Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 21, 2002 Page: 1 of 38
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Area teams
advance
See Enterprise Sports
Polk County
Volume 120 Number 15
v
The Dominant News and Advt
Thursday
1
Feb.21,2002
UPS 437-340 Price: 50 cents
New travel trailer tax
has unintended effect
By EMILY BANKS
News Editor
LIVINGSTON - Approved in
ihc November constitutional
amendment election, Proposition
14 was supposed to provide a tax
exemption for travel trailer owners
to prevent double taxation. How-
ever, subsequent re-write of the tax
code has had just the opposite ef-
fect and many Texas counties that
never before taxed travel trailers
are now being directed to do so.
What has probably raised the
most ire is that explanations of the
proposed amendment led voters to
believe they were voting for an
exemption, not a new tax.
Authored by Rio Grande Valley
lawmakers State Rep. Kino Flores
and State Sen. F.ddie Lucio, the bill
was supposed to exempt travel
trailers from personal property
taxation. However, poorly written
language in the legislation has re-
sulted in the opposite.
Supported statewide by 52.1
percent of voters in last Novem-
ber's constitutional amendment
election, the amendment uninten-
tionally mandates school districts to
tax travel trailers for the first time.
Proposition 14 was supposed to
amend the Texas Constitution to
allow the legislature to authorize a
taxing unit - other than a school
district - to exempt travel trailers,
as defined by lawmakers, from ad
valorem taxes.
According to the Valley Morn-
ing Star, Lucio was quoted as say-
ing, “The legislation was intended
to help Valley businesses by at-
tracting out-of-state tourists, like
our Winter Texans, who contribute
greatly to the economy and the
community. It was never the legis-
lature’s intent to impose a new
tax.”
“The intent was to solve a situa-
tion occurring down in the
McAllen area where some counties
were charging an ad valorem tax
and some weren't," State Rep. Dan
Ellis said When Kino wrote it, he
was trying to solve a problem.
‘There’s a bunch of people, in-
cluding me, who have asked the
governor to intercede,” Ellis said,
adding that although there are pro-
cedures in place to request the gov-
ernor intercede, this situation is a
Board to meet
ONALASKA - An order calling
the May 4 board of directors elec-
tion is on the agenda for the regular
meeting of the Board of Directors
of the Polk County Fresh Water
Supply District No. 2 at 3 p.m. Fri-
day. The board will also appoint
election judges and an alternate
judge for the election.
The financial advisor and bond
council proposals will be opened,
reviewed and selected, as will the
consulting engineer proposals.
Items to be discussed and possi-
bly acted on include the personnel
policy and workers’ compensation
policy, ah addendum to the rate
order, an ad valorem lax on travel
trailers and the March 2002 news-
letter.
Severn Trent Environmental Inc.
will present the operations report
and monthly activity report.
KSA Engineers Inc. will review
wastewater system improvements
and provide an update on Canyon
Park construction and Canyon Park
applications for service.
Bill BI itch with SAMCO Capital
Investments will report on the
Texas Water Development Board
funds and the standby fee applica-
tion.
An executive session is on the
agenda, at which time the board
will discuss personnel issues.
Other items on the agenda in-
clude approval of the financial
statements and adjustments, the
payment ol bills and minutes of the
Ian 16 meeting.
little stickier due to the fact that the
legislation was approved by Texas
citizens in the form-of a constitu-
tional amendment.
“We’re waiting to see what the
governor will do. Right now, it’s up
to the governor, attorney general
and comptroller. The ball’s in their
court to see what we can do,” Ellis
said.
“As designed, it would be up to
the counties and cities,” Ellis said.
“As it turned out, any taxing entity
would have the option and that’s
not what we intended.
“It’s moved pretty far from
what the original intent of the legis-
lation was,” Ellis said.
Members of the local Escapees
RV Club are not happy with the
outcome and concerted efforts are
underway to correct the situation.
“What most voters didn’t real-
ize is that travel trailers in most
Texas counties were not currently
being taxed at all,” Escapees CEO
Cathie Carr said.
“Appraisal districts have now
been directed to begin appraisal of
all travel trailers registered in their
counties. Once these appraisals are
cotnpleted, tax bills will begin ap-
pearing in many surprised Texans’
mailboxes. And we're not talking
about small change here,” Carr
said. “The combination of school
taxes and county taxes will make
that tax bill run about 2 percent of
appraised value. Since some newer
travel trailers can cost as much as
$20,000 to $40,000, that tax bill
could push as high as $800 a year,
or even higher.
Potentially, the new tax could
affect large numbers of people -
not only RV club members, but
deer hunters with trailers at their
deer leases, as well as horse trailers
that include a living space up front.
As it stands now, no travel trailer is
exempt.
“It’s bad enough to have to
shoulder the burden of yet another
tax, but to allow the passage of a
new tax law with a proposition
masquerading as a tax exemption is
intolerable,” Carr said.
Unless stopped, no travel trailer
owner with a rig registered in
Texas will be exempt. The new tax
will be charged on any travel
trailer, regardless of how old or
how small.
The tax code now identifies a
travel trailer as “a house trailer-
type vehicle or a camper trailer,
regardless of whether the vehicle is
affixed to real property, that: is less
than 400 square feet in area, and is
designed primarily for use as tem-
porary living quarters in connection
with recreational, camping, travel
or seasonal use and not as a perma-
nent dwelling.”
See TRAILER pg. 4A
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BUILDING TAKES SHAPE - Steel is going up on the new addition at Livingston Intermediate Schoolantf the"buTFdingTs"on
track to be open by the start of the 2002-2003 school ye^r. Construction of the new building and renovation of existing facilities
on the campus is a $3.7 million endeavor. ■ ’
_____ . ____ „ «.
■ry s' / •»
USD's new building on track for this fall
ENTERPRISE PHOTO BY CORDON LcBARRON
LIVINGSTON - Steel is going
up and the new building on the
Livingston Intermediate School
campus is on track to be in use by
the beginning of the 2002-2003
school year, A construction update
was among the items on the agenda
for Monday’s regular meeting of
the Livingston Independent School
District Board of Trustees.
In other business, the board ap-
proved application for a Telecom-
munication Infrastructure Fund
(TIF) grant. If approved, the district
will receive $44,000 to purchase a
wireless mobile computer lab (lap-
tops) for the junior high. No local
matching funds are required under
the grant program.
A school board election was
formally called for May 4. Three
trustee positions will be filled
through the election, those pres-
ently held by Trustees Corky Ev-
ans, Bea Ellis and Henry Ager.
Filing for a place on the ballot be-
gan Monday and continues through
March 20.
The board appointed Martha
Johnson as election judge and early
voting clerk for the USD election,
with Shirley Crager to serve as
alternate election judge and deputy
early voting clerk. Early voting
starts April 17.
Also gaining board approval was
a class-size waiver request to the
Texas Education Agency. Due to
unanticipated enrollment growth,
two fourth grade classes at Timber
Creek Elementary currently exceed
the state-mandated 22:1 stu-
dent/teacher ratio.
Trustees also approved Local
Policy Update 67 on first reading.
The policy update, received from
the Texas Association of School
Boards, reflects changes made dur-
ing the last legislative session.
In other business, the board ap-
proved an amendment to the 2001-
2002 budget to reflect the use of
student activity funds to purchase
carpet for the junior high training
room, approved proposals for the
purchase of various district supplies
and approved job descriptions for
several Polk County Special Ser-
vices Cooperative positions.
Student overnight trip requests
gaining board approval include a
trip by varsity baseball players to a
tournament in Corpus Christi
March 6-9, high school choir stu-
dents to the Texas Music Educators
Association (TMEA) All-State
Choir concert and convention in
San Antonio Feb. 20-24, high
school band students to the TMEA
All-State Band concert in San An-
tonio Feb. 20-23, and Business
Professionals of America and
DECA members to a state confer-
ence in Houston Feb. 28 through
March 3.
The board tabled action on policy
review recommendations. The rec-
ommendations, which stem from a
policy review seminar held earlier
this year, will be considered at the
board’s next regular meeting.
School bus driver Odell Jackson
addressed the board during the
See CONTRACTS pg. 3A
OISD protesting appraised values
ONALASKA - The Board of
Trustees of the Onalaska Independ-
ent School District opted to protest
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its appraised values for the fourth
year in a row during its regular
meeting Tuesday. The district re-
ceived its 2001 property values at
the beginning of February, which
reflected a $13 million difference
between the state and local ap-
praised values.
An addendum to (he tuition
contract between Onalaska ISD and
Livingston ISD was approved. In
the fall of 2002, the ninth-graders
will stay in Onalaska and in the fall
of 2003, only Onalaska’s seniors
will attend Livingston ISD.
The May 4 school trustee elec-
tion was ordered and the election
calendar was approved.
The board approved the dis-
trict’s technology plan for 2002-
2005 and also approved the rec-
ommendation for textbook adop-
tion from the state-approved pub-
lishers.
Four OISD teachers made a
presentation to the board, request-
ing a district-run day care center.
The board was receptive to the
suggestion and instructed the super-
intendent and business manager to
look into the costs and liability
issues associated with the idea.
Although the board was slated
to consider approval of requesting
bids for site elevations at the high
school site, the item was tabled.
With no one from the Onalaska
Sports Association present at Tues-
day’s meeting, the board took no
action on the association’s request
for use of the gym.
Numerous local policies were
approved by the board, including
DAA, DBA, DEC, EIE, FB, FNCJ
and the second reading of Update
No. 67.
The board accepted offers for
the purchase of the following
county tax foreclosure properties:
Lot 6 of Block 11 of Impala Woods
No. I and Lot 10 of Block 22 of
Impala Woods No. 2. An offer to
purchase Lots 20, 21 and 30 of
Block 3 of Bridgeview was re-
jected. Offers to purchase Lot 45 of
Block 20 of Impala Woods No. 2
and Lot 31 of Block 1 of Impala
Woods No. 3 were tabled.
Following an executive session,
the board accepted the resignations
of Board member Toni Atkinson,
Middle School Principal D’Wana
Bryant and Middle School teacher
Rachael Gogis. The board extended
the contract of Elementary School
Principal Keith Smith by one year,
approved a 10-week leave of ab-
sence for an employee and ap-
proved an interlocal agreement
with Polk County. Additionally,
Cowart apprised the board of the
placement of a student in alterna-
tive education in Livingston.
During his report, Superinten-
See OISD pg. 2A
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 21, 2002, newspaper, February 21, 2002; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth791083/m1/1/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.