Lake Area
Billboard
East Cedar Creek Freshwater Supply District meets at 12:30 p.m. the third Wednesday of each month at the ECCFSD
office on Hammer Road just off Welch Lane in Gun Barrel City.
Eustace City Council meets at 7
p.m. in the Eustace City Hall the first Thursday of each month. For more information,
please call 425-4702. The public is invited to attend.
Eustace Independent School District meets at 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month at the Eustace High
School Library. For more information, please call 425-7131. The public is invited to
attend.
Gun Barrel City Council meets in
Brawner Hall at 6 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. For more information,
please call 887-1087. The public is invited to attend.
Gun Barrel City Economic Development Corporation meets at 1831 W. Main, GBC, at 6 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month.
For more information, please call 887-1899.
Henderson County Commissioner’s Court meets the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 9 a.m. in the
Henderson County Courthouse in Athens. The public is invited to attend.
Henderson County Emergency Services District #4 meets at 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month at 525 S. Tool Dr. in
Tool.
Henderson County Historical Commission meets the first Wednesday of each month at 1 p.m. in the HC Historical
Museum.
Kaufman County Commissioner’s Court meets the first, second, third and fourth Monday of each month at 9:45
a.m. in the Kaufman County Courthouse in Kaufman. The public is invited to attend.
Kemp City Council meets at Kemp
City Hall at 7 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month. For more information, please call
498-3191. The public is invited to attend.
Kemp Independent School District
meets the third Tuesday of each month in the Board Room in the Administration Building.
For more information, please call 498-1314. The public is invited to attend.
Log Cabin City Council meets the
third Thursday of the month in city hall. For more information, please call 489-2195. The
public is invited to attend.
Mabank City Council meets at 7
p.m. in Mabank City Hall the first Tuesday of each month. For more information, please
call 887-3241. The public is invited to attend.
Mabank Independent School District meets at 7:30 p.m. the fourth Monday of each month. For more information,
please call 887-9310. The public is invited to attend.
Payne Springs City Council meets
at city hall at 7:30 p.m. every third Tuesday of each month. For more information, please
call 451-9229. The public is invited to attend.
Payne Springs Water Supply Corp.
meets the third Tuesday of each month at 1 p.m. at the Payne Springs Community Center,
located at 9690 Hwy. 198.
Seven Points City Council meets
at 7 p.m. in Seven Points city hall the second Tuesday of each month. For more
information, please call 432-3176. The public is invited to attend.
Tool City Council meets at 6
p.m. in the OranWhite Civic Center the third Thursday of each month. For more information,
please call 432-3522. The public is invited to attend.
West Cedar Creek Municipal Utility District is held at 5 p.m. the fourth Monday of each month. For more information,
please call 432-3704. The public is invited. |
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Property values
flat and holding
Henderson County up 2 percent; Kaufman County down 2 percent; Van Zandt County
holds steady
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
CEDAR CREEK LAKE–Overall, property tax values increased slightly over last year in
Henderson County, up 2.24 percent. In Van Zandt County, values stayed the same and in
Kaufman County, taxable values decreased 2.2 percent.
“The biggest reductions are on the large industrial accounts, when industry and
manufacturing was down,” Kaufman County chief appraiser Chris Peace explained.
“That’s been county-wide.”
The county has $316 million less in taxable property than last year, bringing the total to
$14.08 billion.
The cities of Mabank and Terrell experienced the largest drop in taxable value, down 8.45
percent and 7.41 percent, respectively.
Solar Turbines, the area’s largest manufacturer, reported significantly lower goods
and inventory than previously, Peace added.
“We use Jan. 1 as the appraisal date, but in theory you have to look back to October,
2009, when manufacturing and inventory were significantly less than in the past,” he
said.
Mabank is still waiting to learn what its effective tax rate is – the rate that will
deliver the same amount of revenue as last year. It is likely the effective rate will
increase.
City administrator Louann Confer is working on a no-growth budget, based on $750,000 in
sales tax revenues (the same projection as last year) and an unknown effective tax rate.
“I’m trying to give the employees a 3 percent raise and maintain the health
insurance,” Confer said.
The city is currently paying $350 per employee per month, she said. The basic coverage
with a $3,000 deductible has gone up in price 20 percent, she reported.
“The employees likely will have to make up the difference,” she said.
The news isn’t all bleak, however. Mabank properties located in Henderson County
increased in value by $1.66 million.
Like Mabank, most taxing entities in Kaufman County saw a decrease.
However, the Kemp ISD held steady at nearly the same taxable value as last year. The city
of Kemp saw a 5.18 percent increase.
In Henderson County, the appraisal district figures show a 2.62 percent increase in
appraised value, with taxable values increasing 2.24 percent.
Last year, the county saw a slight increase of 4.46 percent.
“On the whole, we didn’t see an increase in real estate values,” chief
appraiser Bill Jackson said.
Only a few taxing entities in Henderson County saw a decrease in values. The largest
decrease was in the city of Frankston, 22.8 percent. The few other decreases were less
than 3 percent.
Of the $30.7 billion in 2010 appraised value, $20.2 billion is taxable.
Trinidad ISD saw a sizable increase in taxable value, up 16 percent. Though the city of
Eustace saw a 21 percent increase in appraised value, it only saw a 2.49 percent increase
in taxable value, reflecting the large number of senior citizen property owners.
Eustace ISD taxable values in Henderson and Van Zandt increased by a little more than a
million dollars.
Jackson said most of the increases in Trinidad came from reappraising property in that
area, and from improvements to oil and gas properties.
The district tries to conduct reappraisals every three years, he said.
“It’s normal during the reappraising process to find some undervalued
properties,” Jackson explained. “About $2 million to $3 million came from
improvements to residential properties.”
In Van Zandt County, market values saw a slight decrease, but taxable values held steady
at $2.32 billion, slightly above last year’s $2.31 billion.
Chief appraiser Brenda Barnett said there was some new construction in the residential
category on rural properties, but these were offset by other property owners reaching age
65 and freezing their property value, which helped keep values flat.
“I felt fortunate that we stayed steady, in view of other counties losing
ground,” Barnett said.
Eight taxing entities in Van Zandt County saw slight increases, while 13 experienced
slight decreases.
Barnett added plans for a few new housing subdivisions have been filed in the county, but
no new construction has resulted yet.
With healthcare costs increasing, county commissioners are asking department heads to
submit lean budgets.
Commissioners, city council members and school trustees are now holding budget meetings,
in preparation for announcing fiscal year 2011 tax rates and budgets.
The Henderson County Commissioners are expected to propose a tax rate Tuesday, Aug. 31.
Two public hearings are set for Tuesday mornings, Sept. 7 and Sept. 14, at the courthouse,
and commissioners are expected to adopt a tax rate Sept. 14.
The budget may be adopted at the same time, or soon afterwards.
Van Zandt and Kaufman counties have similar timetables.Mabank
Family Health Mart Pharmacy health fair helps raise diabetes awareness
By Barbara Gartman
Monitor Staff Writer
MABANK–Diabetes is a fast-growing problem across Texas, the nation and in the Cedar
Creek Lake communities.
“The local pharmacies, including Mabank Family Health Mart Pharmacy, wanted to do
something about (diabetes) growth, and in addition, wanted to raise awareness concerning
the problem,” Zach Nixon, tour manager for Health Mart, Healthy Living Tours said.
Friday, Mabank Family Health Mart Pharmacy, a member of Health Mart, a national network of
more than 2,600 independently owned pharmacies, conducted a health fair.
DeWayne Chapman, R. Ph. owns Mabank Family Health Mart Pharmacy.
The fair was deemed a great success, as 70 local residents attended the three-hour event,
with 27 patients identified as being at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
The Health Mart Living Tour’s goal is to raise awareness of the escalating diabetes
problem by identifying people at risk, and to encourage people with diabetes to better
manage their condition.
Diabetes affects more than 23.6 million people, with another 57 million at risk, if their
eating habits are not altered.
“We were chosen by Health Mart back in April, and told when to expect them to set
up,” Chapman said.
“Them” consists of Nixon and several other Health Mart representatives,
traveling in a huge RV fitted out with cubicles and equipment for scanning patients and
supplying information for their physicians.
The touring health clinic travels for five to six months at a time, visiting with the
independent pharmacies across the nation.
The vehicle wears tags from Maine, and at least one of the members, Nixon, is a Mainer.
More than likely, the rest of the crew is from the Pinetree State, as they all were
remarking about the 100-degree-plus heat.
The number of cases of diabetes in the United States has more than doubled in the last
decade, with obesity named as the number one cause.
Chapman is a second-generation pharmacist who bought the store 13 years ago. He proudly
explained his son, Craig, is half way through his pharmacy studies at Oklahoma State
University.
After taking over the store, Chapman added several features to make the pharmacy more
customer-friendly.
One of the first additions was the annual flu shots that Chapman made available to
customers.
“We even have a drive-through of sorts,” Chapman said. “When customers
arrive with elderly parents and friends, we will go out to their car and give them their
shot.”
Another special feature involves the special shoes needed by diabetic patients –
shoes that are smooth inside to prevent blisters and rubbing that could cause sores a
diabetic patient must avoid.
“We are accredited for diabetic shoes and supplies,” Chapman said, noting the
state requires pharmacies to be accredited when selling special supplies.
Type O negative blood needed
Special to The Monitor
DALLAS/FORT WORTH–Carter BloodCare is experiencing a precedent-setting use of the
blood type O Rh negative (‘type O negative’).
This blood type is considered universal because it is compatible with all patients –
and is used frequently in emergencies when there is little time to type the patient’s
blood before administering blood transfusions.
Overnight, several large trauma centers served by Carter BloodCare, used heavy quantities
of O negative blood within hours of each other.
Carter BloodCare emphasizes that the blood center is currently meeting the needs of its
hospitals, but is maintaining only a one-day supply of this important and less-common
blood type.
This supply would be rapidly exhausted if last night’s events are repeated.
Carter BloodCare is asking donors who have type O negative blood to help replenish the
supply by making an appointment to donate red blood cells within the next few days, if
possible.
There are 20 neighborhood donor centers located throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth
Metroplex, in addition to community blood drives taking place daily.
The Carter BloodCare mobile unit will bein Mabank today from 9:45 a.m. until 11:45 at the
Citizens State Bank on 1381 S. Third Street and then at Clayton Homes on Business 175 near
the junior high from 1:45 to 3:45 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome.
On Saturday, Aug. 21, the mobile unit will be in the City of Tool from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m..
Then the following Saturday, Sept. 4, the bloodmobile will be at the Seven Points
Brookshire’s parking lot from 1 to 4 p.m.
For other times and dates, please visit www.carter bloodcare.org or call 1 (800) DONATE-4
(800-366-2834).
Potential donors can be 16 years old with a parent’s consent; 17-year-olds may donate
independently and there is no upper age limit for donating blood.
All donors must weigh at least 110 pounds, be in good general health and present a photo
ID.
Ideally, a donor should also eat a good meal and drink plenty of fluids before giving
blood.
Carter BloodCare’s volunteer donors provide lifesaving blood for patients at more
than 200 health care facilities in 56 counties in North, Central and East Texas.
Carter BloodCare is the largest not-for-profit 501(c) (3) community blood center in Texas
and is accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks, licensed by the Food and
Drug Administration and is a member of America’s Blood Centers.
Come Adopt Us At
The Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake |
 The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small
change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and
so on. My name is Domino, and I got my name not only because I’m black and white like
a domino tile, but also because my outgoing, cheerful personality causes my doggie
roommates to smile. This also causes our human friends to smile, which even causes the
kitties in the cat room to smile.
I am an 8-month-old male Pointer/Terrier mix. I love children, other dogs, and even get
along great with kitties. I’ve had all my shots and am ready to be adopted. If
you’d like to experience the domino effect, I am sure to put a forever smile on your
face when you take me to my forever home.
I currently live with a foster family, so if you would like to meet me, call my friends at
the Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake at (903) 432-3422 to make an appointment. You can
also email them at dogshsccl@yahoo.com.
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We have many animals at
the
Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake in Seven Points
in dire need of a good home.
Please call or stop by the Humane Society today
and rescue one of these forgotten animals.
The Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake is located on
10220 County Road 2403 in Seven Points.
For more information, please call (903) 432-3422 after 11 a.m.
We are closed on Wednesday and Sunday. |
For further information visit our
website at petfinder.com |
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