News

The Van Zandt County Commissioners met Aug. 29 for the first public tax rate hearing for 2016.

A proposed tax rate of 0.485847 per $100 valuation has been proposed for adoption by the governing body of Van Zandt County.

The proposed tax rate exceeds the lower of the effective or rollback tax rate. County Judge Don Kirkpatrick said that state law requires that two public hearings be held by the governing body before adopting the proposed tax rate. The first public hearing was held at 9 a.m. Aug. 29 and the second was held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1.

“The governing body of Van Zandt County proposes to use revenue attributable to the tax rate increase for the purpose of maintenance and operating expenses,” Judge Kirkpatrick said.

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

Myranda Murray is hoping someone in Canton is holding her bag.

Saturday, Sept. 3, the Murray family was traveling through Canton on a trip to Galveston. When they had been on the road for about an hour, they discovered the tailgate of their truck was open and their bags missing.

Missing are a big gray duffle bag and a red Coca-Cola bag.

"I was traveling down 1651 in Canton right on 198 towards Gun Barrel and left towards Purtis Creek heading to Galveston about and hour down the road we realized the tailgate had come open and our luggage was lost," Murrey said.


The bags contained clothing and other belongings for Murray and her three children.


Anyone with information is asked to call Murray at 330-978-9702.


She said she is willing to offer a reward to get the bags back.

A motion by Councilwoman Connie Odic to allocate money for the repair of Canton’s tennis courts died for lack of a second at last week’s Canton Council meeting.

After making a case for funding to be earmarked for parks and recreation maintenance and upkeep, Odic made a motion that $190,000 be allocated in the 2016-’17 budget for parks and specifically for tennis court improvement at Old Kaufman Park.

During her presentation, Odic said she was frustrated that money designated for parks and recreation often went to other projects while the city’s parks fall into disrepair.

AUSTIN – As the start of the new school year approaches, the Texas Department of Public Safety cautions Texans to watch for children who are walking to and from school or waiting for buses. Drivers should be especially alert and careful around school buses – which make frequent stops – and always follow traffic laws regarding school buses and school zones.

“DPS is calling on drivers to do their part in keeping our children safe this school year by always obeying school zone speed limits and stopping for school buses,” said DPS Director Steven McCraw. “Individuals who disregard the law and illegally pass stopped school buses not only face significant traffic fines, but they needlessly put children in harm’s way – and we take these violations very seriously.”

August proved itself to be a tough month for Van Zandt County cities when it comes to sales tax revenue figures, with only one city bucking the downward trend according to the office of Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar.

Canton was the exception to the rule for the month of August, receiving $14,349.37 more than the $310,948.54 collected for the same calendar month in 2015.

After posting the largest percentage gain for any city in the county in July, the city of Edom went the complete opposite direction by posting a 20.88 percent drop down to $2,295.61 for the month of August.

Edgewood, which received a payment of $30,303.05 in August 2015, saw a drop of 6.98 percent by receiving $28,188.79 for this month.

Van, which had been the top gainer in the county for both June and July, cooled off in August by seeing it’s figures drop $5,753.15 to $81,042.98 for the month.

The city of Canton is considering relaxing its pet rules and regulations in regards to the number of animals allowed per household and the type of animals allowed in the city limits.

Currently residents are limited to two house pets such as dogs, cats or a combination of dogs and cats and fowl are not permitted.

“I think it would be helpful to our animal shelter and help our community get involved to have more animals” allowed per home, Councilwoman Connie Odic said.

Odic brought the issue before the council last week.

Canton operates the only animal shelter in Van Zandt County. Recently the city asked other county municipalities to enter into an interlocal agreement for use of the shelter.

Wiley was an officer of the law for more than 50 years – first in Dallas and then in Van Zandt County. He and his wife, Mary, moved to Canton in 1972.

Labor Day, Sept. 5, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Veterans Auxiliary will be hosting their annual balloon release at the Veterans Memorial Plaza in Canton. 

  The program is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. 

VFW and Veterans Auxiliary members will be there ahead of time to sell balloons, air them up and have them ready to be released into the air after a short program.

“Any one wishing to help can arrive early, if they want,” said Diane Farmer, VZC Veterans Memorial publicity chair. “The program will start with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance will be given before the release of the balloons.  This will be a shorter program as the weather has just been too hot recently. It will be a shorter service, but still a very important time to remember and honor our veterans who have donated their time, and some their lives, to allow us the freedoms we enjoy here in the United States of America.”

Moving forward on The Mountain

Last month property owners on The Mountain were given an Aug. 16 deadline to bring their businesses into compliance with city building and fire code regulation or face “emergency administrative action to alleviate the threat to public health and safety posed by the current conditions on the property.”

Mountain businesses and owner Debbie Davis Reeves were specifically asked to clean up debris from the May fire, install street signs and address numbers, and provide street lighting, fire access and adequate fire protection.

The May fire was the third blaze on The Mountain in three years. Other fires occurred in November 2013 and October 2015.