By Becky Brewster
The Culberson County Hospital District met in Regular Session on August 14, 2019. The Board heard an update on the Façade/Parking Lot Improvements from Project Manager Judy Blazek. The bids have been advertised in the local paper as well as being placed in various plan rooms with a deadline of August 27. The Board anticipates interviewing bidders at its September meeting. The Board approved Fokus on Architecture to conduct the accessibility review of plans and inspection of the site upon completion of the project, noting that all public projects over $50K have to be submitted to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for review. Ms. Blazek also noted that the State Fire Marshall office has conducted its final inspection of the clinic as well as the hospital.
The Board reviewed the 2019 Certified Taxable Value as prepared by the Culberson County Appraisal District. The 2019 Values were certified at $2,429,925,960 which is up from the 2018 Value of $1,874,494,900. In Culberson County, the Certified Taxable Value has increased by $2,138,988,480.00 over the last ten years due to the increase in mineral rolls.
The increase in the Certified Taxable Value has resulted in a reduction of the effective tax rate. The 2019 effective tax rate is $0.123221/$100 valuation and the rollback rate is $0.127574/$100 valuation. The 2018 tax rate was $0.144163/$100 valuation. And this is down from a high of $0.60/$100 valuation in 2009. The board chose to begin the tax increase process to adopt the rollback rate which will generate approximately $183,000 in additional income to the District while the average homeowner will still see a slight reduction in their property taxes for the District. The Board is putting aside funds in order to be able to replace ambulances and other equipment on a regular basis. Public hearings for the tax increase will be held August 29, 2019 at September 3, 2019.
In other business, the Culberson County Hospital District:
Approved the consent agenda.
Approved an Affiliation Agreement with Preferred Hospital Leasing, Eldorado, Inc.
Engaged Knapp and Company as auditor for FYE 9-30-19.
Reviewed the preliminary FY 2019-2020 general fund budget proposal.
