Rains County Leader (Emory, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 18, 1995 Page: 14 of 18
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Commissioners Court - continued
na do is just go over what I’ve
presented to you. If you have
any questions or any com-
ments, I’d like to hear them.
Eventually I’m gonna try to get
this run in the paper so we can
get more people thinking about
it, because if there’s something
that I’ve overlooked that would
be a problem with the idea, I’d
like to know about it. The
more people we’ve got looking
at it, maybe we can find those
things.”
7ne following is the informa-
tion Willis presented to the
commissioners:
Proposed Method of Using
the Rains County Permanent
School Fund for Facilities
Construction:
County permanent school
funds had their beginning as a
grant to the counties from the
Republic of Texas for the ben-
efit of public education. Rains
County is one of just a few
counties that still has a county
permanent school fund. Laws
that govern the use of perma-
nent school funds state that the
county commissioners court
administer the fund. Principal
from the fund can only be used
for permanent improvements,
and the available school fund
(interest from the principal)
will go to the school annually.
Several times in the past the
county permanent school fund
has been used for various con-
struction projects and bonded
debt payments. At present, the
RCPSF is made up of over six
million dollars in investments,
is growing from mineral in-
come, and generates interest
income from investments that
goes to the school to help fund
their budget.
Usually, the use of the coun-
ty school fund to fund con-
struction and bond payments
has created controversy and
hard feelings between the
court, school board and citi-
zens within the county. This
happens because we are equal-
ly divided between three
schools of thought on the use
of the permanent school fund,
and most citizens stand very
firm in their position. Follow-
ing are the three major divi-
sions as I see them:
(1) Those who are not inter-
ested in preserving the fund
and believe all construction
should be funded from it. They
also believe if we don’t spend
it, the state will take it.
^(2) Those who think that
part of the fund should be pre-
served and that part of the ftmd
can be spent now for facilities.
(3) Those who think that all
of the fund should be preserved
and only the available school
fund used.
We are approaching a point
in time where it will be possi-
ble to use -the county perma-
nent school fund to finance
construction in a different way
and satisfy almost all the con-
cerns of the three major views
identified above. Hopefully,
this written explanation will
convey the basic principles of
this proposal. Please give this
idea careful consideration. If
there are problems you can
identify with this method,
please let me know. Hopefully,
together we can find a solution
to them.
WHAT WILL THE
PLAN DO?
1. Provide low-cost financ-
ing for needed facilities at the
school.
2. Preserve the county per-
manent school fund.
3. Will provide a form of
protection for part of the fund
should the state try to take it in-
to the state school funds.
4. Can be used as a model
for financing future construc-
tion projects at school for years
to come.
5. Improve the working rela-
tionship between the court and
school board through written
agreements and long-term
planning.
6. Satisfy the concerns citi-
zens have historically raised.
a. It preserves the perma-
nent school fund for future stu-
dents.
b. It will use the fund to
provide adequate facilities for
today’s students.
c. Will save the taxpayer
money through no finance
costs.
WHAT IS THE PLAN?
The plan can be thought of
as borrowing money from
yourself. Basically, the county
commissioners court will agree
to use the county permanent
school fund to finance con-
struction. The school board
will agree to pay the amount of
money used from the perma-
nent school fund back to the
fund. No interest will be charg-
ed or paid for the use of the
money.
WHY IS NOW
A GOOD TIME?
During the 1997-98 school
year the school district will
make the last large bond pay-
ment on .the new elementary
school and high school, about
$500,000. The next year they
will make the final payment on
the high school. That year the
payment will be about *30,000.
After that payment, everything
will be paid for and money will
be available to pay back the
permanent school fund.
HOW MUCH MONEY
CAN BE SAVED?
If this method of financing
had been used on the last bond
issue, the school district tax-
ayers would have saved
1,605,233.33 in interest over
the eleven years of payments.
This could have lowered the
annual bond payment by about
$146,000, which amounts to
about 5.5 cents on the tax rate.
At the end of the payments, the
permanent school ftmd would
have just as much money in it
as it would have had if it had
never been used.
WHAT ARE THE
DRAWBACKS?
There will be some loss to
the available school fund, but
that will be offset by savings
on interest that would have
been paid out. This loss will
decrease annually ak money is
paid back into the permanent"
school fund and is reinvested.
IS THIS LEGAL?
Judge Fleming and Dr. Har-
rison have read the laws con-
cerning the permanent school
fund and asked their legal ad-
visors. So far no one has iden-
tified any legal reason why we
can’t do this. Dr. Harrison in-
dicates that their problems will
be in adjusting their funds for
tax rate purposes.
HOW CAN WE BE SURE
BOTH ENTITIES WILL
ABIDE BY THE
AGREEMENT?
I would recommend that a
contract or written agreement
be drawn up with detailed de-
scriptions for use of the money
and a time table for repayment.
This agreement should be ap-
proved by both boards at a le-
gal meeting.
HOW CAN THE
VOTERS HAVE INPUT?
After the court and the
school board have agreed on
the project and the terms of the
repayment, make those ar-
rangements known to the pub-
lic, fully describing all aspects.
Then, if thought necessary,
hold public hearings on the
matter and let the public have
input, or hold a non-binding
referendum in conjunction
with another election to poll
the opinion of the voter.
AN EXAMPLE OF
HOW IT WOULD WORK:
Suppose it is decided that a
building is needed. Let’s say
the cost for planning and con-
struction is one million dollars.
It has been determined that
most of the public want this fa-
cility. The money for construc-
tion is taken out of the perma-
nent school fund, and construc-
tion is begun. In the agree-
ment, the school district will
pay back the fund in four
$250,000 payments, the first
one due in 1998. In the year
2001 the building will be paid
for, the permanent fund has not
lost any money, and the school
is making payments that are
half of their current payment.
Willis concluded, “That is
all I have. And like I say,
I’m on the agenda tonight at the
school board. I’ve given them
a copy of this. I’m gonna pre-
sent the same thing there, but
I’ve thought of this, and every-
body I’ve talked to said it
seemed too simple, and that
may be why it’s never been
tried before. It seems too sim-
ple. But I’ll entertain any ques-
tions about this.”
Comm. Briggs asked, “This
wouldn’t give the school the
incentive to build more build-
ings whether they actually need
them or not, would it?”
Willis: “I can’t speak for the
school. I don’t know what kind
of influence it would have on
them.”
Comm. Potts: “What kind
of building are we talking
about?”
Comm. Bishop: “He’s talk-
ing about saving interest.”
Comm. Potts: "I know what
he’s talking about.”
Willis: “Let me make this
clear. I’m not here pushing a
building. I’m not going to the
school board tonight and tell
them we need to build a build-
ing. I’m gonna say ‘if we ever
build any, this would be a way
that we could finance it.’ ”
Comm. Bishop: “Let me
say what you are gonna be
gaining here is by not paying
any big interest, the school.
The negative is the money you
loan them won’t be drawing
any interest, and the school
gets the interest took off
state.”
Comm. Briggs: “Comm.
Bishop, you won’t be drawing
any interest, but yet the school
won’t be paying a higher rate
of interest.”
Willis: “Normally when
you borrow money you’re gon-
na pay more interest than you
will get if you invest it.”
Comm. Potts: “The court
has in the past used the perma-
nent school money for bonded
indebtedness and different
things like that collect interest
on it.”
Willis: “Each time you do
that, there’s a lot of people
jump up, there’s a lot of differ-
ences. What I was trying to do
is find a way we could do, if
we could do it, preserve per-
manent school funds and still
save ourselves money for fi-
nancing. If we have buildings
out there-you know if we have
needs as far as building-we’ll
know a way that we can back
them.”
Comm. Potts: “You did say
too, a while ago, that all the in-
terest that came off that does
go to the school.”
Willis: “That’s right. What
I’m trying to do is get away
from fees and what-have-you
in selling bonds. But I think it’s
something that could work, it’s
just gonna take a little coopera-
tion. Everybody’s gonna have
to understand what’s required.
I appreciate your time. Just put
it on the back burner. Some
time, if it ever comes up, just
say, ‘Well, somebody men-
tioned something about that.
Let’s see if we can do this.’ ”
Comm. Potts: “Mike, you
did a good job.”
Willis: “Thank you.”
The court then discussed the
matter of looking at a road in
Hide-A-Way Estates, Precinct
3, to determine if it will be-
come a county road.
Comm. Bishop: “That’s off
Hwy. 19 where Coon devel-
oped. About a year ago we was
out there. He met the county
specs then. There’s really no
traffic on it, but it’s my under-
standing the court has to look
at it again and approve the road
for its final approval. I have no
problem with the road as it is.
It’s in good shape; there hasn’t
been any traffic on it. It’s like
most of mine right now. It
could use shredding, but really
as far as the road bed itself and
the thickness of ther material,
it’s there;and I have no prob-
lem with the road becoming a
county road because it has met
all of its specs and is in good
shape.”
Comm. Potts: “And the
court djd look at it.”
Comm. Bishop: “Yes, the
court did. What I mean, we did
go down with post-hole dig-
gers and checked the depth of
die rock, and it’s six to eight
inches, you know, and it’s
plenty wide, and he’s got his
slope. If we accept the road,
I’m gonna have to come up
with a road number and I guess
get me a sign, and then I can
legally start working the road.
But it’s in good shape right
now. I would make a motion
that we go ahead and accept it,
but if we don’t, I’ll need to get
on the agenda. I’ve got some
people who are wanting to
build new houses. I would like
to get this approved at the next
meeting and get them on the
tax roll.”
It was the consensus of the
court that each commissioner
would go and look at the road
before the next regular meet-
ing.
Tom Oliver, delinquent tax
attorney, addressed the court
concerning property that has
been offered for sale three-
times for back taxes, has been
termed as distressed property,
and hasn’t sold. “Thcapprais-
al district board wanted to get
authority, if they got a bid, so
they could move fast-any type
of bid-to have the authority to
resell those properties just
through their own action. And
what we’ll be doing basically is
delegating that authority to the
appraisal district board. When
I came here before, we had a
different tax collection situa-
tion and I thought that might
change the way this board or
even the fire district board
might think about it. Of
course, I dealt with the fire dis-
trict board last Thursday and
explained all that to them, and
they still wanted to delegate
that authority or the properties
that they had jurisdiction over
to the appraisal district board.
Now understand there are
about 30 properties, but they
were just asking for delegation
of the distressed properties.”
Judge Fleming: “This is the
one of the properties sold for
about $4,000?”
Oliver: “Oh, okay, I’m
sorry. Have you all moved on
that other one now?”
Judge Fleming: “I haven’t
seen it.”
Oliver: “I think you did ear-
lier. I’m sorry. Yeah, this is
the one that’s been bid $4,000.
That’s less than what the mini-
mum bid was at the time. This
is a property that the house is
run down. It generated a larger
amount of taxes when the
house was in good shape. And
we just don’t believe it will
ever bring a higher bid than
this. And this man bid that and
part of the agreement was that
he was gonna tear down the
house. It has no value, it’s an
eyesore.”
The court voted unanimous-
ly to approve the purchase of
property sold for back taxes.
The court then discussed ap-
pointing two people to the
Rains County Child Protective
Services Board.
Judge Fleming: “We re-
ceived notice last week that
there were two openings com-
ing up June 1, 1995.”
After some discussion, the
court voted unanimously to ta-
ble this matter until the next
regular meeting.
The matter of approving a
resolution supporting legisla-
tion for county hotel/motel tax
came to the attention of the
court.
Judge Fleming: “This reso-
lution is in your stuff today.
We hear a lot about tourism,
people coming into the county.
There are hotels/motels here
.now. In the state of Texas,
there are seven things you have
to do to qualify to charge a ho-
tel/motel tax. The people that
brought this to my attention are
owners of these hotel/motels.
It doesn’t cost them anything,
it doesn’t cost anyone who
lives here anything. I think it’s
a quarter of a cent, and such a
small amount that the guest
doesn’t notice it on the bill.
And they had suggested we do
this. Well, I looked at it and
found out you have to meet one
of seven qualifications to be
able to charge this tax. Number
one, be over two million in
your county, or be a border of
the republic of Mexico and
have less than 5,000 in ob-
servatory, or be a county of
less than 72,000 and have a
Class II race track. These are
major order pieces of legisla-
tion. Next,I talked to Rep. Pat-
terson and Senator Cain, and
there was an idea to get Rains
County so that we would meet
a qualification. We would add
an eighth qualification. At the
time that we discussed this
qualification, the deadline for
the bills had already been filed
this session. Senator Cain and
staff got to work on it. They
found a bill they could add this
to so that it could go through
this session instead of having
to wait two years to do it. But
they need a resolution from the
commissioners court support-
ing that effort, and that’s
what’s on your agenda today.”
Motion was made, seconded
and passed unanimously to ap-
prove the resolution supporting
this legislation.
The matter of approving a
personnel policy came to the
attention of the court.
Judge Fleming: “This is
what you went through the last
time except for those few
changes. There wasn’t much
changes, just those that had to
be changed to meet the labor
laws. We had no choice on
that. It’s not going to change
anything really. It just goes in-
to effect, and we have some-
thing in writing to back up.
Our problem right now is that
we have nothing in writing as
far as personnel policy, which
makes us gray risk area.”
Motion carried unanimously
to approve the personnel pol-
icy.
In the matter of approving
the COPS grant received for
hiring of a deputy, Sheriff
Richard Wilson addressed the
court. Wilson stated that he ap-
plied for a three-year federal
grant of $61,524, and the fed-
eral government has awarded
this grant but the commission-
ers have to approve it. The
court voted unanimously to ap-
prove the COPS grant received
for hiring a deputy.
The matter of rescinding the
second tax collection contract
with the appraisal district came
to the attention of the court.
A motion was made by
Potts, seconded by Roberts not
to rescind the second contract
with the appraisal district. Mo-
tion failed with Roberts and
Potts voting aye; Bishop,
Briggs and Fleming voting
nay.
A motion was made by
Briggs, seconded by Bishop to
rescind the second contract
with the appraisal district. Mo-
tion carried with Bishop,
Briggs and Fleming voting
aye; Potts and Roberts voted
nay.
The court then voted to hire
Tom Oliver as the county’s de-
linquent tax attorney.
Billy Medders addressed the
court concerning coyote con-
trol in Rains County. No action
was taken.
Mary Jo Eddy addressed the
court regarding the need for
land for NETO for a multi-pur-
pose center. The court voted
unanimously to deed one acre
to NETO with the stipulation
that all legal aspects are met.
Court recessed for ten min-
utes and reconvened at 11:17
with all members of the court
present.
The court voted unanimous-
ly to approve the warrants au-
thorizing payment of accounts.
OUT WITH THE BEST, and in good company! Pictured with retiring elementary principal,
Emery Cathey, and retiring teacher, AnnZene Cathey, is one of the 1983-84 first grade classes,
which is part of our 1995 graduating class. Left to right, back row, Clint Traylor, Joshua Stanley,
Toni Mattem, Charles Hopkins, Monica Robinson, Brad Alcorn, Terry Day, Ronnie ?. Third
row, Nathan Bay, Zack Griffin, Kristy Childers, Brian Davenport, Kevin Wright, Angela Harvey,
Mike Whitten, Daniel Clayton. Second row, Melody Hill, Kara Kile, Rachel Hendley, Gary Don
Smith, Jesse ?, Kevin Gaby, William Chesser. Front row, Dixie Hathcoat, Swan Klump, Amy
Fenter, Virgil Ransom, and Billy Hickman. The Cathey’s were there when this class started out,
and they are leaving “in good company,” as this fine class leaves good ol’ RHS. All of thej
students pictured aren’t attending Rains School at this time, and some that are attending now were r
in other first grade classes at that time, but we wish the ’95 graduates and the Cathey’s the best!,
photo courtesy of Nancy Fenter,
RISD ELEMENTARY TEACHERS 1983-84—Pictured left to right, bottom row: EmeryIJ
Cathey, Charlotte Rabe, Nelda Slatter, Suzy Chancellor, Hilda Ellison, Bonnie Williams, Jackie '
Rhodes, i^da Sue Northcutt; second row: Faye (Beeler) Horn, Laveme (Shipp) Graham, Lynn'f'
Wilemon, Lou Ann Greene, Carolyn Potts, Marsha Short, Sherri Wright, Anita Steger; third row: j
AnnZene Cathey, Mary Lou Bruner, Lana Spinks, Betty Holman, MayBeth (Kerr) McMahan, i
Karen Mays and Catherine (Floyd) Hively. Photo contributed1
_ _ _a
MORE SCHOOL NEWS
7th GRADE SCIENCE PROJECT WINNERS left to right: Nathanael Harper, Honorable Men!
tion; Jennifer Megason, Honorable Mention. School photo
4Lr* -I
u *v
\ | 411
!L
7th GRADE SCIENCE PROJECT WINNER-Ryan Hilbrand,
Honorable Mention. School photo
Recreation is nothing but a
change of work - an occupation
for the hands by those who live
by their brains, or for the
brains by those who live by
their hands.
Dorothy Thompson
Dad says he has a new hob-
by. He collects debts.
-Nonnee Coan
*****
Psychiatrists who tell parents
to spend more time with their
children may be simply trying
to drum up more business.
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Becknell, Kathleen Hill. Rains County Leader (Emory, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 18, 1995, newspaper, May 18, 1995; Emory, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth764381/m1/14/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rains County Library.