Archives for Thursday, August 3, 2000newsWith four children ranging from five to 12, up to at least $350 can come from Trish Lee's family budget for back-to-school clothes before each school year.But last summer Mrs. Lee, Temple Mall's marketing director, and her family took advantage of the first annual sales tax holiday."When you spend as much money as I have to, it just gives that extra money for a pair of pants or shoes," she said.The state's second sales tax holiday begins 12:01 a.m. Friday, Aug. 4, and runs until midnight Sunday, Aug. 6. During the period shoes and clothes less than $100 are not taxed.To prepare for the weekend sales frenzy as Texas families look to take advantage of the savings, stores are gearing up for the event. Officials with different area stores say they didn't expect last year's jam-packed shopping atmosphere and are better prepared this time around.At J.C. Penney in the mall, manager Clark Stoneback said more inventory The Temple City Council will hold the first hearing on the city's proposed $61 million 2000-01 budget at its 5 p.m. meeting today in the municipal building.The plan carries an increase in the tax rate from the current 55.72 cents per $100 property valuation to 59.22.The council will also discuss allowing the Temple Planning and Zoning Commission to have final approval over plats that don't have any requested exceptions to the city's laws.A brief overview of the budget will be given before citizens have the opportunity to comment, said Temple City Manager Mark Watson.A second hearing will be held on Thursday, Sept. 7, before the group considers the budget. The document may be viewed at the Temple Public Library, Watson said.The current Planning and Zoning Commission regulation states that the Temple City Council examines all the plats, Watson said.If the regulation modification is approved, all plats with exceptions would still proceed to the council for final approval, he said.The change would allow developers to proceed with their projects faster, said Temple Planning Director B.A. Bailey. by Jonathan Walburgh
Temple residents increased their water use Tuesday as temperatures remained high and the effects of a Saturday rain began to dry up.Residents used an average 16.6 million gallons Tuesday and hit a high usage level of 25.8 million gallons, said Temple Utilities Superintendent Jerry Kean.Residents used an average of 15 million gallons per day Monday and had a peak of 19.8 million. Monday was a non-watering day. Saturday's usage sports
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