THE BATTALION Pago 3
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1979
campus & city
Sea Grant publication
offers Gulf fishing tips
ountyunit to streamline taxing
//7|.u By NANCY ANDERSEN
lUWy Battalion Staff
last spring the Texas Legislature
dge retunjed a law designed to consolidate
on Raver, appraisal offices in each county,
isions.” nstead of each school board or
be verdict! appraising property for its own
could be "Poses, Senate Bill 621 would
prison of; to a county-wide appraisal dis-
Havera’s strHrhis will eliminate the current
tlight on I lation of appraising the same
iat of Roj.perh as many as two or three
Juple ofi; e s-
t his threA e taxing district would follow
am him. lines of the county and be gov-
een estrajfd by a five-member board of di-
hildrenaif | l ors While the district will not
!Ct taxes until 1982, Brazos Coun
hen, thal appraisal district is beginning to
tyetcaufJ sha P e now -
; ly l3 ecauS( |ie Bryan and A&M Consoli-
viewed e( ! independent School districts,
cities of Bryan and College Sta-
igagointbj
: ex-wife fc-j
ir son. SuJ
iecutor sail
them, chi]
lers
hd Brazos County are the tax-
iits forming the Brazos County
fal Appraisal District.
[inty governments are not re-
ictl to participate in the district,
°^Bve the option to do so.
.1 j Mii )n the recommendation of Coun-
the F™, I 5 " Assessor-Collector Gerald
“Buddy” Winn, the Brazos County
Commisioners Court has decided to
join the district.
The reason, Winn said, is to save
county taxpayers from paying for
both the district appraisal board
through school and city taxes and the
county’s appraisal unit.
The governing board of each tax
ing unit is allowed to nomimate one
candidate for each board position.
The board will be elected by a
cumulative voting system, which
bases the number of votes each unit
receives on the amount of taxes
levied. County Clerk Frank Boriskie
is responsible for calculating each
unit’s entitlement.
The calculation is as follows: the
amount of taxes each unit levied dur
ing the preceding year is divided by
the total amount levied by all the
participating units. This is then mul
tiplied by 5 and then by 1,000.
For example, the Bryan Indepen
dent School Board levied $5,078,718
last year. This is then divided by
$12,904,253 and multiplied by
5,000. This results in 1,968 votes or
approximately 39 percent of the
vote.
A&M Consolidated has 1,420 or
29 percent, Bryan 697 or 14 percent,
Brazos County 560 or 11 percent and
College Station 355 or seven per
cent.
These votes can be split or used as
a whole to elect the board. The mini
mum number of votes a taxing unit
needs to guarantee a director’s elec
tion is 834, and 4168 votes are
needed to guarentee all five dire
ctors.
The nominees’ names are re
quired by the bill to be submitted to
the county clerk by Oct. 30. The
nominees and their respective units
are: Dietrich W. Bengs, City of Col
lege Station and A&M Consolidated
I.S.D., Arthur Davila, Bryan
1.5. D., Henry Seale, Bryan and
A.C. Vinzant, A&M Consolidated
1.5. D. Only the names listed
alphabetically will appear on the
ballot.
Since there are five nominees and
five positions, Winn said the election
is just a formality. But if one
nominee failed to receive one vote, a
special election with five new
nominees will be held for the fifth
position. Each board must vote be-
rafts displayed in MSC
■ " V— 1 --
Jewelry box wins contest
By TODD HEDGEPETH
( Battalion Reporter
JgGillette Burger’s wooden jewelry box was judged
st-of-show in the MSC Crafts and Arts Comittee’s
Student Juried Craft Competition.
■In a reception at the Memorial Student Center
Gallery Monday night, ribbons were awarded to the
top four entrants in each of five categories: wood, clay,
fibre, jewelry and glass.
■Burger’s winning entry, which also took first place
in wood, featured three levels and four drawers with
ebony handles and brass dials. The drawers were
made from rosewood and the rest of the box was ash.
Kurt Buck’s wooden box won second place in wood,
Wayne Heaton’s coffee table was judged third and Ed
Hull’s spalted bowl earned honorable mention,
iljody Landry’s poppy bowl won top honors in clay
and Bobbie Baker’s wind chimes were second. Land
ry’s coffee pot earned a third-place ribbon and a pitch
er by Pamela McCowen took honorable mention.
In fibre, Valerie Wilks claimed the top two ribbons,
with her wool hanging winning first place and her fibre
basket getting second. Andrew Jordan took third with
a wall hanging and Clint Isbell received an honorable
mention for his macrame.
A glass terrarium by Lynette Ham won top honors
in glass. Barb Vinson took second with an etched
dragon and also won honorable mention with a stained
glass window. John Baker’s tiffany lamp won third.
In jewelry, Clint Isbell’s dinosaur bone ring won
first place and his belt buckle was judged third. Land
ry won second place with an agate pin, and Cindy
James was judged honorable mention for her obsidian
drop.
Five judges, each an expert in one of the catagories,
evaluated the entries, all of which are on display this
week in the MSC Gallery.
Mack Engineers to host
conference this weekend
/ l tlky ANGELIQUE COPELAND
Battalion Reporter
iys to improve achievement
g minorities will be the main
of the regional conference of the
ble” and itional Society of Black Engineers
i Texas A&M University this
ler Threeiekend.
r dumpiii Seventy-five delegates represen t-
scienctf seven charter chapters and five
ted schools will meet in work-
and discuss methods used in
programs.
e A&M chapter will speak on
of the
malaise-]
)er full (f|
there has
1 other iii
cause
emovalof]
:ure. “Pit
ther draf
eats a “k
interviewing techniques while the
University of Houston and Lamar
University present programs on
tutoring and high school interaction.
Annie Carter, president of the loc
al chapter of NSBE, said Texas A&M
currently has an interaction program
where members go to local high
schools and talk about engineering
careers. They also speak to their
home-town schools over the Christ
mas holidays. “Many of the high
school students have never been ex
posed to engineering and we try to
tell them something about both the
careers available and A&M,” Carter
said.
The local chapter, which was offi
cially recognized in 1978, also pub
lishes a book containing resumes of
its members each year.
Leroy Callender, guest speaker
for the conference, will discuss edu
cation as a means of upward mobility
in society. Callender is with the
largest black engineering consulting
firm, located in New York.
MSC TOWN HALL
and
ON THE AISLE, INC
present
uring tk
ound Hat
ng public'
have the!
openly
tically,
Mon., November 26
8:15 p.m.
Rudder Auditoriu
fore Nov. 15, and the county clerk
will tabulate the votes and declare
the winners before Dec. 1.
The directors will serve a two-year
term beginning Jan. 1, 1980. The
members will not receive a salary,
but they may be reimbursed for ex
penses.
When the board takes office Jan.
1, it will appoint a chief appraiser.
He will be paid in accordance with
the budget, establish an office and
may hire a staff. The board has the
option of creating a new office or
contracting with any existing taxing
unit in or out of the district or using
the services of a professional apprais
al firm.
The chief appraiser’s duties will be
to appraise all the taxable property in
the district and to prepare a budget
and an appraisal roll for each taxing
unit. The roll will list the total
appraised values within a unit’s area.
The assesors for each taxing unit
will then assess taxes on the basis of
100 percent of the appraised values.
This will abolish the use of assess
ment ratios.
Currently both cities and both
school districts in the appraisal dis
trict are using an 80 percent ratio;
the county is using a 20 percent
ratio.
Tax collections, like the assess
ments, will be handled by each tax
ing unit.
The appraisal district will be fi
nanced by the taxing units. Each
unit will be allocated a portion of the
budget based on the amount of taxes
it levies compared to the total
amount levied by each unit.
The taxing units will make four
equal payments, which are due at
the end of each quarter.
Overall taxes will not be in
creased, Winn said, because any in
crease in appraised values will be
result in a corresponding decrease in
the tax rate.
Under the present tax system, a
house in Brazos County valued at
$40,000 and not taxed by any other
governmental bodies would be
appraised at $8,000. At the current
county tax rate of $1.15, taxes would
be $92.
Under the proposed system, the
house would be assessed at its full
value — $40,000. At a reduced tax
rate of 23 cents per $100 valuation
taxes would still total $92.
These figures do not include any
city or school district taxes. In addi
tion, the figures do not include the
homestead or old age exemptions for
taxpayers.
If you’re a novice Gulf surf fisher
man and think most fish look pretty
much alike except for the flounder
(which, of course, looks with both
eyes on one side of its head), then
Texas A&M University’s Sea Grant
College Program may have just the
thing for you.
It’s a free publication called
“Fishing the Texas Surf’ and the 24-
page booklet continues to be one of
the most popular items ever printed
by Sea Grant.
More than 2,500 requests for the
loose-leaf booklet have been re
ceived since this spring. Sea Grant
officials said.
Written by Tony Fedler, a Texas
A&M graduate student majoring in
recreation and resources develop
ment, the booklet has illustrations of
20 of the most common fish varieties
caught while surf, wade or pier
fishing and many other helpful
fishing hints.
Copies of “Fishing the Texas Surf’
may be obtained by writing Sea
Grant College Program, Texas A&M
University, College Station, Texas
77843.
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