taxing entities.
However a rent or lease agree-
ment can fall below the
threshold of these guidelines.
JCAD can utilize a lease
agreement and remain in com-
pliance. It may be legal, but is
it right?
I am also concerned that
there does not appear to have
been much of an effort by
JCAD to take bids, to negoti-
ate the lease, or to utilize pub-
licly owned property that is
vacant and not being utilized.
When asked if JCAD could
provide information concern-
ing the bid process the only
information provided was the
lease cost of the previous
landlord.
The JCAD’s 2013 operating
budget has been approved by
JCAD’s board of directors and
is in the process of being for-
warded to the taxing entities
for review/approval. For the
budget to be challenged at this
point 50 percent of the taxing
entities would have to draft
letters indicating disapproval.
I respectfully request that
before you approve the pro-
posed 2013 Jackson County
Appraisal District operating
budget you ask of them the
following questions:
1. How long does JCAD
plan on renting the building
where it is currently located?
2. Do they plan on purchas-
ing the building at the prices
set forth in the lease agree-
ment?
3. Did they (JCAD) consid-
er building?
4. What alternatives were
considered (i.e., did they con-
sider buying property and
building a county owned facil-
ity? Or did they consider buy-
ing an existing property such
as the Electric Coop, the old
Edna Post Office, or the old
Edna ISD buildings located at
Stephen F. Austin
Elementary)?
5. Why was the current
lease agreement a good finan-
cial investment for the taxpay-
ers of Jackson County?
In addition to questioning
this lease agreement, I also
respectfully request you
review the proposed budget
item by item. In particular I
ask that you compare adminis-
trative compensation levels to
those in your organizations. I
contend that over the years
we’ve allowed the salaries to
exceed the levels of responsi-
bility.
As you know, the Jackson
County Appraisal District’s
budget is apportioned from
tax revenue received by each
taxing entity within the coun-
ty; EISD, GISD, USD,
Jackson County, Jackson
County Hospital District, City
of Edna and the City of
Ganado. Basically, any gov-
ernmental entity who receives
revenue from property taxes
has a direct commitment to
the JCAD’s budget. It can be
said that any monies spent by
JCAD were removed from our
education fund, from our
police protection fund, from
our city maintenance fund,
from our firefighting fund,
and from our County operat-
ing budget.
Tommy Srp
Edna, Texas
Cut spending before
raising taxes
I am writing in regards to
the article in the Sept. 26 issue
concerning raising taxes to
fund the Edna EMS/fire
department. Why should the
taxpayers pay higher taxes
because the city cannot find it
in their budget to help fund the
EMS/fire department? Has the
city looked into taking cost
cuts with some of their spend-
ing by eliminating iPhones for
their employees? Why do city
employees need one of the
most expensive phones on the
market when they are provid-
ed two-way radios in the city
vehicles? Then what is the
purpose of spending money
on two-way radios if they are
not being used? Does the city
even monitor their employees
(personal) usage on the cell
phones provided by the city?
The city could cut down on
fuel costs by not allowing
their employees that do not
live within the city limits to
take vehicles home. This
would also cut down on the
wear and tear of vehicles
which would eliminate the
spending of purchasing a new
vehicle each year.
The city budgeted for the
changing out of water meters
to new radio-read meters.
What is more important, hav-
ing an EMS/fire department or
the convenience of the water
department being able to read
meters from their vehicle?
With the removal of the old
meters, why can’t they be
recycled and sold for scrap
metal and the money be
deposited into a general fund?
Or any scrap metal for that
reason.
Concerning the new hours
of operation, how is the city
actually saving money, when
the employee that is on call
will be paid overtime for
working on Fridays. The city
could always consider using
comp time instead of paying
overtime for their employees.
In my opinion, these are just
a few suggestions the city
could take into consideration
on monitoring their spending
before raising taxes.
Tooter Tomas
Edm, Texas
Popcorn sale underway
Edna Cub Scouts Pack 138
would like to thank Walmart
for their support and allowing
us to set up our “Show ‘n Sale
Popcorn Fundraising Event”.
We would also like to thank
the community and citizens of
Jackson County that either
bought popcorn or made a
donation to our Pack. The sup-
port is very much appreciated.
Thank you!
The Scouts are taking indi-
vidual popcorn orders through
Saturday, Oct. 27.
Melissa Braunholz
Edm, Texas
tS CHAMBER (CHAHTER *
Jackson County Chamber of Commerce& Agriculture 317 W Main St. EdnaTX (361)782-7146 www.jacksoncountytexas.com
2012 - 2013 GUN RAFFLE TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE NOW!
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Donna Coleman Lindsey Bradford
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Wayne Hunt
Lance Smiga
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Wade Watkins
TICKETS ARE ALSO
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FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
Chamber Office
Ganado Feed & More
Jackson County Feed
Jacobs Animal Health Supplies
R & M Firearms
Editorial policy on
political letters
The Jackson County Herald-
Tribune will publish up to
three letters of support per
week per candidate through
election day. The editorial
board reserves the right to
not publish negative or
duplicate letters. All letters
must be signed, dated, and
include a valid address and
telephone number.
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Jackson County Herald-Tribune (Edna, Tex.), Vol. 105, No. 46, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 10, 2012, newspaper, October 10, 2012; Edna, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth774707/m1/2/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Jackson County Memorial Library.