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August 29, 2018 | P
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Hereford BRAND Volume 118 | Number 16 WHAT'S INSIDE
County poised to raise taxes
By John Carson BRAND Managing Editor
Another bumper dove season expected Page 5
Were it not for legalities, the property tax rate for Deaf Smith County would have increased following Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Deaf Smith County Commissioners Court. In what should have been an uneventful, openand-close, second public hearing on a proposed tax
rate of 53 mils (53 cents to this month’s first meet- that current taxes and reveper $100 valuation) ing on Aug. nues were what was that was unchanged 14. “needed” to fund the from the past two The mat2018-19 budget. years, commissionter came to However, concern ers ended up standthe forefront over using wind ing ready to raise Tuesday entity revenues to county taxes by 1 after Deaf cover motor grader cent. Smith Counlease payments igCommissionty Judge D.J. nited the tax hike ers had already Wagner mentalk anew. broached the subtioned talk of “I would rather see BRUMLEY O'CONNOR ject of a tax increase a potential us raise taxes 1 cent during conversation prior tax increase and confirmed now rather than paint our-
Page 7
Volleyball, tennis have good weekends
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fifth in a series of stories previously published in the BRAND that address subsequent questions and concerns raised by officials and citizens over a proposed new civic center in Hereford. This entry from April 18 deals with city commission approval to contract an engineer/architect.)
FORECAST
The wheels turning toward a new civic center in Hereford picked up speed when the Hereford City Commission approved an engineer/architect contract for the new facility Monday during its regular meeting. With the city’s purchase of the West 15th Street site from Amarillo College in its final stages, commissioners opted to stay the course in awarding the contract to the firm of Parkhill, Smith & Cooper. “We been in talks with them for about a month and were able to negotiate the fee amount down,” Hereford City Manager Rick Hanna told commissioners during a work session preceding Monday’s meeting. “[The contract is] really detailed and complicated.” Parkhill, Smith & Cooper was the firm that presented the conceptual design for the new civic center when the subject was first broached in July. Since then, the 6.2588-acre site between Amarillo College and the Texas Department of Public Safety building on West 15th Street has been secured. Monday’s decision also cemented the design for the new facility. The new center will be 25 percent larger than the current Hereford Community Center’s 18,000 square feet on East Park Avenue. Plans for the almost 25,000 square-foot facility feature two large meeting areas, four smaller meeting rooms, kitchens, a scullery, office space for Hereford Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) and an outdoor courtyard space with a fireplace and elevated stage. The larger meeting rooms are designated as a ballroom and banquet room – each having its own kitchen – with the ballroom capable of seating 150-175. The banquet room has a maximum capacity of 450 and can also be divided into three separate rooms. The building’s exterior will have a roofing material that closely resembles the corrugated tin historically used for roofing in the area,
Today
Partly Cloudy High: 90º Low: 65º HEAT ADVISORY
Thursday
Sunny High: 95º Low: 68º
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Partly Cloudy High: 92º Low: 66º
Monday
Partly Cloudy High: 90º Low: 64º
Ready to run and stop it Friday's scrimmage against Lubbock gave the Hereford Whitefaces a chance to flex the muscle of a prolific running attack, above, as senior Seth Dixon breaks through a hole, while the defense, right, garnered accolades for its physicality, tenacity and closing on the ball. HISD photos by Bryan Hedrick
Tuesday
Partly Cloudy High: 89º Low: 63º
INDEX Page 2............Obituaries Page 3......Public Record Page 4................Opinion Page 5..............Outdoors Page 6...................News Page 7..................Sports Page 8................Religion Page 9...........Classifieds Page 10..................News
© 2018 Hereford BRAND A division of Roberts Publishing Group
PLEASE SEE COUNTY | 10
By John Carson BRAND Managing Editor
Page 7
Mostly Sunny High: 95º Low: 66º
selves into a corner down the road,” Precinct 3 Commissioner Mike Brumley said. “We could be looking at a legitimate future tax increase of 3 or 4 cents. “I believe it would be prudent to anticipate something like that.” The use of $135,000 of wind entity funds for motor graders sparked its own
Civic center project starts move forward
Hostile Herd ready to hit 2018 trail
Mostly Sunny High: 97º Low: 68º
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PLEASE SEE CENTER | 6
Trustees OK 2018-19 budget in the black…barely By John Carson BRAND Managing Editor
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Hereford Independent School District (HISD) will keep its head above financial waters after the board of trustees approved a $34.56 million budget for 2018-19 during
Monday’s regular meeting. By giving thumbs up to the spending plan – and an unchanged 104 mils tax rate ($1.04 per $100 valuation) to help fund it – the board beat an Aug. 31 mandated deadline to have a budget in place for the start of the 2018-18 HISD fiscal year on Sept. 1.
“Right now, we’re in a positive situation,” HISD Business Manager Rusty Ingram said, “but we will have to wait and see. “We’re hopeful that ADA (average daily attendance) figures don’t hurt us.” The final budget approved was higher than Ingram’s originally proposed
plan of almost $34.43 million. In making his formal budget request to the board, Ingram included additional funding proposals of $100,000 for ongoing technology upgrades and a $38,000 request from the band to replace six sousaphones.
The board approved the additions to reach the $34.56 million total for the upcoming. As expected, a bulk of the measure is devoted to salary and payroll, where almost $26.85 million is earmarked. PLEASE SEE HISD | 6
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