🐓City Council to hold budget workshop today

One big thing: City Council Budget Workshop

The news: With the final budget for the next fiscal year due to be presented and adopted in September, City Council is set to review General Funds revenue and expenditures in a budget workshop this morning. According to a memo sent to City Council by Budget Manager Kimberly Holley, certified estimated values from the Tom Green County Appraisal District are projected to increase by 15.1% over the previous year. Projected sales tax revenue is a 5% decrease from last year. In the memo, Holley explains why some City Departments’ projected revenues are either increasing or decreasing over the previous year.

Holley writes: “The no-new-revenue tax rate compares the relationship between taxes from the prior and current years. This is the tax rate that would produce the same amount of taxes if applied to the same properties taxed in both years. The voter-approval tax rate is the calculated maximum rate that the law allows without voter approval.

Sales tax is projected conservatively at a 5% decrease from projected year-end. In the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, we have experienced an average 9.4% increase from the prior year. The increase in franchise taxis due to natural gas collections.

The departments have minor changes in revenue projections; the majority of increases are related to fees that were approved by City Council previously. Interest income is projected up due to current year trends, Finance staff believes these are sustainable figures.

Public safety expenditures are up due to the ending of the COPS grant and those expenditures being fully realized in the
General Fund. There is also an increase in Police steps and operational costs of $361 thousand. Public works has an increase for a re-organization of personnel including the CDL Program Coordinator, as well as some operational cost increases.

Public Services is down due to the closing of the Nature Center and an increase in Parks for the maintenance of Chadbourne Streetscape. Planning and Development Services experienced personnel changes for the addition of the second Planning Technician and related to benefits rates increasing.

General Government decreased for COSA DC’s plan to leave one position vacant in the upcoming year.

Administrative Services increase is largely due to contractual obligations for software systems, utilities, and the Tom Green County Appraisal District.

Transfers out is largely decreasing related to the COPS grant.

Fairmount Cemetery and Fort Concho are projecting additional revenue due to fee
increases, therefore, reducing the need for General Fund support.

At the workshop, the City Council will have the opportunity to review changes to the budget, as well as consider potential items.”

Why it matters: With the budget set to be presented next month, it's interesting to see how different departments are projecting revenue for the next year. As stated by Holley, fee increases that City Council previously improved will make a big impact on projected revenue. COSADC is planning to keep a position vacant for the upcoming year, one in which a new Economic Director will soon be hired.

Animal Control impounds eight dogs that killed one dog, attacked another

The news: On Tuesday afternoon, Animal Control impounded eight dogs from 819 North Jackson Street. The dogs are quarantined at the San Angelo Animal Shelter. This action follows those dogs killing one dog last week and injuring another on Sunday morning. The owner of the dogs will be able to pick up those dogs on September 6th but must comply with city ordinances.

The owner must: spay/neuter pets, dogs must have rabies vaccine and be microchipped, and the owner must obtain a multi-pet permit if she chooses to keep all of the dogs and breeder’s permit if she chooses to sell them.

In addition to those eight dogs, neighbors have also observed a litter of around six puppies running around the front yard unleashed with the owner watching them.

Parents of Austin Elementary students received a message about the eight dogs yesterday morning warning them to be on alert.

Zoom out: Lost in the story about these eight dogs is the heroic actions of Air Force Staff Sergeant Josh Elrod. Elrod, an Intelligence Instructor at Goodfellow, was the first to notice the pack of dogs attacking another dog and sprung into action by hitting the other dogs to separate the aggressors from the victim. Elrod saved the dog’s life and provided a statement to Animal Control which helped get those pack of dogs impounded.

SAMFA to present “Luster” exhibit at Blue Buffalo Gallery at beginning of October

In October, the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts will present LUSTER: Realism and Hyperrealism in Contemporary Automobile and Motorcycle Painting organized by David J. Wagner, L.L.C, from October 5 – December 31, 2023 at the Blue Buffalo Gallery located at 123 N. Chadbourne.

The exhibit will feature approximately fifty original paintings by more than fifteen realist and hyperrealist painters who specialize in automobiles and motorcycles.

Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, cars and motorcycles have not only been ubiquitous on the nation’s streets and highways, but also in film, top forty hits, and in painting.

With the emergence of photo-realism in the 1960’s, motor vehicles assumed a special place of distinction as subject matter in the iconography of American art.
Like the shiny automobiles and motorcycles portrayed by the exhibit’s artists, its paintings can be characterized by the luster that permeates their imagery. Chrome ornamentation and trim together with enameled bodywork, glass, and interior fabrication to meet the needs of purpose-built vehicles of all sorts: these are the surfaces which recent realists and hyperrealists have exploited to generate true, virtuosic masterpieces.

The artists’ work embodies the very best of automotive painting being done today and encompasses a broad range of car and motorcycle styles and design from vintage vehicles to classics of the 1950’s and ‘60’s, to road and track racing, off-road vehicles, exotics, and more.

Featuring dazzling paintings that portray a spectrum of vehicles from the first half of the
Twentieth Century to the present, LUSTER is a celebration of mechanical and artist design and style. An opening reception will be held on October 5th from 5:30 to 8 pm, at the Blue Buffalo Gallery. The reception is free and open to the public.

On Wednesday October 25th, from 4 to 8 pm, a car and motorcycle show will take place on 2nd Street between Chadbourne and Gillis Streets. The car show coincides with the annual EnPleinAirTEXAS painting competition, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Competition artists, who will be painting Downtown all day along Concho Street and the Concho River, will bring their paints and easels to 2nd Street that evening, where the cars and motorcycles will serve as their subject matter. The car show is also free and open to the public.

News from around the globe

UNC shooting. Police were searching for both the weapon and the motive in a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that left one faculty member dead and prompted an hourslong lockdown amid a search for the suspect. 

The assailant in Monday afternoon’s shooting at a science building in the heart of the flagship university’s campus was taken into custody about an hour and a half after the gunfire was first reported, officials said at a news conference. Neither the suspect nor the victim was immediately identified and it wasn’t clear whether they knew each other. Formal charges were pending. (AP)

Trump’s trials. Donald Trump will stand trial in March 2024 for trying to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat, one day before Republican voters in more than a dozen U.S. states will decide whether to give him a chance to recapture the White House. (Reuters)

Paxton Impeachment. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Monday named Lana Myers, a former state appeals court judge in North Texas, as his counsel for the upcoming impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton. 

It was Patrick’s second effort at selecting a legal adviser for the trial after his first pick, Marc Brown, backed out amid questions about his impartiality. 

Myers was a Republican justice on the Dallas-based Fifth Court of Appeals from 2009-2022. She previously was a Dallas County district court judge and assistant district attorney for the county. 

Paxton’s trial is set to start Sept. 5. (Texas Tribune)

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Obituaries

Kyle Mosher Jones, age 14, of Water Valley, Texas passed away on Sunday, August 27, 2023. Kyle was born on December 29, 2008 in San Angelo to Crystal Jones and James Jones. He had just started his freshman year at Water Valley High School where he loved playing with the band. After years of playing the clarinet, Kyle was excited to finally be able to play the drums this year. He intended on eventually playing the quads. Besides band, Kyle enjoyed tinkering with a wide variety of projects. He was a creative soul. 

Kyle also enjoyed the outdoors where he worked with livestock, went hiking, camping and built bonfires. He had a huge bonfire at his Aunt Susie and Uncle Tommy's ranch every year and loved lighting "Kyle's Pile" with a roman candle.

Kyle had a way of making people smile no matter what kind of day they were having. He was witty, goofy, silly and always had a snappy comeback. He was a protective son of his parents and brother to his four siblings. He will always be remembered for his dimpled smile and his compassion for others.

Kyle is preceded in death by his uncles, Stephen Jones and Archie Williams.

Those left to cherish his memory are his father James Jones and wife Kami; his mother, Crystal Jones; his siblings, Shawn Jewell and wife Kayla, Raylee Jewell, Logan Jones and Maverick Jones; his paternal grandparents, Doug and Nola Jones; his maternal grandparents; Ted Shields and wife Darlene and Christi Shields; his step-grandparents, Mike and Ruth Wheeler; his maternal aunt, Susie Mott and husband Thomas and Uncle LJ Sanders and wife Maggie; his paternal aunts, Teresa Jones, Marie Jones and Becky Mejia; his paternal uncles, David Jones, Mark Jones, and Daniel Jones; his paternal cousins, Tyrel, Kimber, Dakota, Grace, Katie, Wyatt, Rowan and Raiden; his maternal cousins, Lexi, Jennifer, Kimberly, Bo, Gabby, Ellie, Riley, Ava and Alyssa, as well as many other relatives and friends.

A Celebration of Kyle's life will be held Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 2:00 pm at Water Valley High School Gymnasium.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Kyle's name to Water Valley Band (PO Box 250 Water Valley, Texas 76958).

Angel Mejia, Sr., 72, passed away Saturday, August 26, 2023, in San Angelo surrounded by his loving family.

Public viewing will be from 10:00 AM until 8:00 PM with the Rosary being prayed at 6:00 PM Tuesday, August 29, 2023, at Robert Massie Riverside Chapel. Mass will be at 10:00 AM Wednesday, August 30, 2023 at St. Mary's Catholic Church with Father Joey Forlona, officiating.

Burial will follow at Calvary Catholic Cemetery under the direction of Robert Massie Funeral Home.

Mr. Mejia was born in San Felipe, Mexico to Timotea and Antonio Mejia. Angel married Maria Rodriguez on October 1, 1970 in Mexico. He has been a resident of San Angelo since 1985 when he started working of Twin Mountain Fence Co. where he worked until his retirement in 2021. Angel was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church. Angel loved working, even in the last weeks he wanted his truck so he could go to work. Angel loved and enjoyed spending time with family and friends.

Survivors include his wife, Maria; his four sons, Castulo Mejia and wife Silvia of Mexico, Felix Mejia of San Angelo, Alfredo Mejia of Dallas, and Angel Mejia, Jr. of San Angelo; his five daughters, Maria Garcia and husband Juan of Dallas, Anna Gomez and husband Miguel of Mexico, Rocio Majia and partner Cesar of San Angelo, Laura Ramirez and husband Joe of San Angelo, and Liliana Castañon and husband Eddie of San Angelo; a brother, Cresencio Mejia and wife Cruz of Mexico; a sister, Josephina Mejia of Dallas; and 14 grandchildren.