This Week

Voters in all three municipalities in Donley County will vote on creating County Assistance District this May after resolutions were approved by the Clarendon, Hedley, and Howardwick city councils before Christmas.

County commissioners voted December 11 to pursue creation of the sales tax-funded 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.

The City of Howardwick met December 12, and that city council unanimously approved a resolution to put a one-cent sales tax on the ballot to support a district for that city.

Howardwick City Secretary Sandy Lynn Childress said a good discussion was held at the meeting with County Judge John Howard and Sheriff Butch Blackburn fielding questions. She said county officials told them the commissioners court would govern the district but that they were not opposed to having local representation on the board for the Howardwick district.

The Hedley City Council met December 14 with Judge Howard and Commissioner Neil Koetting in attendance. Clarendon Mayor Jacob Fangman and Childress were also present. Childress, who was taking minutes for the City of Hedley in the absence of a city secretary there, said county officials there fielded several comments about the constable’s position and concerns about the sheriff’s coverage of that community. The Hedley council also approved a resolution calling for a one-cent sales tax to be on the May ballot for a County Assistance District in that city.

Clarendon’s city meeting scheduled for December 14 was moved to December 21 with the city council facing a very different question from Howardwick and Hedley. Where the other two cities only have a one-cent sales tax, Clarendon’s sales tax is two cents, the maximum allowed by the state. In order for a county assistance district to be created for the City of Clarendon, voters would have to approve taking money away from the city and then approve giving it to the County Assistance District.

Judge Howard and Sheriff Blackburn participated in the discussion, and Hedley Mayor Trisha Chambless and Howardwick Alderman Johnny Floyd also attended the meeting along with Clarendon Municipal Judge Richard Green.

Two Clarendon council members were absent from the December 21 meeting – Terri Floyd and John Lockhart, and Mayor Jacob Fangman expressed his view that the council should wait for a full council to be present before voting on the county’s request that the city give up 5/8 of a cent to fund a County Assistance District. The three council members present – Larry Jeffers, Eulaine McIntosh, and Tommy Hill – ultimately approved a motion to put the question of giving up 5/8 of a cent on the May ballot. Clarendon citizens will face two questions – the city giving up collecting a portion of its sales tax and the creation of a district to collect that same amount.

City Secretary Machiel Covey said the city received assurances that the amount collected for the sheriff’s office would be capped at $165,000 per year and said county officials agreed that the Clarendon district would be governed by a board consisting of two city representatives, two county commissioners, and the county judge.

The Clarendon City Council also on December 21 gave final approval to a contract with the county for law enforcement services for $140,000 for fiscal year 2024. City Administrator Brian Barboza said the county later approved the same contract in a called meeting.

Residents in the unincorporated areas of Donley County will also be asked on a May ballot to approve a County Assistance District that will be funded by a two-cent sales tax.

If the measures are approved by voters, they would take effect this fall.

The Clarendon Chamber of Commerce has opened nominations for its annual community awards.

Nominations must be received by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, January 31, for the following categories: Man of the Year and Woman of the Year – two individuals who have made a significant contribution to the community in 2023, Saints’ Roost Award – honoring an individual for a lifetime of service to the community, and the Volunteer Organization of the Year.

Honorees will be announced during the annual Awards Banquet, scheduled for Thursday, February 29, at the Bairfield Activity Center.

Written nominations should specify which award the person or organization is being nominated for and a brief paragraph stating the reason for the nomination. The nominations should be no more than one page in length.

Nominations can be mailed to the Chamber of Commerce at PO Box 986, Clarendon, TX 79226; delivered to the Clarendon Visitor Center inside the Mulkey Theatre; or emailed to Chamber@ClarendonTx.com.

The Clarendon City Council approved a new fee for animal control and took other actions during their meeting on December 21.

The amendment to Ordinance 491 would add a fee for surrendering animals to the city. The charge would be $50 for dogs and cats over six months old, and $20 for puppies and kittens. If the animal has not been spayed or neutered, there will be an additional charge of $27.50.

The city approved a budget amendment to allow $3,000 for improvements to the animal control building to bring it into compliance with state rules.

In other business, the council approved a letter of engagement with Foster, Lambert, and Foard for the fiscal year 2023 audit, and voted to allow City Administrator Brian Barboza to act on behalf of the city in protesting a rate increase by Southwestern Electric Power Company.

A proposal to replace the broken beacon at the Smiley Johnson Municipal Airport with a new LED fixture was also approved.

In his administrator’s report, Barboza said the new sewer lift station is operational but not quite complete, and he said an ADA inspection is set for the downtown revitalization work next week.

A Howardwick man’s case was one of 13 heard by the district court on Tuesday, December 12, when it met in Carson County.

District Attorney Luke Inman, along with Assistant District Attorney Harley Caudle, prosecuted the cases for the State of Texas, with the Honorable Judge Stuart Messer presiding by assignment.

Ricky Wayne Caughey, 56, from Howardwick, was placed on six years’ probation for the third degree felony offense of deadly conduct discharging a firearm.

Caughey was arrested in Donley County by Swick for the offense that occurred on October 28, 2022. Caughey was indicted by a Donley County Grand Jury on January 30.

Caughey was also ordered to pay a $500 fine, $340 in court costs, and complete 200 hours of community service. If his probation is revoked, Caughey faces up to 10 years in prison.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that agricultural producers can now enroll in the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs for the 2024 crop year. Producers can enroll and make election changes for the 2024 crop year starting Dec. 18, 2023. The deadline to complete enrollment and any election change is March 15, 2024.

On Nov. 16, 2023, President Biden signed into law H.R. 6363, the Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024 (Pub. L. 118-22), which extended the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Pub. L. 115-334), more commonly known as the 2018 Farm Bill, through September 30, 2024. This extension allows authorized programs, including ARC and PLC, to continue operating.

“Having the Farm Bill extension in place means business as usual for Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage program implementation for the 2024 crop year— nothing has changed from previous years,” said FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux. “These programs provide critical financial protections against commodity market volatilities for many American farmers so don’t delay enrollment. Avoid the rush and contact your local FSA office for an appointment because even if you are not changing your program election for 2024, you still need to sign a contract to enroll.”

Producers can elect coverage and enroll in ARC-County (ARC-CO) or PLC, which provide crop-by-crop protection, or ARC-Individual (ARC-IC), which protects the entire farm. Although election changes for 2024 are optional, producers must enroll through a signed contract each year. Also, if a producer has a multi-year contract on the farm it will continue for 2024 unless an election change is made.

If producers do not submit their election revision by the March 15, 2024, deadline, their election remains the same as their 2023 election for commodities on the farm. Farm owners cannot enroll in either program unless they have a share interest in the cropland.

Covered commodities include barley, canola, large and small chickpeas, corn, crambe, flaxseed, grain sorghum, lentils, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, dry peas, rapeseed, long grain rice, medium grain rice, safflower seed, seed cotton, sesame, soybeans, sunflower seed and wheat.

This fall, FSA issued payments totaling more than $267 million to agricultural producers who enrolled in the 2022 ARC-CO option and the ARC ARC-IC option for covered commodities that triggered a payment.

Payments through the PLC option did not trigger for the 2022 crop year.

ARC and PLC payments for a given crop year are paid out the following fall to allow actual county yields and the Market Year Average prices to be finalized. These payments help mitigate fluctuations in either revenue or prices for certain crops. Payments for crops that may trigger for the 2023 crop year will be issued in the fall of 2024.

ARC and PLC are part of a broader USDA safety net that also includes crop insurance and marketing assistance loans.

Producers are reminded that ARC and PLC elections and enrollments can impact eligibility for some crop insurance products.
Producers on farms with a PLC election can purchase Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) through their Approved Insurance Provider; however, producers on farms where ARC is the election are ineligible for SCO on their planted acres for that crop on that farm.

Unlike SCO, the Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) is unaffected by an ARC election.  Producers may add ECO regardless of the farm program election.

Upland cotton farmers who choose to enroll seed cotton base acres in ARC or PLC are ineligible for the stacked income protection plan (STAX) on their planted cotton acres for that farm.

Many universities offer web-based decision tools to help producers make informed, educated decisions using crop data specific to their respective farming operations. Producers are encouraged to use the tool of their choice to support their ARC and PLC elections.

For more information producers can visit the ARC and PLC webpage or contact their local USDA Service Center.