Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 16, 2007 Page: 1 of 22
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Thursday, August 16, 2007
PORT ARANSAS ?X 78373-«28
750
ltd aransas
lal
Vol. 37 No. 33
Port Aransas, Texas on Mustang Island
946-020
THIS EDITI
Island Focus
Marina projects
Fish cleaners will be moved
from the boat ramps under a
proposal to revamp the city
harbor.
Page 1B
Island Youth
School days
4 fc 4
Mm Na Oo Pp C
I k: r>"i '-V.
Though teachers aren't due
back in classrooms until
Monday, Aug. 20, some
are getting a head start as
school is set to begin Aug.
27.
Page 7A-9A
Island Outdoors
'Reel' happy!
Great catches offshore and in
shallow waters are keeping
anglers 'reel' happy.
Page 10-11A
south jetty newspaper plu#
°00000 09809 0
No need to boil water
Port Aransas supply safe to drink
By Mary Henkel Judson
South Jetty editor
The water in Port Aransas is safe to drink.
A boil water notice issued, Tuesday, Aug.
14, by the City of Corpus Christi does not
affect customers of the Nueces County Wa-
ter Control and Improvement District No.
4, which supplies water to Port Aransas and
Mustang Island south to the Corpus Christi
Fire Station.
Water district superintendent Mark Young
called the Texas Commission on Environmen-
tal Quality (TCEQ) upon receiving the boil
water notice Tuesday afternoon, "and they
claim we are not involved. Our sampling has
been satisfactory, and we are not involved in
the boil notice."
While Port Aransas water is safe to drink, it
may have a strong odor and taste of chlorine
- and it may take on a pink hue.
The water district switched to a free-chlo-
rine process from a chlorine-ammonia treat-
ment on the recommendation of the TCEQ,
water district manager Mary Moss said.
Adding ammonia reduces the smell and taste
of chlorine, Moss explained.
Residents may refrigerate water or put it in
a jug and shake it to help dissipate the taste
and smell or chlorine, Moss said.
The water district buys most of its water
from the City of Corpus Christi where low
water usage resulted when residents did not
water lawns thanks to heavy rainfall in July.
That rendered chlorine treatments ineffective
in fighting bacteria. Since the water district
has its own chlorination facilities at each
pump station, chlorine has been added here to
compensate. The district also added ammonia
to the mix.
However, late last week the TCEQ recom-
mended that Port Aransas and other com-
munities that buy water from Corpus Christi
discontinue adding ammonia and go to the
free chlorine treatment process.
Moss said the amount of chlorine in Port
Aransas water has remained consistent. The
lack of ammonia, however, may have resi-
dents thinking there is more chlorine in the
water because of the stronger smell and taste
of the chemical.
Chain buys out pharmacy
CVS has no plans
to open store here
By Mary Henkel Judson
South Jetty editor
The nation's largest pharmacy chain has
bought out the pharmacy in Port Aransas and
has no plans to replace it.
So, as of Tuesday, Aug. 21, Port Aransas will
be without a pharmacy.
Bob Mueller, owner/pharmacist at Port "A"
Pharmacy, said a representative of the CVS phar-
macy chain "showed up a couple of months ago
and made a proposal to me that, economically, I
could not justify not taking."
"We've been suffering from decreasing insur-
ance reimbursements. It's gotten worse over the
last year, and it will get worse," Mueller said.
Mueller said support from the community was
not the issue. Instead, he said, "It's a matter of the
changing business climate within the pharmacy
industry due to insurance reimbursement."
Initially, 60 percent of the Port "A" Pharmacy
customer base had prescription coverage. Today,
85 percent of the customers have prescription
cards.
"Reimbursement rates are consistently drop-
ping. It costs the patient more, and we get paid
considerably less," Mueller said.
CVS pharmacies face the same dilemma, but
because of the size and scope of the corporation,
"they have access to revenue strains through
the drug companies that independents don't. In
laymen's terms, they buy in bigger volume and
have more clout in dealing with insurance and
drug companies," Mueller said.
As of Tuesday morning, Aug. 21, Port "A"
Pharmacy customers' prescriptions will exist
in the computer bank at the CVS pharmacy on
Padre Island at the corner of Park Ro^d 22 and
Commodore (at the south end of the "Island
Road"). Customers may have their prescriptions
filled at that pharmacy or have the pharmacy
transfer them to their pharmacy of choice. Con-
tact the Padre Island CVS at (361) 949-4894.
After Monday, Mueller says he will stay here,
do some fishing and work just enough to keep
his license active.
See 'PHARMACY,' PAGE 3A
\
MRS
if p g
.jmm
wiiiiliaftia
■
Letting them know Staff photo by Ph.l Reynolds
The Weather Channel meteorologist Jeff Morrow, center, interviews Port Aransas City
Manager Michael Kovacs on the air live from Roberts Point Park on Tuesday, Aug.
14, as cameraman John Garza aims the lens. The interview came as a tropical wave
in the Gulf of Mexico was forming into Tropical Storm Erin. Erin was forecast to make
landfall at Corpus Christi sometime Thursday, Aug. 16. Erin is expected to generate
high tides and rain through Friday, Aug. 17, with some isolated thunderstorms lingering
on Saturday, Aug. 18.
City, school cmnch numbers
City proposes lower tax rate
Church
Pastor s pen... ................. 4a
Islahd Life
City council agenda-
6A
Columnists
•Tony Amos
•••a - "1 2jA '
Law enforcement
Stars & Stripes 6A
Youth
School board agenda
9A
School supply list.....
8A
New student registration ... 7A
Opinion
Dave McNeely ....
3 A
Steve Martaindale
3A
Mary Henkel Judson .
3A
Cactus Pryor.... -
3A
Outdoors
Fishing report ...........
.... 10A
Tides
.... 10A
.... 10A
Classified
Classified ads.....
.5-10B
By Phil Reynolds
South Jetty reporter
Expect to pay about $22 more in city prop-
erty taxes this year, if your home is valued at
$275,000.
That's the bottom line from the increased
property valuations imposed by the county ap-
praisal district, more taxes from new properties
coming on line and a proposed drop in the city's
tax rate.
(Actually, the average appraised value of a
home in Port Aransas is $237,377, but the city
uses the $275,000 value for ease in comput-
ing.)
City Manager Michael Kovacs will ask the
city council on Tuesday, Sept. 4, to set the city's
tax rate at 28.577 cents per $100 valuation,
down from the current rate of 29.7 cents per
$100 valuation.
Even so, Kovac's budget for next year projects
expenditures of $25,524,946. That's up $8.9
million from this year's estimated expenditures
See 'CITY BUDGET,' PAGE 4A
School eyes drop in tax rate
By Dan Parker
South Jetty reporter
The Port Aransas Independent School District
is set to possibly lower its tax rate by about 34
cents.
PAISD Superintendent Billy Wiggins said he
will recommend to the Board of Trustees that
the rate be set at $1.05838 per $100 valuation.
That's about 34 cents less than last year's rate
- partly because of requirements in House Bill 1,
passed last year, Wiggins said. It's also because
appraised property values in Port Aransas have
mm
M
Staff photo by Phil Reynolds
Proud angler
Dylan Hines, 8 (left) gets the light end of the 27.76-pound king mackerel he caught during the Capt. Hope Devlin Fishing Tournament on
Saturday, Aug. 11. Helping with the holding are Alex Defily, 9, and Colton Roach, 8. Guide for the expedition was Monty Montgomery.
More tournament photos and results on Page 11 A.
gone up again, which means it doesn't take such
a high tax rate for the school district to make
bond payments, he said.
The average market value of a home in PAISD
was $201,623, according to school district ad-
ministration. This year, it's $243,707.
While total the school district's total revenue
was $17,476,600 last year, it's projected to be
about $16,516,780 this year.
Wiggins said trustees will hold a public hear-
See 'SCHOOL BUDGET,' PAGE 4A
Interference
is denied by
city officials
By Phil Reynolds
South Jetty reporter
City officials say reports of a city employee
quitting because of undue interference from city
council members is "nonsense."
"Under no uncertain terms will I ever give
a (city) employee a directive," said Mayoi:
Claude Brown, when asked about the cityY
policy regarding direct management by council
members.
"If (city employees) are leaving, they either
have problems they haven't dealt with, or they
see some problem upcoming," Brown said. |
The employee, who asked that his name and
position not be revealed, said council members
violated the city charter "by questioning ... city
employees directly."
See 'INTERFERENCE,' PAGE 4A
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Judson, Mary Henkel. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 16, 2007, newspaper, August 16, 2007; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth409946/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.