Council approves sewer bid

It may have been too little too late, but that didn’t stop one angry resident from challenging the Odessa City Council Tuesday evening.

After council had already passed a tax rate for fiscal year 2009-2010, Conrad Turner addressed members. The Odessa man said taxes on his home went up 14.1 percent for the coming year. He then went through the values of the homes of each of the council’s members, as well as City Manager Richard Morton and Assistant City Manager James Zentner. Most of the valuations were down or up slightly.

“Folks, y’all are not paying your fair share,” said Turner, who’d given a similar speech to Ector County Independent School District trustees Aug. 26. “What have y’all been doing on your Saturday night sit-down dinners?”

But the council came prepared. Councilman Royce Bodiford provided statistics that showed that Turner’s city taxes had actually gone down .98 percent since 2005 (though he did turn 65 and qualify for a property tax exemption in that period), while council member’s had seen their city taxes rise by between 1.4 and 19.8 percent over the same period.

“I’ve been missing those dinners myself,” Bodiford told Turner. “It takes taxes to provide services. I think taxes are held within check and I think this council has done a good job of that.”

But the explanations only made Turner heat up more.

“Y’all are driving me crazy just trying to keep up and stay in this town,” he said.

Finally, Councilman James Goates had enough.

“You’re just trying to raise the roof for no reason,” he said. “You get out there and run for something instead of being a big mouth.”

After inviting Goates to take their differences outside, Turner stormed out of the council chamber.

Moments earlier, council gave final approval to a tax rate of 52.275 cents per $100 valuation. While that is a 3.954-cent decrease from the current fiscal year, most property owners will pay more in city taxes because the city’s taxable value increased by 9.29 percent.

The average homeowner is expected to see a city tax bill increase by $13.22 to $434.29. According to statistics provided by the city, Turner’s city taxes will increase by $20.09 cents.

After the meeting, Bodiford said he’d spent 35 minutes talking on the phone with Turner, while Morton, whose city taxes have increased by 25.21 percent over the past five years, said he went to breakfast with the resident.

“His account is that these guys get sweetheart deals,” Morton said. “If you look at it over one year, you can say anything. You have to look at it over several years.”

Council also approved a $1,888,840.64 bid with SLC Construction LLC of Conroe that will replace sewer lines at 13 sites around town. The bid was 23.2 percent below the city engineer’s estimate of $2.46 million.

Morton said that once the project is complete in about a year, the city would have spent about $18 million of $65 million designated toward improving the city’s water and sewer lines over the next five years.

Morton said he wasn’t concerned that the same company is building the new Line H, a $4.8 million project that is extending sewer service to developing areas in northeastern Odessa.

In other action council approved:

>> Authorizing the Odessa Police Department to accept an additional Bureau of Justice Assistance Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant for $68,581.

>> A bid of $179,625 for aluminum sulfate at the city water treatment plant.

>> A bid of $208,956 for liquid chlorine at the city water treatment and water reclamation plants.

>> A bid of $60,000 for liquid ammonium sulfate at the city water treatment plant.

>> Accepting a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration grant of $106,630.45.

>> Purchase of a police SWAT team armored personnel carrier for $141,000.

>> An agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation to contribute $4,148, or 10 percent of the cost, toward relocating utility pipelines for the proposed widening of Faudree Road from Highway 191 to Business Interstate 20.

>> A resolution of support for a grant submission between the Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance and the Ports to Plains Coalition.

>> A lease agreement with Heritage of Odessa for office space at Municipal Plaza.

>> Hotel-motel tax funding requests from Texas Tours Entertainment ($20,000) and Odessa Area Pool Players ($5,000). Texas Tours Entertainment puts on the Tejano Super Car Show, while the pool players are seeking a statewide tournament.

>> Reappointing Michael Marrero, Willie Taylor and Gloria Pena to the Permian Basin Airport Board and Bill Anderson, Wilmer Ray, Jimmy Peacock and Lamar Osbourn to the planning and zoning commission.