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Voters to decide on constitutional amendments
By Mary Madewell
Published November 2, 2009
Lamar County voters will go to the polls Tuesday to cast votes on 11 constitutional amendments, all of which have gained the support of state Rep. Mark Homer, D-Paris, and state Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler.
Early ballots cast by the 5 p.m. deadline Friday totaled 479, according to Russ Towers, Lamar County elections administrator.
Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and remain open until the last person in line at 7 p.m. has cast a ballot.
Some groups have questioned proposals relating to property appraisals, claiming Amendement 3 could mean higher property values for rural residences while Amendment 5 could require property owners travel greater distances to dispute tax appraisals.
With regard to Amendment 3, both Homer and Eltife have said while appraisal standards for residential and commercial property would become more uniform across the state, the amendment would not disallow the differences in land values. In other words, a similar residence in Paris would not have the same value as one in Dallas because of local market value factors.
Amendment 5, which allows the combination of county appraisal district review boards, lawmakers assure would be on a voluntary basis. The amendment, Homer said, was written with the intent to aid sparsely populated counties consolidate resources and any consolidation would be voluntary by all involved.
The 11 proposed constitutional amendment proposals, which passed both chambers of the Texas Legislature with a two-thirds vote, must now win voter approval to be added to the state constitution.
The propositions are:
PROPOSITION 1: Authorizes financing methods for municipalities and counties to acquire buffer zones or open spaces next to military bases. The proposal could prevent encroachment next to the base and allow construction of roads, utilities and other infrastructure to promote the mission of a military base.
PROPOSITION 2: Allows the Legislature to provide for ad valorem taxation of a residence homestead solely on the basis of the property’s value as a residence, not at the potentially higher commercial use value.
PROPOSITION 3: Provides for uniform standards and procedures for the appraisal of property for taxation. Texas lacks uniform standards, and proponents say this amendment would ensure that property in diverse parts of the state are valued using the same generally accepted practices. PROPOSITION 4: Establishes a national research university fund to help emerging research universities achieve national prominence as major research universities. Those pushing the proposal say it will provide funding similar to what elevated Texas A&M University and the University of Texas to Tier One status, providing jobs and stature or the state. Others question whether now is the time to spend such money. PROPOSITION 5: Permits the Texas Legislature to allow a single board of equalization for two or more adjoining appraisal entities. That means area appraisal boards can be consolidated if they choose. PROPOSITION 6: Authorizes the Veterans’ Land Board to issue general obligation bonds in amounts equal to or less than amounts previously authorized. It would prevent the land board from continually having to seek legislative authorization. PROPOSITION 7: Allows an officer or enlisted member of the Texas State Guard or other state militia or military force to hold other civil offices. This would correct what some say is an oversight in the state constitution. PROPOSITION 8: Authorizes the state to contribute money, property and other resources to establish veterans hospital. It’s designed to speed up efforts to open a federal Veterans Administration hospital in the Rio Grande Valley, where residents currently must travel to San Antonio to receive some VA hospital services. PROPOSITION 9: Protects the right of the public to access and use the public beaches bordering the seaward shore of the Gulf of Mexico. This would block private developers from restricting beach access to the public, but some say it could infringe on private property rights. PROPOSITION 10: Limits elected members of the governing boards of emergency services districts to terms no longer than four years. PROPOSITION 11: Prohibits governments from taking private property for private economic development to increase a tax base. It also limits the Legislature’s power to grant eminent domain authority to a governmental entity.
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