This is a busy time here in Milam County and the State of Texas as a whole with the biennial state constitution election and the third called special session of the state legislature in Austin. Besides the 14 State Constitutional Propositions on the ballot this year, there is a county-wide vote on the proposed Emergency Services District (ESD) to handle the future of ambulance coverage here in Milam County.
Fourteen propositions can be found in their entirety on the Elections page of the Milam County Website. To help out, I have provided 14 quick summaries of those propositions.
1. Protects the rights of farmers and ranchers.
2. Allows the exemption of all or part of ad valorem taxes for Child-Care Facilities.
3. Prohibits the imposition of a Wealth Tax.
4. Moves the School Tax Homestead exemption from $40,000 to $100,000.
5. Provides higher education funding to achieve national prominence as research universities.
6. Creates the Texas Water Fund to help finance water projects in the state.
7. Creates the Texas Energy Fund to help finance improvements to electrical generating facilities.
8. Creates the Broadband Infrastructure Fund to expand high-speed broadband access.
9. Authorizes a cost-ofliving adjustment for annuities for retired teachers in Texas.
10. Authorizes the exemption of ad valorem taxes for equipment or inventory held by a manufacturer of healthcare or biomedical supplies to protect the Texas healthcare network.
11. Authorizes reclamation districts in El Paso to fund the development and maintenance of parks.
12. Provides for the abolition of the office of treasurer in Galveston County.
13. Increases the mandatory retirement ages of state justices and judges.
14. Creates the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund to be used to create and improve state parks.
All 14 of these items need attention and deserve to be given equal credence; however, here is the big thing on the Milam County Ballot, the Emergency Services District. We have been holding Town Halls throughout the county for the last few weeks with most of them concluding this week. The remaining meetings are posted below, all meetings start at 6:30 p.m.
Oct. 25 – Rockdale Municipal Development District Oct. 26 – Gause First Baptist Church Nov. 3 – Buckholts Outreach Center As you vote, it’s easy to become complacent with so many state items on the ballot, so I would ask that each of us stay vigilant and vote according to your thoughts on all the items, especially the item on the ESD. Too often people are concerned that they don’t have a say or that their votes don’t matter, but they most definitely do. Please take the time to go out and vote. Normal turnout for a constitutional election is roughly 10-15 percent of the voting population. That means that for every 100 people out there, the decisions are only being made by 10-15 of the voting public.
Voter apathy can be the largest single contributor to the problems we all face. Don’t let that be the case for you. Make a difference and get out there and vote. And make sure you vote on each topic individually to make the most difference, not just to fill in the blanks. Voting and Jury Duty are two of the most important, yet least attended functions of every American. So, in the next few weeks let’s get out the vote and start changing that. The polls are open now.
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