Lions Club Chicken Barbecue
News
Finger lickin’ good
Transmission line may bypass Donley County
A rare bird, fragile ecosystems, scenic landscapes, ancient fossil beds, and an outpouring of opposition may cause 15-miles of high-voltage electric transmission lines to be re-routed away from Donley County.
Cross Texas Transmission is seeking approval from state regulators to build the line from Childress County to Gray County. The company’s preferred route was through the northeastern part of Donley County, but the proposed final order filed August 16 with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) seeks approval of Route 314, which bypasses Donley County in favor of a path through Collingsworth County.
“All routes are still under consideration,” Cross Texas spokeswoman Julie Ramsey told the Enterprise. “But landowners along Route 314, who had previously filed to intervene in the case, are now in agreement not to go to court.”
Ramsey said the PUC will review all the proposed routes and has until October 29 to give final approval to a route, but she said Cross Texas expects regulatory approval earlier, perhaps by the end of September.
The 345 kV double circuit line will require a right-of-way between 160 and 200 feet wide and will include poles 125 feet high placed five to seven poles per mile, according to published reports.
Ramsey said the average cost of building the line is $1.5 million per mile, and a seven-page legal notice published in the Enterprise on May 6 showed the preferred route through Donley County being about 15 miles long, which would have required an investment of about $22.5 million. The total cost of the project from the Gray Substation near Lefors to the Tesla Substation in Childress County is expected to be $177.9 million.
“It certainly would have increased the tax base,” Ramsey said of the preferred route through Donley County. “But there were a lot of concerns about the Lesser Prairie Chicken (LPC) and other environmental issues.”
The US Department of the Interior, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs, and the Texas Panhandle Audubon Society all filed comments with the PUC during the public comment phase of the process raising concerns about the effect the line could have on LPC habitat, according to records available online.
Numerous citizens, including Jay O’Brien, Laphe LaRoe, and many, many others, expressed concerns to the PUC about the habitat of the Prairie Chicken as well as the effects on wetlands and other ecologically sensitive features. O’Brien, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, and many others also raised concerns about several fossil sites on the original historic RO Ranch, which in the past has yielded specimens that caused a period of time 12.5 to 9 million years ago to be officially known as the Clarendonian age.
O’Brien, Kade Matthews, Turner Caldwell, and Jack Waller also commented to the PUC about the visual impact of the line and the effect its placement would have on ranching operations, with each of the property owners making suggestions of more acceptable routes, such as following county road or state highway rights of way.
The Texas & Southwest Cattle Raisers Association also filed a resolution encouraging the PUC to follow existing highway or electric transmission rights of way so that “the immense damage to productive and scenic agricultural and recreational property incurred by Texas landowners will be minimized.”
In reviewing more than 300 comments and filings, the Enterprise found only one in favor of the route through Donley County, and that was filed by the Donley County Commissioners’ Court.
Ramsey said landowners who are hoping to lease their property to a wind farm should not be discouraged if the Cross Texas line does not come nearby.
“Wind developers have to tie into a substation – not into a transmission line like this,” she said. “They will put wind towers where they find good, consistent wind and will run their own transmission lines to the substation.”
Thornberry sounds alarm on expanding federal government
US Representative Mac Thornberry visited with folks from his hometown and sounded the alarm on a wide range of issues during a Republican gathering at the Bairfield Activity Center last Thursday.
Thornberry was introduced by his former speech teacher from Clarendon High School, Jean Stavenhagen, before he introduced other local Republicans who will appear on the November ballot. He encouraged his fellow candidates to listen to the citizens because it makes you “a better candidate and better office holder.”
He said he and his wife, Sally, had been visiting businesses in the 13th Congressional District learning about their concerns and then launched into a list of “spending and manipulation” the federal government has taken since February 2009, including: an $860 billion stimulus bill, new regulations on banks and credit cards, Cash For Clunkers, new hate crime legislation about sexual orientation, the health care bill, and the abolition of private student loans among others.
“The national debt is now $13.3 trillion and has gone up 25 percent since February 2009,” Thornberry said. “Your share is $119,914.”
Thornberry said Congress will not even try to pass a budget this year for the first since 1974.
“It’s no wonder people are frustrated, disgusted, and angry,” he said. “I’ve never seen so many people concerned with what’s going on, and that is the most hopeful thing that can happen because the strength of our country and our economy is in the people.”
The congressman also said he did not think the country could survive another two years of Nancy Pelosi and Democratic control without being “changed permanently for the worse.”
In response to a question from the Enterprise, Thornberry said House Republicans will be putting forth a positive agenda similar to the 1994 Contract with America that will likely focus on controlling spending, government reform, health care, and job creation.
Resident Newt Scott asked the congressman why he voted against the 2008 TARP bill and then voted for it. To which Thornberry said the bill was changed in the Senate to increase the amount bank deposits are guaranteed for and included a promise of buying mortgaged based assets with the first half of the money, but then the treasury secretary under President Bush did not do what he said he would.
Scott said he had looked at websites, such as govtrack.us and opensecrets.org, to prepare for Thursday’s meeting. “You are one of the cleanest legislators on there,” he said.
In response to other citizen’s questions on various issues, Thornberry said the First Amendment guarantees the right to lobby the government (petition for the redress of grievances); said the federal government will have to raise taxes or cut spending to fund Social Security in the future; said he favored some alternative to the “monstrosity” of the current tax code; and said he hoped it would not take a “terrible event” before the federal government takes border security issues seriously.
In closing, the congressman also encouraged his constituents to personally write, call, or e-mail his office and let him know their concerns to help him serve the district better.
HISD holds line on tax rate
A public hearing for the Hedley Independent School District lasted for nearly an hour Monday night as school trustees debated the need to raise the tax rate by one penny.
Enterprise publisher Roger Estlack, the only member of the public at the meeting, asked some basic questions about the school’s proposed 2010-2011 budget, which Superintendent Eric Hough said totaled $1.679 million compared to $1.767 million for the current budget.
“It’s about a five percent decrease, and we’ve decreased almost everything, particularly payroll,” Hough said.
The overall budget was projected to have a $17,643 surplus, but that included revenue from a proposed increase in the debt portion of the school’s tax rate from $0.06 to $0.07 per $100 valuation.
“If we leave the tax rate the same, we will be about $9,000 short in making our bond payment and will have to take that money from our fund balance,” Hough said.
Trustee Tonja Ruthardt expressed concern about raising the tax rate.
“I think these little old people in Hedley are about taxed out,” she said.
“I understand that it’s tough economically, but it’s tough for the school, too,” Hough said, noting that people over the age of 65 can have their taxes frozen.
Trustee Lana Ritchie said she felt the community had voted for the bond issue several years ago and would understand the need to pay for it, but Trustee James Edward Potts raised concerns about the current economy and said that a tax increase would offend some of the district’s largest taxpayers to the extent that they might not donate to school fundraisers.
“I’d rather have to raise it two cents next year than one cent this year,” Potts said.
After the board closed its public hearing and moved into an open session, Ritchie moved to set the tax rate at $1.11 per $100 valuation with $1.04 for maintenance and operations and a debt rate of $0.07. Her motion died for lack of a second.
Ruthardt then moved to maintain the current tax rate of $1.10 with $1.04 for maintenance and operations and a debt rate of $0.06. She, Potts, Karen Watt, and Bonnie Brown voted for the measure; and Ritchie and Ted Wright abstained.
In other school business, the board approved the 2010-2011 budget and authorized amendments to the 2009-2010 budget. Trustees also gave approval to a human sexuality education program, “The Truth Straight Up,” that is free to the school and which parents will be given the option to allow their kids to attend.
In his superintendent’s report, Hough said Hedley’s enrollment stands at about 130 students and he said $8,500 had been raised from two private donors for a new basketball scoreboard.
Senior spirit
Senior officers
New Deal edges out Broncos
The New Deal Lions barely got by the Clarendon Broncos Friday night, 23-21. Complete coverage in next week’s Enterprise and photos posted on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheEnterprise.
New kids in town
County budget $39k lower than 2010
Donley County’s budget will shrink slightly in fiscal year 2011, but a slightly higher tax rate will still be required to support it, according to documents on file in the County Clerk’s office.
The $1.9 million proposed budget is about $39,000 less than the budget that was approved for 2010, but the ad valorem value of property in the county has also declined by more than $2 million.
Information from the Donley Appraisal District reveals that the average taxable value of a residence homestead in Donley County last year was $32,821 compared to $31,055 this year.
Commissioners are proposing a total county tax rate of $0.557117 per $100 of taxable value, which is up from $0.527489 last year. The proposed rate would impose taxes of $173.01 on the average home compared to $173.13 last year.
The proposed budget forecasts that the county will receive $7,500 in taxes on automobile sales, which is up from the $5,000 that was budgeted last year.
The proposed budget expects lower revenues from the criminal cases in the county court, down $12,000; as well as less money from civil cases in county court, down $5,000.
The budget does not include any raises for county employees but does forecast spending about seven percent higher health insurance premiums for employees.
Savings in the proposed budget include $1,000 less for general office supplies, $15,000 less for insurance and bonds, $4,000 less for “miscellaneous,” and $1,799 less for services from the Donley Appraisal District.
The budget does include $5,000 for redrawing precinct lines in the redistricting that will follow the 2010 US Census, and commissioners have increased the line item for contingencies.
The county expects to collect about $725,810.03 from ad valorem taxes, which is up from $689,983.88 in last year’s budget.
Donley County Commissioners will hold hearings on the tax rate at 9 a.m. on September 7 and September 10.
A budget hearing will be held at 9 a.m. on September 13, and both the tax rate and the budget will be voted on by commissioners that day.
Reader Comments