Dateline: August 17, 2006

'Concerned Citizens' present petition to CISD

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

The Concerned Citizens of Donley County continued their quest to abolish the personal property tax by going before the Clarendon Independent School District during the board’s regular meeting last Thursday.

Representatives from both groups said they thought the meeting was cordial and informative, and the citizens had kind words for the efforts of CISD Trustees in improving local schools.

“If they were the only ones collecting the personal property tax, we wouldn’t have even been there,” Concerned Citizens spokesman Brad Dalton said afterward. “We don’t want to take anything away from the school.”

The taxpayers’ group presented a petition to the school board calling for the abolition of the personal property tax. Dalton said his group understood CISD needed the money and would be willing for the district to raise taxes on real property to make up the difference.

But CISD Superintendent Monty Hysinger said recent activity by the state legislature would prevent the district from making up the difference in its real ad valorem rate should the personal property tax be abolished; and getting rid of the tax on cars, boats, planes, and other personal property would cost the district more than just local tax revenue.

Using current budget projections, Hysinger said CISD will collect approximately $180,000 from the personal property tax in the next fiscal year, which is about 11.64 percent of the school’s local tax income. But local taxes are a determinant of state funding, and the funds raised by the personal property tax generate an additional $270,000 in state funding.

“You’re looking at losing about $450,000 in school funds if you abolish the personal property tax,” Hysinger said this week.

But the school board did have some good news for the Concerned Citizens. A new mandatory tax rate reduction from the state means CISD’s tax rate will drop by 11.5 cents per $100 valuation this coming fiscal year, and another mandatory reduction is expected next year.

CISD Trustees took no action on the citizens’ petition.

Dalton told the Enterprise this week that the Concerned Citizens are chiefly upset with the way the personal property tax is collected and not the fact that it is collected.

“We just feel like it is an unfair tax because not everyone is paying it,” he said. “Lot’s of people here have cars registered out of county and even out of state to avoid the tax.”

Dalton said the taxpayers’ group will next take their case to the boards of the Hedley Public School, Clarendon College, the City of Clarendon, and the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District.

In other school business, trustees approved two change orders to the renovation project totaling $9,700 and accepted a bid from Merlin J. and Eva M. Fish for tax delinquent property. A motion was also approved to accept the transportation fuel proposal for the 2006-2007 school year from West Texas Gas, Inc.

The board toured the renovation project and discussed facility needs. They also discussed the budget and the impact of the changes in state funding. The board also concluded that much more information would be needed before changing the personal property tax could be considered.

Trustees voted to set Monday, August 28, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. as the date and time to hold a budget hearing and adopt the tax rate for the coming year.