Valley View rejects tax rate; Gainesville backs 15 charter changes

GAINESVILLE, Texas — Valley View ISD voters rejected a proposed property tax rate Tuesday, Nov. 3, while Gainesville voters favored 15 of 16 changes to the city charter, according to Cooke County's final unofficial election report. The lone city charter measure rejected would have made the municipal judge a City Council appointee rather than an elected official. The school tax proposition drew 1,414 votes against and 616 for, with all three precincts in the district reporting. The ballot asked voters to ratify a rate of $0.87861 per $100 of taxable property value. The district's election notice said that rate would increase maintenance and operations tax revenue by 13.5%, or $581,568, over the preceding year. Maintenance and operations taxes pay for day-to-day school costs. Under the district's election order, rejection means the school board may not adopt a rate above the district's voter-approval tax rate. The county results report lists the measure as Valley View ISD Proposition A. In Gainesville, Proposition E failed with 2,803 votes against and 947 for. Its ballot text proposed giving the City Council authority to appoint the municipal judge in place of an election. The other 15 charter propositions drew more votes for than against, according to the county tally. Proposition B, which would limit the mayor and council members to four consecutive terms in each office, drew 3,465 votes for and 354 against. Proposition G, lowering the petition requirement for an initiated city ordinance from 15% to 10% of qualified, registered voters, drew 2,085 for and 1,460 against. Proposition I, lowering the recall petition signature requirement from 30% to 25%, drew 2,131 for and 1,435 against. Voters also favored Proposition L's changes to ethics, conflicts of interest and nepotism standards, 3,301 to 357, and Proposition M's ethics training and city code of ethics requirement, 3,323 to 359. Cooke County's votes in statewide races differed from the statewide tally. In the U.S. Senate race, county voters gave Republican Ken Paxton 12,611 votes to Democrat James Talarico's 4,159. Texas Secretary of State results updated at 2:11 p.m. Wednesday, with 99% of polling locations reporting, showed Talarico ahead statewide, 5,410,057 to 4,228,924. County voters gave Republican Gov. Greg Abbott 13,167 votes to Democrat Gina Hinojosa's 3,805. The same state update showed Hinojosa ahead statewide, 5,198,441 to 4,501,544. Those state totals may change as reporting continues. The county report counted 17,331 ballots cast, or 54.78% of 31,636 registered voters. It lists 17 of 17 election-day precincts reporting but labels the results unofficial. Cooke County's elections page links to the full and precinct-level reports.