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BY RICHARD MOREE BURNET Burnet County land owners Tuesday night told the Burnet School Trustees that their group would prefer an bond issue rather than the ranch land re evaluation as proposed by the school district. The landowner's committee met Tuesday night with the Board of Trustees to discuss the school tax situation facing the Burnet CISD. Jim Luther, local businessman and rancher acting as spokesman for the landowners told the board ‘we just want to survive we're not unhappy with the board, but just want to be better informed. The group heard Richard Yahr, an attorney with the Texas Legislative Council and landowner in the Burnet school district, explain the ramifications of HB 750., Yahr told the group that the Burnet CISD ‘‘would stay just about the same under the bill.”’ “The bill does not mandate a tax increase, ’ Yahr said. After hearing a brief explana tion of HB 750, the landowners were told by Gene Taylor, President of the School board, that ‘‘the school needs to raise more money.” Taylor said ‘‘the school district will need more money to operate next year.” He cited a 3 per cent budget surplus of $60,000 this year as ‘operating too close.’ Taylor said this narrow margin does not allow for anything to go wrong, referring to possible added expenditures such as unexpected maintennance. Luther questioned ‘‘whether the reevaluation was really necessary.” The landowners were inquir ing as to why the school budget must be increased by approxi mately $100,000 as suggested by the board. Former board president, €.B. Price explained that the present elementary school was over crowed and that roughly four new classrooms were needed. “We need to come up with some way to house these students, ’ Price added. The landowners suggested the school district increase the overall tax valuation for everyone on the school tax roll instead of “just aiming the increases at the ranchers.” Raleegh Ross, local rancher, asked the board to consider the overall tax roll valuation, adding a small increase such as a bond issue would bring”would be much better than hitting ranchers with one large lump sum. Luther said “he would per sonally work for a bond issue. He said that ranchers would be happy to help raise money for the school district but did not see how they could stand the proposal.” The ranchers concern had orginally begun when the school district proposed a 160 per cent increase in land valuations, compounded by the fact that many of the county's ranchers can not qualify for the agricultural exemption. Trustees agreed to study the school system's energy plan to attempt to cut whatever costs possible. Board President Gene Taylor pointed out that ‘‘the = air conditioning duct system in the high school” was not insulated nor was a return air system included.” “I’m sure this costs us lots of additional money,” Taylor added. No decisions were derived from the meeting. Both the land owners and the school trustees eaeed to continuing the search for additional funding for the school system. Discussion will continue at the next regular session of the Burnet CISD board meeting.
Newspaper Details
Burnet County Bulletin
Burnet, Texas, US
Thu, May 05, 1977
Page 1
Full Page
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USA 19 Aug 2025
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