Contingency fund in the black
Wednesday, 18 August 2010 08:48 | 
Courthouse renovations well within budget
By ANGELA GUILLORY
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Courthouse construction superintendent Kenath Hawkins with RBR Construction reassured commissioners on Aug. 9 they are within budget on the historic courthouse project.
“The company RBR Construction and the architect have both asked me to bring the contingency up to the county,” Hawkins said.
“There was a change ordered last week,” he said. “When the county received the budget, the state budgeted a contingency in it. The contingency amount was $413,890 – that is part of your contract amount. It is put in the budget in case you go over or we have change orders, it is part of it.
He said his company and the architect want county officials to know, to date, that they are only at 28.9 percent of the contingency so the remaining balance is $294,218.
“We wanted to let the county know that they are within budget. Everything is going fine financially. They don’t see any problem getting y’all into budget,” he said. “We know dealing with a lot of small counties we go through this. It is critical that we stay within the budget. We just want to assure everyone that we will be.”
Hawkins is still searching for a contractor willing to accept the small contract to pave the road on Rush Street, from the courthouse to the ally way behind the tax assessor/collector’s office. He asked if the county could do the work and Precinct 1 Commissioner Brett Fitts said the county doesn’t have the proper equipment to lay the pavement.
“I just am trying to get it resolved and I keep running into brick walls,” Hawkins said.
IN OTHER BUSINESS, commissioners accepted a bids for property the county has received in lieu of taxes. The first was for $800 for struck-off property known as “Gary Westbrook, 04-C-527; the second was for $750 for “Mrs. O.C. Dodd, 05-C-447.”
A certificate of anticipated collection rate for fiscal year 2009 was presented as a matter of record.
A request from jail administrator Sterling Corbett to publish a bid notice for food supplies for fiscal year 2011 and for inmate prescriptions, effective Sept. 1, was approved.
Sealed bids must be received by 4 p.m. Friday, Aug 20, and will be opened 1:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 23, at commissioners’ court.
Commissioners tabled a provision to adopt the Texas County and District Retirement System retirement rate for fiscal year 2011.
TCDRS requested for the county to reduce the employee contribution rate to 9.05 percent for fiscal year 2011, effective Jan 1, 2011, from the current rate of 9.15 percent.
Treasurer Donna Early explained 9.05 percent is the required rate.
Employers may elect to pay greater than the required rate. Commissioners tabled the item until they could find out how much money it will save the county.
The next commissioners’ court meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 23, in the Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace courtroom on the second floor of the Cass County Law Enforcement and Justice Center building located at 604 N. Highway 8 in Linden.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 August 2010 09:06 )
August check has arrived Wednesday, 18 August 2010 08:44 |
Cities' sales tax rebates down Journal Staff Report Sales tax revenues are down an average of 6 percent so far this year in Cass County cities, but for the month of August rebates are down more than 8 percent from the same period last year. The total allocation to all of the cities within the county is $233,727.37, down 8.35 percent from the August 2009 total of $255,027.27. Since January, local cities have received a total of $1,707,051.95, a decrease of 6.1 percent from the year-to-date total of $1,818,138.28 in 2009. August sales tax allocations represent sales taxes collected in June by businesses that file sales taxes monthly, and sales taxes collected in April, May and June by quarterly filers. Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said state sales tax revenue in July was $1.69 billion, up 2.2 percent compared to one year ago. “Total monthly sales tax revenue has now exceeded year-ago levels for the last four months,” Combs said. “Sales tax collections in major sectors such as retail trade, the oil and natural gas industry and construction are up from a year ago. We are monitoring these sectors to see if collections are returning to consistent growth.” Combs sent $556.3 million in August sales tax allocations to local governments, up 2.3 percent compared to August 2009. So far this calendar year, sales tax allocations to local governments are down 2.5 percent compared to this time last year. ATLANTA’S SALES TAX allocation check this month is down almost 7 percent from the same period last year. The city received a check from the comptroller’s office in August for $148,600. Last year, the city’s sales tax allocation was $159,694. Since the first of the year, Atlanta has received $1,152,284, a decrease of 6.5 percent from 2009’s to-date total of $1,233,613. Atlanta’s sales tax rate is 2 percent. Queen City’s rebate is down more than 8 percent with $24,492 received this month compared to $30,406 in August 2009. The city’s sales tax rate is 1.75 percent. To date the city has received $152,305, down 5.5 percent from the 2009 total of $161,317. Linden’s allocation for $28,322 in August is 8.5 percent less than the $30,958 received this time last year. Linden’s tax rate is 2 percent. So far this year, the city has received $177,363, up down .54 percent from last year’s to-date total of $161,317. Bloomburg’s sales tax rebate check for $2,003 reflects a 37 percent decrease from the $3,192 received last August. The city’s sales tax rate is 1 percent. Since January, Bloomburg has received $12,954, up more than 2 percent from the 2009 year-to-date total of $12,670. Domino received a check this month for $3,035, up almost 8 percent from last August’s rebate of $2,817. The city’s sales tax rate is 2 percent. Domino has received $22,334 this calendar year, up 9 percent from the to-date total of $20,405 in 2009. Douglassville’s sales tax rebate check this month is $189, a 26 percent decrease from last August’s rebate of $258. To date, Douglassville has received $1,563 compared to $2,153 in August 2009, a decrease of 27 percent from last year. The city’s sales tax rate is .25 percent. Avinger’s check this month for $2,552 is up about 5 percent from the $2,443 earned during the same reporting period last year. To date, the city has received $18,946, down 24 percent from last year’s to-date total of $24,982. Avinger’s sales tax rate is 1.5 percent. Hughes Springs received a sales tax rebate for $24,534, down 3 percent from August 2009’s rebate of $25,279. Since January, Hughes Springs has received $169,305, down 8 percent from $184,664 at this time last year. The city’s sales tax rate is 1.5 percent. Texarkana, by comparison, received a sales tax check for $1,320,564 in August, down about 2 percent from last year’s check for $1,344,913. Texarkana’s sales tax rate is 1.5 percent. In 2010, the city has received $9,036,309, down .71 percent from last year’s to-date total of $9,101,568. Nine Bowie County cities pay in sales taxes to the state and August’s total rebates are $1,538,521, a 2 percent decrease from the 2009 total of $11,569,214. Thus far this year the cities have received $10,512,848, down only 1.4 percent from the 2009 year-to-date total of $10,669,254. THE COMPTROLLER sent sales tax payments of $375.5 million to Texas cities, up 2.2 percent compared to last August. Calendar year-to-date, city sales tax revenues trail 2009 by 2.2 percent. Sales tax payments of $33.7 million will go to Texas counties, 0.2 percent below last August. So far in calendar year 2010, county sales tax allocations are down 5.6 percent compared to last year. In addition, $23.5 million in sales tax revenue goes to 169 special purpose taxing districts, up 11.1 percent compared to August 2009. Ten local transit systems will receive $123.5 million, up 1.6 percent compared to a year ago. For details of August sales tax payments to individual cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose districts, locate the Monthly Sales and Use Tax Allocation Comparison Summary Reports on the Comptroller’s Web site at www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/allocsum/compsum.html. Due to the Labor Day holiday, the comptroller’s next sales tax allocation will be delayed until Monday, Sept.13. Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 August 2010 08:48 ) There's still more cuts to come Tuesday, 17 August 2010 07:10 |
Jobs will be lost with county budget cuts By ANGELA GUILLORY This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Commissioners cut an estimated $156,000 from their 2010-11 budget during a lengthy budget workshop held Aug. 9, primarily by eliminating several jobs in various departments. Members of the court held their first budget workshop on July 19 and estimated the county would have a $425,000 shortfall for the fiscal year 2011 budget if no cuts were made. Since then commissioners have been meeting weekly to discuss ways to slash expenses for the coming year. County Auditor Tammy Wells started Monday’s budget workshop by saying she has received proposed budgets from department heads for FY 2011 and "some have been able to cut their budgets as requested but others have not." "My estimate at this time is a $226,000 gap or shortfall of what we need in the general fund to balance the budget," said Wells. Commissioners proceeded to go over each department’s budget with a fine tooth comb to find additional ways to make cuts. Any department not meeting the required 5- or 8-percent cuts were slashed until the required amount was met. In the end, the cold hard truth of the matter is that salaries were cut in those departments with budgets of $200,000 or more. Those departments were required by commissioners to cut their budgets a total of 8 percent. The fact that salaries were cut in order to accomplish the commissioners’ goal means departments will lose employees. The number of jobs cut and how the cutbacks will affect each department in the county won’t be known until after the budget is approved in September. The new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. Eight percent cuts were made in the following departments: county clerk,
district clerk, tax assessor/collector, district attorney, sheriff’s department and county jail. Commissioners said there was no choice in the matter as they went from one department to the next cutting whatever was necessary to accomplish their goal. Department heads with budgets below $200,000 had to reduce their budgets by 5 percent. Most were able to do so without making cuts in salaries or employees. Wells said with $226,000 in the general fund, calculating projected property tax revenues with a 98 percent collection rate leaves the county $236,000 short. After two and a half grueling hours of discussion, commissioners managed to cut the budget shortfall from $226,000 to $70,000. Wells said on Friday morning she feels confident commissioners will be able to wrap up budget deliberations next week and she is hopeful they will find the additional $70,000 in cuts they need to balance the budget. The next budget workshop is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, at the Cass County Law Enforcement and Justice Center Building, Justice of the Peace courtroom located on the second floor of the north building, 604 Highway 8 North. Public hearings have been set for the budget at 1 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13, and for the tax rate at 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16. A special session to adopt the budget and the tax rate is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 23. These meeting will all take place in the Justice of the Peace courtroom where commissioners regularly meet. Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 August 2010 07:13 ) |
Up from last year's 'Acceptable' Tuesday, 17 August 2010 07:13 |
AISD ‘Recognized’ by TEA for 2009-10 scores By BRENDA BEDGOOD BROWN This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Atlanta ISD has been rated “Recognized” by the Texas Education Agency – a step up the accountability ratings ladder from the previous year’s “Academically Acceptable” rating. Mary Dowd, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said three of the district’s four campuses were “Recognized” and the high school was deemed “Academically Acceptable.” The annual TEA accountability ratings are based on students’ TAKS scores, the number of students who complete high school in four years and the number of dropouts in the district, but only at the junior high school level, Dowd said. “Atlanta has a high completion rate and a low dropout rate, plus good TAKS scores,” Dowd said. TEA rates school at four levels: Exemplary, Recognized, Academically Acceptable and Academically Unacceptable. To be Exemplary, Dowd said 90 percent of all students must pass all subjects on the TAKS test. Atlanta Elementary and Atlanta Middle School campuses were rated “Recognized” based on the test scores; Atlanta Primary was also deemed “Recognized” even though children at the school are not tested. The primary school is considered a “feeder” school to the elementary, where students tested well. Dowd said students district-wide in 2009-10 showed improvement in 21 of 25 indicators, which are based on five subject areas tested and five student groups evaluated under each of those subjects. The five subject areas are English/Language Arts (ELA), reading in certain grades, math, science and social studies. The five student groups are “all students,” white students, African-American students, Hispanic students and economically disadvantaged students. In three of the four indicators where students didn’t show improvement, they still met TEA standards at the identical percentage rates as the prior school year, with 92, 95 and 83 percent passing the tests in specific subjects. “The last area (where students did not improve) dropped only 1 percentage point and still remained in the 90s,” Dowd said. “Overall, we saw tremendous improvement in our scores last year.”
ATLANTA STUDENTS, like many across the state, are strongest in reading and ELA and weaker in math and science. Students are tested in reading and ELA in grades three through 11 and the lowest score was 87 percent passing in the seventh and 10th grades. Ninety-five percent of last year’s eighth graders passed the reading/ELA test and 93 percent in both the third and ninth grades passed the TAKS exam. In math, students are likewise tested each year from the third to the 11th grades. During last year’s tests, 95 percent of students in the fourth grade mastered the subject; 94 percent in the fifth grade; 92 percent in the third grade; 91 percent in the eighth grade; 88 percent in the 11th grade; 87 percent in the sixth grade and 78 percent in the seventh grade. Last year’s ninth and 10th graders didn’t fare as well in TAKS math, with 65 percent in the ninth and 63 percent in the 10th mastering the subject. Dowd said that’s a trend across the state and within the district, that students at those two grade levels generally have the lowest TAKS math scores. Dowd also tracks students’ scores as they go from grade to grade. For example, 91 percent of last year’s 11th graders (this year’s seniors) passed the reading/ELA TAKS test but as 10th graders, only 86 percent passed. When they were in the ninth grade, 90 percent passed; in the eighth grade, 92 percent passed; and as seventh graders, 89 percent passed. “Any time scores are over 80 percent mastery, that’s good,” Dowd said.
IN MATH, 88 percent of last year’s 11th graders passed the TAKS test, compared to only 71 percent when they were sophomores. As ninth graders, 63 percent passed the math exam. When they tested at the middle school level, 77 percent of those same students passed math when they were eighth graders and 70 percent passed when they were sixth graders. “So they have grown 18 points through the years,” Dowd explained. “That’s really good.” Another trend most districts, including Atlanta, often see is higher scores at certain grade levels because if they don’t pass they don’t advance or graduate. Dowd said students in the fifth and eighth grades must pass reading and math to be promoted to the next grades. By the time they are juniors, they must pass every TAKS subject in order to graduate from high school. “Ninth and 10th graders generally drop but then rise again by 11th grade. It’s a consistent pattern year after year,” Dowd said, but it has more to do with when and what subjects they are taught in the classroom at those two grade levels. “In the ninth, 10th and 11th grades, algebra and geometry are tested in the same test. But ninth graders are generally taking algebra that year and 10th graders are taking geometry, so teachers must prepare the students for a test that covers both algebra and geometry,” Dowd explained. Students are tested in science when they are in the fifth, eighth, 10th and 11th grades. In 2009-10, 90 percent of juniors passed the science test, compared to 69 percent of sophomores. Eighty-seven percent of AISD’s fifth graders passed the test and 84 percent of the eighth graders passed. Social studies is tested in the eighth, 10th and 11th grades. Ninety-eight percent of AISD’s eighth graders passed the test, with 92 percent of the 10th graders and 96 percent of the 11th graders passing. Writing is tested at only two grade levels, fourth and seventh. Ninety-six percent of last year’s fourth graders passed the test and 95 percent of the seventh graders passed.
THIS SCHOOL YEAR, 2010-11, will be the last year for TAKS tests. The next year will see the implementation of the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests for students in the third through eighth grades. Those tests will be more rigorous than the TAKS tests, Dowd said. Students at the high school level will have end-of-course exams in all core areas – English, math, science and social studies – which, like the TAKS, will be identical tests given to students at all Texas high schools. Dowd said she credits the AISD’s success to the hard work and dedication of the entire staff and the students. “We utilize every intervention strategy that we possibly can during the school day and during the BLAST program, which is an after-school program for tutorials and enrichment, and strong campus leadership,” she said. Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 August 2010 07:18 ) Pickup pulls into her path Tuesday, 17 August 2010 07:08 |
Woman airlifted after two-car accident on 59 By MARTI ALEXANDER This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it A Texarkana woman was airlifted following an accident Wednesday morning on U.S. 59. Stephanie Rankin, 41, was traveling south on U.S. 59 north of Queen City when a 1992 full-size Chevrolet truck pulled onto 59 from County Road 3661 into the path of her 2004 Infinity passenger car, according to Trooper Daniel Britton, the investigating officer. The truck was driven by 19-year-old Dillon Hefley of Queen City. Rankin was airlifted to Wadley Regional Medical Center and her two children, Emily, 14, and Jake, 11, were transported to Wadley by ambulance. Hefley was transported by ambulance to Christus St. Michael Health Care System in Texarkana. Britton said Hefley was issued a citation for failure to yield the right of way. Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 August 2010 07:09 ) |
Sunny 82 oF
