LC-M voters reject proposed tax rate in early balloting

Early votes Orange County votes tabulated Tuesday night show that voters in the Little Cypress-Mauriceville CISD are rejecting a proposition for a basic tax rate to be more than the "effective" tax rate for the year.

The district had 4,104 early votes with 2,428 opposed to the higher tax rate, and 1,676 for the rate.

The school board agreed to ask voters to approve a tax rate for the maintenance and operations income that would be more than the same rate of last year adjusted for the increase in increased property values. However, the total tax rate would still be going down because the district has paid off some of the bonds, or loans, which were previously approved by voters in years past. The bond indebtedness is going down enough to make a decrease in the total rate.

Voters in the county's four emergency services districts for the first time chose commissioners to make decisions for the district on taxes and other procedures. Previously, the commissioners were appointed by the Orange County Commissioners Court. The special districts provide fire protection and rescue services within their districts.

For Emergency Services District 1, which covers the city of Vidor and its surrounding areas, the early balloting has John H. Houseman with 2,031 votes, Jerry E. Aldridge with 1,612, Gene Domec with 1,429, Wyatt Boyett with 1,086, Nelda Nash with 1,026, Larry C. Williams III with 977, and Kenneth Luce with 758. The top five candidates with the most votes will win seats. A couple of the positions are too close to call with only early voting. A total of 8,919 people voted early in the ESD 1 election.

For Emergency Services District 2, which covers the city of Bridge City along with its outlying areas and Orangefield, had early votes for Glen Childers Jr. with 1,447, Scott Barnes with 1,375, Chris Landry with 1,308, Carroll LeBlanc with 1,228, Wes Arnold with 928, and Aaron McNeil with 827. The top five of the six candidates will win the positions.

For Emergency Services District 3, with is the Little Cypress area, a total of 1,960 early votes were cast with six candidates running for five positions. The early voting put Wayne LaCombe with 452, Cammie Manshack Vincent with 450, Bobby Smith with 364, Wesley Journeay with 251, Cathy Drake with 244, and Corina Alonso with 177.

Emergency Services District 4, which covers the Mauriceville and McLewis areas, has five candidates for the five positions. The district had a total of 4,712 votes cast. David Jones led early voting with 1,100, Dan Brack had 1,044, Anthony Shue had 941, David Covey had 863, and Robert H. Hymes had 764.

.