ttp://howeenterprise

Serving the community of Howe since 1963

Monday, August 8, 2016 howeenterprise com

Elmore turns up the heat downtown; kids had fun

Three years ago, trying to encourage more community activity, the newly formed Keep Howe Beautiful put together the first "Back to School Blues Downtown Block Party" and it was a overwhelming success for a first-time event A year later, a few tweaks were made and the attendance was somewhat the same

This year, the Howe Area Chamber of Commerce took over the event and let the Keep Howe Beautiful organization do what the do best - make Howe beautiful instead of throwing parties As it turns out, there were two things that were overwhelming on Saturday - the band and the heat

The event was sponsored by Tomlin Investments, Fierce Motions in Dance of

Van Alstyne, Sheryl Bentley REALTOR for Ebby Halliday and the Howe Enterprise With the sponsorship money, the chamber was able to go out and find a heavy hitter of a band and Jason Elmore and Hoodoo Witch were hired If there were any questions as to how talented he is, there was a line formed after

City Council agrees to proposed budget of $2,938,672

The Howe City Council held a budget workshop last Tuesday night at the Howe Community Center Howe City Administrator Joe Shephard submitted a proposed budget of $2,938,672 which was approved by the council

The budget is a 2 16 percent increase from the current budget

"The budget is based on the effective rate that we got from Grayson County last week " said Mayor Jeff Stanley "The effective rate is $0 628468 while this year's rate is $0 69 "

While the ad valorem tax rate has gone down, the evaluations have gone up making the effective tax bill the same as it was a year ago

The city is proposing no changes to solid waste rates or water rates for 2016-17. Due to the new apartment complex, Abbington Meadows, the city expects $68,000 in water, waste water and trash from that development this coming year Mayor Stanley said that the amount was conservative Also expected is an increase from Summit Hill Shephard only submitted in the budget the amount of houses that have already sold With the anticipation continued on page 3 the show with him signing autographs for the people that took on the 101 degree heat to see the show

Elmore played a mix of music from his albums and blues rock classics and finished with a stunning rendition of the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields "

Thanks to the First United Methodist Church, kids had a blast in the bounce house that they provided Between the bounce house and Chill Out shaved ice, the Howe youth had a day in downtown that they'll never forget Even while downtown is marked with signs that read, "NO everyone to be able to take a seat at Bulldog Stadium - even on a homecoming evening At least, that is the hope of Howe ISD

Bulldog Stadium is the oldest active stadium in North Texas. She opened up officially in 1935 as a "Johnson Grass pasture that was the late Glyn Hestand once stated As a player on the first ever Howe Bulldogs football team in '35, Hestand remembered that there were no bleachers or lights or anything that would resemble a stadium He even chuckled at the thought of calling it a continued on page 2 still in shambles with a raggedy old field house in need of razing I think the former Bulldog would like what he saw if he could catch a glimpse of the lady turning 81

Also, a press box has been placed on the visiting side of the field in efforts to keep the visiting coaches away from the home side There now is ample room for the annoying press as well as home coaches The home side press box's largest room is reserved for the vivacious Roger Tidwell, who serves as the "Voice of Bulldog Stadium" and has since the retirement of Leon Thornhill

Bulldog Stadium has gone through many changes in its 81 years

There were new bleachers placed on the home side before the 1971 season Within ten years, they were replaced again In 1997, metal bleachers expanded the home not so many years ago Matching metal uniformed bleachers take up nearly most of the playing field stretching from the north 17 to the south 17 yard line In comparison, from 1971-1996, the view was from the 38 to the 38

Scoreboards were replaced in 1981, 1998, and 2014 The one placed in 1981 had the "M" in "HOME" flipped so that it read, "HOWE" The track was placed around the playing surface before the 1986 season in which sidewalks were also put in from bleachers to the concession area during that time Visiting bleachers have also been updated over the years and the most current ones came from Austin College when they built their new stadium (hence the red rusted color)

One can only imagine what the place will look like 81 years from 1971

City continued from page 1 of the complete build-out of the development in early spring of 2017, that would create a significant increase in water, sewer and trash usage, which in turn creates a more healthy bottom line for the city

Sewer became the subject of the discussion for the next ten minutes (which you can read on page 11)

Another increase in city revenue comes from sales tax where Howe is currently at $173,299 04 through the first seven months Totals for 2015 were a city record $308,689 11 and it appears that number will continue to climb for years to come as the city grows with more commercial activity.

Howe's working budget included a revenue from the ad valorem tax of an estimated $419,536 which is up from $404,617 from this year's budget Franchise tax was listed at $115,000

Street repair was budgeted at $25,000 which some of that amount could foreseen to be used as a matching amount for a much larger grant Councilman Sam Haigis stated that he understands the streets are not in great shape and wanted to see an increase in that area of the budget

"There is $46,000 in the reserve fund, which is our savings account " said Shephard "If we're going to increase the street repair budget, then we'll have to take it out of that reserve "

Lowery asked if there were any warranty on the work of Ponderosa Road which was attended to recently, but in bad shape again "We spent a lot of money on that and it's bad " said Lowery

Shephard responded that a lot of the streets are getting damaged due to the amount of people that drive on them that are not actually citizens of Howe, but in the outskirts of the city boundaries

"I have people from out of town call me and complain about streets that are in town " said Shephard

Councilman Bill French stated that part of the problem is who the city uses to fix the streets "We all know that a city street should be better than rural roads, but we're not using city street construction people to fix it " said French "We're happy with the price But we get what we pay for We pay a sub-rate and we get sub-work. When they redid Long and (North) Hughes, it was beautiful and by enlarge, Hughes is still a very nice street But that was done by a professional paving contractor You can see the difference - very easily"

Shephard recommended that instead of immediately increasing the street repair budget that they wait until the spring to see the increased revenues expected from Summit Hill that was not reflected in the budget summary revenue

With a budgeted 2 percent increase to salary staff, Lowery showed objection to the raise for employees "I'm not trying to upset anyone, but I know that we're going to have to hear the same complaints this year that we hear every year - that our streets are horrible, our water rates are too high and we're still giving increases to the salaries of the employees " said Lowery "As a citizen of Howe, I can see how they're upset about that "

Lowery went on to say that the police officers do not get paid enough for what they do which resulted in a response from Shephard that none of the city employees get paid enough for what they do

"I don't know how I'm going to justify this to the citizens that are going to be upset when we have bad roads and we need more police officers " said Lowery

Shephard's response to Lowery was that the same people that will continued on page 12

Howe Elementary Meet The Teacher Night isThursday, August 18 from 5pm -7:30 pm

Studentsareencouragedtobring school supplies and meet teachers There will also be a Howe High School Cheer table set up to purchase your favorite

“BULLDOGS” spirit wear Girl Scouts and the PTA will be on hand to give information out about their programs Howe Elementary Principal Clarissia Doty wants to remind overyone about the shot clinic that will be available to students who need immunizations