Thursday, August 12, 2010

City adopts effective tax rate
Eustace city hall sports face-lift
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
EUSTACE–The Eustace City Council unanimously adopted the 2011 effective tax rate as figured by the Henderson County Appraisal District Aug. 5.

Monitor Photos/Kerry Yancey
ABOVE: Framed by green plants lined along the wall,
Alicia Sanders (back to camera) sits in with the Eustace
City Council as they hold their first workshop on the fiscal
year 2011 budget Monday in the newly renovated lobby of the
city hall. BELOW: Eustace City Secretary Sandy Lane takes
a payment from a customer at the city hall’s renovated front
counter Monday.

 

In order for the city to collect roughly the same amount it did last year, the council adopted the effective tax rate of 38.7 cents per $100 of property value.
Last year, the tax rate was 31.5 cents per $100.
The new rate increases the city’s revenues by $1,070, or about $1 more per person, mayor Laura Ward pointed out.
The change in tax rate does not amount to any significant increase and is less than a penny different than last year, she added.
The rollback rate is 48.22 cents per $100 property valuation, she noted.
Council members met for the first time in the renovated lobby of city hall, still smelling of fresh paint and practically gleaming.
A partnership between the city, its employees and local businesses accomplished the much-needed face-lift.
Ward recognized Groom & Sons’ Hardware, along with Randy Jones of Randle Jones Woodworks, for their cooperation, which included replacing the worn carpeting with tile flooring, securing the city offices from the lobby with bulletproof glass service portals, replacing damaged ceiling tiles and making other repairs.
The entire project, which began in mid-June and finished in mid-July, cost $16,500, city secretary Sandy Lane told The Monitor.
“This is a fine example of what can be done when people work together for the good of the community,” Ward said.
The council agreed to meet in a workshop Monday (see photos above) to discuss the upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget, and the need to make necessary adjustments in the city’s Planning and Zoning and Board of Adjustment’s reporting schedule.
The move will help clear the way for a multifamily housing developer to open a project in the city, Ward explained.
“He builds duplexes and triplexes,” she said.
In other business, council members:
• approved a collections contract with Henderson County Tax Office at the same 90-cent per parcel rate as last year.
• agreed to close all inactive checking accounts.

Mayor cancels council meeting
Monitor Staff Reports
SEVEN POINTS–After a number of scheduled Seven Points City Council meetings have fallen through, due to lack of a quorum, and despite assurances that a quorum would be present for Tuesday’s regular monthly meeting, mayor Joe Dobbs announced at 1 p.m. Tuesday the meeting would be cancelled.
Dobbs told The Monitor he was acting on advice from his attorney when he cancelled the meeting.
Last week, Dobbs and two of the absentee council members, Hank Laywell and Bubba Powell, participated in a telephone conference and discussed five items they were requesting on the Aug. 10 meeting’s agenda. Dobbs agreed to include some of them, and both Powell and Laywell agreed to attend the meeting.
The next day, the meeting’s agenda was posted, as required by law, but only one of the requested items, a review of the city’s financial transactions since May, was included. (See the Aug. 8 issue of The Monitor for all five items.)
Dobbs had told The Monitor in a July 25 article that “(he) had to hold regular scheduled meetings by ordinance, and vacation is no excuse,” to explain why he couldn’t fulfill councilwoman Cheryl Jones’ request for a special meeting at the end of June, before Laywell was due to leave the state on an extended annual vacation.