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Weekly Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Monday, July 12, 2004
Board told turf, gym projects on schedule
By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer
Installation of the new artificial turf football field is back on
track at the Pecos High School football field and completion date has
been set for the first week of August.
“Last week, we had a couple of issues come up, but they got it
back on track now,” said architect Monte Hunter during Thursday’s
Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD board meeting.
Hunter said that they would begin installing the actual turf
beginning today. The installation is part of a $517,000 project to put
in new turf and resurface the track at Eagle Stadium.
“If all goes according to plan they’ll be installing that for
the next three weeks,” said Hunter. “Then we’ll have a meeting with
(engineer) Jeff Bresee and everybody else and check they’re grades and
inspect they drainage system to make sure they’re doing it right,” he
said.
The field is one of two major projects involving athletics by
P-B-T ISD this summer. Construction of the new gym and installation of
doors at Austin Elementary School is going along great, according to
Hunter. “They’re doing a great job, this is the same company that did the work at Crockett Middle School,” he said.
This will be the first time the first through third grade campus
has had a gymnasium. Athletic periods during bad weather in the past
have been held inside the school’s cafeteria or in the hallways. Completion of the $427,000 gym is projected by the start of school in mid-August.
“You’ve already approved the most important doors that will be
replaced at Austin, but there are some doors that are not used as much
that we will be installing as well,” said Hunter.
“Those will be put in this summer,” he said.
In other action last Thursday, board members listened to a report on the Summary of Finances for the school year 2004-2005.
“It will be a little bit less this year, because we have less
people, less students,” said interim superintendent Wayne Mitchell.
Finance director Cookie Canon went over the proposed budget and possible tax rate.
“There are a few numbers not in the budget, those are E-rate
numbers,” said Canon. “There are a few things that were asked for as
well,” she said.
Canon said that the high school cheerleader program had
requested an assistant for the cheerleader sponsor. “She’s also in
charge of the DECA program and we need to pay someone to back her up
when she’s not available,” she said.
There was an additional request for more UIL activities. “Those are not reflected here,” said Canon.
Canon said that they would be working on preparing the 2004-05
school budget based on using a 94 percent collection tax rate. “That’s
what we’ve been using in the past,” she said.
The counselors have requested a copy machine and Crockett Middle School requested more sponsors.
“We’ve put all the sports under scouting, where before we just
had football,” said Canon, referring to funding out-of-town scout trips
for coaches in other sports.
Food service loss is coming down and Canon said that there would be $62,000 that would be needed for the new phones.
“The first year there is no cost, for the new IP Phones, but after that there is,” she said.
Canon said that they have until Aug. 31 to adopt the budget.
“We need to be prepared at least 10 days before,” she said.
Next week the group will take action on the proposed tax rate, according to Mitchell.
Tax assessor/collector Lydia Prieto told the group that they had not received the values yet.
“That calendar can be amended if we don’t get those values,” said Mitchell.
Cafeteria guidelines and prices were discussed.
Food services director Helen Miller said that the price of milk would go up from 30 cents to 35 cents.
“The price of milk has been fluctuating so much, if we raise it just a little bit we at least won’t lose,” she said.
Board members approved renewing the election coordinator’s contract.
“This is a contract that has been in effect and just needs to
renewed each year,” said Mitchell. “The election coordinator is Debbie
Thomas.”
“She always does a really good job,” said Canon.
The group also approved Lydia Prieto as the officer to calculate
the tax rate and appointed Crissy Martinez as the board delegate for
the 2004 Texas Association of School Boards and Bubba Williams as
alternate.
Foreclosed property bids were approved including one at 1321 S. Oak St.
“This lady had been renting this house and it was at auction,
but she didn’t have the money for the minimum bid at the time,” said
Prieto. “The tax attorney told her she could continue to live in the
home and then come bid on it later since it didn’t sell.”
Prieto said that the woman and her husband had been renting the
house, but that the owner had not paid the taxes on it, which is why it
was being sold at auction.
“Now she’s bidding $1,000 on the home and is not a delinquent
tax payer,” said Prieto. “I will never present a bid to you from a
delinquent tax payer,” she said.
The board approved that bid from Mary Y. Matta, along with some
others, including one for property at 410 E. Third Street, which is the
home of Pete’s Body Shop.
“The appraised value is $19,680 and the bid is for $1,000,” said Prieto.
The group accepted the bid from Randall Blount.
Board members approved a property bid for property located at
2305 Lindsay Street in the Lindsay addition. The bid was for $800 from
Magaly Pando.
City's July tax rebate shows slight rise
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
Sales tax receipts again were virtually unchanged for another month
in Pecos, according to figures released last week by State Comptroller
Carole Keeton Rylander’s office. But the tax rebate check for July was
up by almost 10 percent for the Reeves County Hospital District, and up
by almost 375 percent in Balmorhea, according to the comptroller’s
report.
Pecos received $64,560 for the month, based on sales made
within the city limits in May. That total is only $20 different than
the check sent out last year, when Pecos received $64,540. The numbers
have been almost the same for the city throughout the first half of
2004, though overall Pecos’ tax rebates are up 3.37 percent for the
first seven months, at $450,164, compared with $435,737 last year.
All taxing entities within Reeves County are up in their sales
tax collections for the year, with Balmorhea showing the biggest jump,
thanks to a check this month for $3,629. That’s compared with the $770
check the city received last July, and represented a 371 percent
increase.
The jump of nearly $2,900 makes up the bulk of Balmorhea’s
$3,900 increase for the first seven months of the year. The city has
gotten $9,515 back from Austin, a 69.4 percent increase.
Toyah’s check for $455 this month was down 7.07 percent from
last year’s $490, but overall, the $3,080 the city has gotten over the
past seven months is still 13.76 percent better than a year ago.
The Reeves County Hospital District’s check for July as it’s
1/2-cent share of the state sales tax was $27,646, which was 9.91
percent better than last July’s $25,151. Overall, the hospital has
gotten back $190,555 so far this year, which is up 3.27 percent from a
year ago.
Two cents out of the state’s 8 1/4-cent sales tax that is paid
by Pecos, Balmorhea and Toyah residents is returned to the local
economy. The combined city and hospital rebate on the 2-cent local
sales tax this month was $92,186. Of the city’s 1 1/2 cent sales tax,
one sixth of that, or $10,757, goes to fund operations of the Pecos
Economic Development Corp.
Other area communities reported mixed results for their July
rebate checks. Fort Stockton got $128,589 back for its 2-cent sales
tax, up 4.74 percent; Crane, which received $25,753 on its 1 1/2 cent
tax, a 6.2 percent increase; Van Horn, which got $33,028 back from
Austin on its 1.75 cent tax, up 41.1 percent; Wink, which received
$3,352 on its 1-cent tax, up 33.86 percent; and Presidio, which got
back $22,267 on its 2-cent tax, up .95 percent.
As with Pecos, Monahans’ July check was virtually unchanged,
though its total was down slightly from last year. The city’s 2-cent
sales tax brought in $71,010, which was down two-tenths of a percent
from last year’s $71.158. Monahans also is up almost the same as Pecos
for the year, at 3.22 percent. Alpine also was slightly on the down
side, but almost unchanged; its $64,446 check on a 1 1/2-cent sales tax
was $53 less than a year ago, a drop of .08 percent.
Andrews’ check for its 1-cent sales tax gave that city a
$61,538 rebate, down 8.25 percent from a year ago; Big Spring’s
$305,758 check on its 2-cent sales tax was down 3.06 percent; Marfa’s
check for $14.215 on its 1.75-cent sales tax was 10.38 percent below
last year, and Kernit’s check for $25,021 on its one cent sales tax was
down 6.94 percent.
The area’s two biggest cities, Midland and Odessa also reported
mixed results for the month . Midland had the largest check in the
area, at $1.57 million on its 1 1/2-cent sales tax, which was up 1.15
percent, while Odessa got $1.15 million back on its 1.25-percent sales
tax, which was down 1.22 percent. Statewide tax rebates to cities and counties came to just over
$214 million for July, an increase of 2.69 percent. Houston’s $25.9
million check was the largest in the state and 5.34 percent about last
July, while Dallas had the second-largest check, for $13.8 million, an
8.7 percent increase.
Balmorhea holiday parade winners announced
A parade, free hotdogs and lemonade and games were just a part of
the activities enjoyed by many during the Third Annual Fourth of July
Celebration in Downtown Balmorhea.
Keep Balmorhea Beautiful sponsored the third annual event
celebration, which was held on Saturday, July 3 and began with a parade
Grand marshals for the special event were Manuel and Sylvia
Mendoza, in honor of their son, Jerry Ray Mendoza, who died while
serving in the U.S. Marines.
Other events included free hotdogs and lemonade, games and a baking contest.
Winners of all the events in the parade included: best decorated
bike, first place- Ryan Mondragon, second place - Justin Ramos and
third place - Maribel Rodriguez.
Best decorated horse: first place - Isaiah Mendoza, second place - Mario Martinez and third place, Daniel Vasquez.
Best decorated wagon: first place - Elizabeth Mendoza and second place, Cielo Iniquez III.
Best decorated scooter: first place Joshua Matta.
Best decorated skater: first place - Victoria Salcido.
Balloon toss winner was Ryan Mondragon and Angel Inguez won the duck race.
In the baking contest, Ernestina Castillo placed first in the pies section and second place went to Diana Renz.
In the cakes division: first place - Kyle Wardlow and second place - Jackie Wardlow.
Cobblers winner was Rosie Mondragon in first place.
Even the men got involved with a balloon toss of their own, according to organizers of the event.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2003-04 by Pecos Enterprise
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