News

During the first public hearing on the 2015-’16 proposed tax rate, Ronnie Jones spoke to commissioners concerning the proposed budget and tax rate.

The proposed tax rate is $0.485847 per $100 valuation which is the same as last year’s tax rate.

The effective tax rate is $0.47173823 per $100 valuation.

The rollback rate is $.48586097 per $100 valuation.

Jones asked commissioners for transparency regarding funding for capital murder trials.

Jones stated that the commissioners had proposed a budget with “nothing for capital murder trials” for the fiscal year and wanted to know “where the extra money was going if not to capital murder trials.”

Jones also asked for clarity on the budget and told commissioners that the “public needs to know exactly where the funds were going.”

Jones explained that the 2.5 cent tax rate increase in 2013 was “due to capital murder trials.”

The Van Zandt County Extension Livestock/Forage Committee will be collecting hay samples for the annual hay evaluation clinic from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, at the Farm Bureau Building in Canton. 

Following collection of the hay samples at 5:30 p.m., there will be a program on winter pastures, soil fertility and gearing pastures up for spring that will be available for producers in Van Zandt County.

 Why is it important to get your hay analyzed for its feeding value?  Forage testing provides useful information about the nutritive value of a forage, according to Van Zandt County Extension Agent Tommy Phillips. 

The Canton Chamber of Commerce is seeking nominations for its board of directors to begin serving Jan. 1, 2016. Candidates must have an active chamber membership and agree to take an active role in chamber leadership.

Meetings are currently held the third Tuesday of each month at the Chamber office. Board members serve three-year terms.

Each board member is required to serve on at least one chairman-appointed special committee and at least one major- event committee per year.

If you are interested, contact Laura at the chamber office by phone 903-567-2991,) email (cantontxchamberofcommerce@yahoo.com) or in person (119 N. Buffalo St.) no later than Sept. 4 to be considered by the nominations committee. Recommendations from the committee will be sent to the general membership for approval

The TVEC Charitable Foundation has awarded a grant in the amount of $2,500 to the Van Zandt County Precinct Watch Program. The foundation is funded by donations from Operation Round Up, a voluntary program that allows TVEC members to round up their monthly electric bills to the next whole dollar amount. The portion that is rounded up goes to the TVEC Charitable Foundation and may be used to award grant requests to local charitable organizations.  TVEC Public Relations Representative Joy Long made the check presentation to PWP Chairman Buster Leavell, center, and Vice Chairman Tim Ball.

Citizens ask for budget funding, First Monday building to be examined

The Canton City Council held its first hearing on the tax rate Aug. 25 with no public input from citizens.

The council is proposing to keep the tax rate at $0.420332 per $100 of property valuation.

That means property owners would see no change in their tax bill if their property value stayed the same. However, the average home value in Canton increased about $1,500 during this valuation cycle, city officials said. That translates into a tax increase of about $60.

The additional property value with the same property tax rate will increase tax revenue by 3.36 percent, according to Finance Director Kim Kroha’s figures.

The Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial Annual Balloon Release usually held on Labor Day has been rescheduled for November.

The event will be held around Veterans Day, organizers said.

More information will be available as the event draws near.

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The Canton Main Street summer outdoor movie series last showing will be this Friday, Sept. 4, with a screening of “The Blind Side.”

The featured film is sponsored by 1^st in Design.

The movie will start at dark across from the Plaza Theater in downtown Canton.

“This is a good opportunity to come out to a movie if you have not already been to one,” said Austin Melton, Canton Visitor’s Bureau coordinator. “There will be live music around the square from 5:30 to 8:30 and the movie will start right around then. Come early and bring your date to dine around town and enjoy the romantic ambiance of an active downtown area.”

The new movie location is across from the Plaza Theater at 119 N. Buffalo St. 

Event to honor 1965 State Championship team

Sept. 26 will mark a special day for graduates of Wills Point schools, with members of the local Alumni Association Board of Directors planning the latest five-year reunion for all graduates that have passed through the halls of the WPISD.

The 2015 event is expected to be bigger and better than previous versions of the event, with the added draw of celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the 1965 State Champion Wills Point Tiger football team.

The Alumni Board – including President James Harris, Vice President Damon Davis and members Tom Hubbard, Sammie Gunter, Keeta Lybrand, Darlene Kelley, Jackie Ragland, Sundy Rodgers and Nancy Morris – recently announced the event, explaining how graduates can register and listing expected activities for the day of.

Van Zandt County cities have plenty of reasons to smile this month, with sales tax revenue figures released by the office of Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar showing that Canton, Edgewood, Edom, Grand Saline, Van and Wills Point all received larger payments in August 2015 than they did for the same calendar month back in 2014.

Positive gains by all six county cities during the same calendar month have been a rarity in recent years, with Hegar’s announcement marking the first time it’s happened in 2015.

The city of Wills Point posted the largest positive dollar change of any county city in August by collecting $106,136.27. That figure was $22,443.97, or 26.82 percent, more than the $83,692.30 collected back in August 2014.

Grand Saline continued its streak of meteoric month-to-month gains, posting the second largest dollar change by collecting $66,744.42. Grand Saline’s total of $22,249.63 was just an eyelash behind Wills Point in terms of dollar change.

The Children’s Advocacy Center of Van Zandt County will host “Interdiction for the Protection of Children,” a two-day professional conference focused on child trafficking. 

The training workshops are presented by the Texas Department of Public Safety of Austin.  The conference is scheduled for Sept. 29 and 30 and will be held at Lakeside Baptist Church, Canton. 

Registration is free. 

Van Zandt County Sheriff Lindsay Ray and DPS Sgt. Scott Johnson, based in Van Zandt County, will offer opening remarks and share the practices and focus of area law enforcement in combatting the problem of child trafficking. Sgt. Derrick Prestidge from Austin will join a team of TDPS experts to present the two-day training.