Donley County Commissioners voted Monday to give notice to local municipalities of their intent to pursue the formation of county assistance districts that would be funded by sales taxes.
The commissioners’ court also approved a proposal to create a county assistance district in the unincorporated areas of the county.
County officials have discussed the districts as a mechanism to provide money to the Donley County Sheriff’s Office. The plan would be to create four county assistance districts – one each in the cities of Clarendon, Hedley, and Howardwick and one in the unincorporated areas of the county.
If the city councils vote to pursue creation of the districts, the matter would be put on the May ballot for citizens to approve or disapprove. With local sales taxes in Texas capped at 2.0 percent, Clarendon would have to give up part of its sales tax revenue to fund a district, and Hedley and Howardwick would see their tax rates increase from 1.0 percent to 2.0 percent with half going to the new districts. Unincorporated areas of the county would also take on a 2.0 percent sales tax.
As it has been discussed, the districts would be governed by the Donley County Commissioners Court.
County Judge John Howard and Sheriff Butch Blackburn were planning to go to the Howardwick City Council meeting Tuesday night to discuss the proposal as the Enterprise went to press. Blackburn and Howard will also visit the Hedley City Council on Thursday night and the Clarendon City Council next Thursday.
Cities have 45 days to respond to the county’s notice, Howard said.
In other county business Monday, Chriss Clifford of A Fine Feathered Nest presented ideas for improving county-owned buildings on the east side of the courthouse square as well as a concept of painting or staining the white brick of the Courthouse Annex. Judge Howard said the county will take bids on these ideas after the holidays and said the county wants to lead by example in terms of downtown revitalization by improving the looks of county-owned property.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.