City Council Sets 2018-2019 Budget, Tax Rate

City Manager Cody Thompson addresses the City Council.

At its monthly meeting in City Hall yesterday evening, the Roscoe City Council set the 2018-2019 tax rate, adopted the new City budget, and approved budgets for the City’s A and B Tax Boards. It approved its ongoing deal with the Atmos Cities Steering Committee and negotiated settlement with Atmos Energy Corporation, and it heard City updates from the City Manager and the monthly Police Report from the Police Chief.

Since the overall property valuation will be a little greater this coming year, the City tax rate will drop from the current $.791344 per $100 property valuation to $.751180 per $100 to raise the same amount of revenue. Thus, most property owners will see no tax increase unless their property valuation has changed. The General Fund will receive $.574097 and Debt Service $.146180 of each $100 property valuation. The Council also approved the 2018-19 budgets for the City’s A and B Tax Boards, keeping them essentially the same as this year. There will, however, be a $3 per month raise in the user fee for water, sewer, and trash pickup, which is necessary because maintenance of the R-O water system is more expensive than originally anticipated.

City Manager Cody Thompson reported that at Windmill Park on Main and Broadway, City workers will pour a slab next week for a future picnic table and cover. The City will be involved in a conference call tomorrow with designated engineers EHT of Abilene and TWDB (Texas Water Development Board) concerning replacement of the sewer line between Cypress and Main Streets, and more street drainage work is planned in problem areas around George Parks Field.

House construction in Young Farm Estates is proceeding, and Carl Childers is planning to restore the old cotton house across from the Lumberyard near Front and Cypress Streets. It is one of the few cotton houses still remaining in the state of Texas.

Police Chief Felix Pantoja gave the Police Report for the month of August. The Police Department received 104 total calls, and there were 4 crash reports, 7 burglary and theft reports, 14 ongoing investigations, 6 City ordinance violation warnings, 12 traffic warnings, no citations, and 5 snake calls, three of them for rattlesnakes.

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SECOND-HALF STAMFORD SURGE STOPS PLOWBOYS 53-29

Junior Martinez (4) heads upfield after catching a pass. Blockers are Garrett Bowers (64) and Rey Martinez (74). (Football photos by Tamara Alexander)

The Abilene Reporter-News’ “Big Country Game of the Week” was a great game for two-and-a-half quarters. During that time, the underdog Plowboys traded touchdown for touchdown with Stamford, the consensus pick to win the area’s 2A Division I district. But two critical Plowboy turnovers deep in their own territory in the third quarter were both quickly followed by Stamford touchdowns, and the Plowboys never recovered, as the Bulldogs seized the momentum and went on to win 53-29.

On a rainy evening, Stamford opened the scoring on their first drive to go up 7-0, but later in the quarter the Plowboys responded with a drive of their own, tying the score 7-7 on a one-yard Nick Limones run and a Jose Ortega extra-point kick.

On the first play of the second quarter, the Bulldogs scored again on a 30-yard pass to go up 14-7, but the Plowboys answered almost immediately with Limones going in from the 4, and Ortega kicking the extra point to tie the score, 14-14. Then, neither team was able to convert a drive until late in the quarter, when Barrett Beal hit Junior Martinez with a 14-yard touchdown pass. Ortega kicked the extra point, and the Plowboys had their first lead of the night 21-14. Stamford came right back, though, and on the final play of the first half, scored on a 26-yard play in which one player going out of the end zone batted a high pass volley-ball style back to one of his teammates, who caught it in bounds for the touchdown. They then tried a two-point conversion but failed, and Roscoe led at halftime 21-20.

Stamford scored first in the third quarter on a 24-yard touchdown pass. They then failed to convert the extra-point but were back in the lead at 26-21. However, the Plowboys responded with another successful drive as Limones again went in from the one, followed by an Ortega two-point run to put the Plowboys back on top 29-26. But then the Bulldogs came right back with another score to move back on top 33-29.

The Plowboys started their next drive deep in their own territory, and on a pass play Barrett Beal was hit and fumbled. Stamford recovered and on the next play from scrimmage scored on an 11-yard pass to go up 39-29. It was the first time in the game that either team had led by more than one score. On the Plowboys’ next drive, a Beal pass was intercepted and run back deep into Roscoe territory. A couple of plays later, the Bulldogs were back in the end zone, increasing their lead to 47-29, the score at the end of the third quarter.

The Plowboys never recovered any momentum in the fourth quarter, and shortly before the end of the game, the Bulldogs scored again to make the final score 53-29. It was a disappointing finish for a game that had been filled with excitement for most of the evening.

Even so, the Plowboys are getting better as they gain experience as a team. Beal completed 19 of 32 passes with one interception for 175 yards, and Nick Limones had a breakout game as a running back with several strong runs. For the evening he gained 146 yards on 32 carries with 3 TDs, and on several of those runs the offensive line opened big holes for him to go through. Martinez had 19 yards on 2 carries. Top receivers were Ortega with 7 catches for 81 yards, Martinez with 5 for 49 and 1 TD, and Brandon Lavalais with 5 for 32.

The defense generally played well against one of the area’s best passing attacks and the tackling was spirited and getting better. Ortega led with 9½ tackles, followed by Limones with 8½, and Gary Shaw with 7.

It’s still early in the season, of course, so there is room for improvement in all phases, but, all things considered, the Plowboys appear to be on track for another successful season.

(The Abilene Reporter-News article on the game is here.)

Plowboys vs. Miles at Plowboy Field Friday

The Plowboys are playing at home again Friday evening when they take on the Miles Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are undefeated at 2-0, but it’s difficult to know what they have as both wins were against inferior teams. They beat Ranger 67-14 and Roby 53-0. Last year they were 2-9, but they return eight starters on defense and six on offense, so they are obviously better this year. Still, Texas Football predicted them to finish in the lower half of 8-2A Division II, a district that includes Menard, Rocksprings, Christoval, Eldorado, and Irion County. Bulldogs to watch include QB Jared Flores and RB Mason Bryan.

Kickoff is at 7:30pm.

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STEVE HELMS BAND AT LUMBERYARD SATURDAY

Steve Helms.

The Steve Helms Band will be at the Lumberyard Saturday night playing some good Texas Country music and helping people enjoy some of this nice fall weather we’re having.

Originally from Cleburne, Steve Helms is best known for his song, “Nowhere But Texas,” which is played at Texas Ranger games, University of Texas sporting events, Lone Star Park horse races and elsewhere. There’s even a Nowhere But Texas brand of beer now.

He released his latest album, Can I Buy You a Country Song, earlier this year. Other albums include Nowhere But Texas, and Red Wine and Copenhagen.

Singles include “Can I Buy You a Country Song,” “Wanted Woman,” and “Talkin’ ‘Bout the Weather.”

Check out this video of “Nowhere But Texas,” and see how many of the celebrities in it you can name.

For reservations and more information, contact the Lumberyard at 325-766-2457.

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WEATHER REPORT: COOL & WET

Skies were clear again at yesterday's sunset.

The area finally got some much-needed rain from Wednesday through Saturday along with some unseasonably cool weather. As always, some places got more rain than others. Reports of five to ten and eleven inches were reported in southern and eastern Nolan County, but out Roscoe way the totals were considerably less, ranging from one to three inches. Here in town we got an official two inches. Most of the rain, at least in Roscoe, was light and relatively consistent for long stretches of time.

Temperatures were cool. Wednesday’s high was only 81°F, and for the five days following, the highs never got out of the seventies. The coolest maximums were Thursday and Friday’s 72°. Lows were in the sixties, except for Monday when it fell to 59°. Since Sunday, however, skies have been clearing and temperatures rising, with highs of 79° on Monday and 82° yesterday.

The forecast is for partly cloudy skies for the rest of the week with highs in the mid-eighties and lows of around 67°. On Saturday evening, there’s a 40% chance of rain, and that will increase to 50% on Sunday. There’s a 20% chance of precipitation on Thursday and Friday, so this week’s game with Miles is likely to be drier than last week’s game with Stamford.

Temperatures next week will have highs in the eighties with 10% and 20% chances of rain.

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