Gatesville residents can vote on state propositions, local tax rates in November election

Early voting for the Nov. 7 election begins on Monday. Here’s everything you need to know about what will appear on your local ballot.  

Along with the 14 proposed amendments sent by Texas lawmakers, Gatesville’s ballot will include a voter-approval tax rate election that will appear under Proposition A, as well as local races for Gatesville City Council and Gatesville ISD board seats.

The deadline to register to vote ended on Oct. 10 Early voting begins the week of Oct. 23 and ends on Nov. 3.

Proposition A

Following an anticipated decline in school funding, Gatesville ISD will ask voters on Nov. 7 to give three pennies back to the district for a school tax rate of $0.8992 per $100 of a home’s valuation.

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds distributed to schools for COVID relief will end this year, causing a loss of approximately $3.8 million for the school district. According to the Texas Tribune, state legislatures have drafted a bill to increase funding for public education, but Gov. Greg Abbot will not add the bill to his special session agenda unless lawmakers approve a school voucher program that helps families pay for private schools.   

Currently, the school tax rate has been compressed by 19 cents, one of the largest tax rate compressions the school district has witnessed. Voting for Proposition A will allocate three of those pennies back to the school for a total compression of 16 cents.

“For one thing, GISD is the second biggest employer in town, and so we have a lot of jobs,” said Gatesville ISD Superintendent Barrett Pollard. “The funding would help us retain people. We’ve already lost some positions through attrition, so that money would really help us keep functioning.”

Even with the school district receiving those three pennies, the tax rate is still lower by 10.85%. Pollard adds that, over the past five years, the school tax rate has decreased by 34 cents.

“Basically, it (the tax rate) compressed by 19 cents, but if they gave three of the cents back to us it would just go down 16 cents, so it’s still a tax deduction if they vote for it,” Pollard said.

For every $1 given to Gatesville ISD by local taxpayers the state will give $3 to the district, generating approximately 1.3 million in additional funding for the school. Pollard said this funding will allow the school to address issues such as increasing teacher salaries, providing new chrome books for students, repairing school HVAC systems, and replacing broken air conditioning on the school buses.

Coryell County Tax Assessor Collector Justin Carothers said the current tax bill residents have received in the mail already includes the three pennies, as well as a property tax reduction listed under proposition 4, which increases the homestead exemption for homeowners from $40,000 to $100,000.

“The tax bill currently that we sent them is with the three cents on it,” Carothers said. “So, if the proposition fails, they’ll get a new tax bill with 86 cents rather than 89 cents.”

City Council

Three city council seats are up for re-election this year. There is only one opposing race for one of those seats. Two candidates, Leo Corona and Lewis Aaron Smith, are running for the seat of Ward 1, Place 1.

Two incumbents, Meredith Rainer and Greg Casey, have filed for re-election.

Read more about the Gatesville City Council Race:

Gatesville ISD

Gatesville ISD school board has three seats up for re-election this November.

Three incumbents. Charles Ament, Jimmie Ferguson, and Calvin Ford have filed for re-election. In addition, Lloyd Hopson and Jeff Coward have filed applications as candidates for a spot on the board.

Voters can choose up to three names on the ballot.

Read more about Gatesville ISD school board election:

State propositions

Texans can decide the fate of 14 state constitutional amendments that address a variety of issues, including:

• Protecting a person’s rights to engage in generally accepted farming and ranching practices
• A tax exemption for child-care facilities and medical and biomedical products  
• Prohibiting lawmakers from imposing a tax based on wealth
• Raising the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $100,000
• Funds to support university research, water projects, electric power grids, and broadband infrastructure  
• Providing a cost-of-living adjustment for retired teachers
• Increasing the mandatory retirement age for state judges from 75 to 79
• Creation and improvement of state parks

Two of the proposed amendments address issues specific to El Paso and Galveston counties.

Carothers encourages voters to do their research before hitting the ballot box.

“This is our Texas constitution – it’s the laws that govern the state of Texas,” he said. “Anytime a legislature wants to amend that, it’s our duty and responsibility to make our voice heard.”

The full list of proposed amendments, sample ballots, and Coryell County voting locations and times can be found at coryellcountytax.com/elections.