BURNET — Burnet school district teachers on average make about 16 percent less than their counterparts in surrounding districts, according to a recent survey.

On the other hand, the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District is in line with the staffing levels of other districts, trustees were told during their meeting Oct. 15. "Everybody is paying more than you are," said Ann Patton, a senior compensation consultant for the Texas Association of School Boards.

According to the report, schools in neighboring areas start their first-year teachers at $41,504. BCISD starts at $34,583 or 16 percent below the median, officials said.

The study, however, does not take into account benefit packages. It also looked at larger districts including Leander, Round Rock and Lake Travis.

Being compared to Class 5A and 4A districts is difficult, said board President Andy Feild. Burnet is smaller at Class 3A.

"We want to give our entire staff the most we can," he said. "You’re comparing apples to oranges. It’s hard."

Superintendent Keith McBurnett said he wasn’t surprised by the findings.

"I had a sense our teacher salaries were below market," he said. "That’s the reason I had them create the study. Now we have to begin planning for the future."

Though BCISD follows state-mandated step increases, which tie raises to teaching experience or years worked, Patton recommended the district eliminate that and go to a system where each teacher gets a pay-raise percentage regardless of how many years are factored in.

That way, teachers don’t have to wait before they get some level of compensation, she added.

Trustees Robby Robertson and Mary Ann Jones noted several of the comparison districts have a bigger business base and more people than BCISD.

Robertson asked if the study included the benefits package, which was designed to offset the lower pay.

"About the salaries – we all knew that," he said.

Patton said her study didn’t include benefits.

Jones said BCISD is a retirement community, and teachers are drawn to the area because of the beauty and the atmosphere instead of just a salary alone.

Patton also talked with athletic director Kurt Jones and was told the district lowered the stipend paid to educators engaged in extracurricular duties.

"Most are lower compared to the market," Patton said. "I’m hearing other school districts doing this. You’re certainly not the only ones. I recommend a different approach."

Everybody who gets extracurricular stipends, regardless of their roles on a team or in a department, can make $1,500 each, officials said.

jfierro@thepicayune.com

MARBLE FALLS — A traffic stop and foot chase that originally led to misdemeanor charges ended up getting the driver and an accused runner locked up on a felony case after officers found narcotics in the car.

The man who ran said he only bolted because he feared he was wanted on a warrant — which he wasn’t, police said.

MARBLE FALLS — Though city officials tried to allay concerns about the potential annexation of 1,100 acres south of Marble Falls, property owners are far from sold on the idea.

The City Council Oct. 16 held a second contentious public hearing on the annexation issue. The first of the two public hearings, which are required by law, was Oct. 2.

HORSESHOE BAY — In an effort to give more input on evolving aesthetic issues including how best to display business signs, the Architectural Control Committee will allow a fourth member to join their ranks.

The move announced Oct. 16 during a City Council meeting can be seen as a kind of compromise between the committee, which predates the city’s incorporation in 2005, and the council, which continues to grapple with issues faced by most growing communities.

The committee remains the regulating body that enforces deed restrictions and property aesthetics, prior to review and approval by the council.

The committee’s role has been called into question by, among others, local merchants who want to update rules that would make business signs more visible.

Councilman Jeff Robinson at a past meeting recommended that residents come before the council first to have variance requests heard.

"It improves the perception of the activity of the committee," Robinson said. "I hope whatever resident is appointed will improve this task."

The committee currently includes Sam Tarbet of the Horseshoe Bay Corp., Ron Mitchell of the Horseshoe Bay Resort and Tom Engler of the Horseshoe Bay Property Owners Association.

The committee will appoint the new member.

Under existing guidelines, residents and businesses submit requests to the committee for variances on covenants that pre-date the city restricting size and types of signs and lighting, as well as regulate architectural features including facades, color and building themes.

"We approve what’s brought to us. We have guidelines of size and colors and materials, and there’s a lot of flexibility," Tarbet said. "It’s a backbone that everything builds upon."

connie@thepicayune.com

BURNET — Residents have a new way to receive emergency alert notifications from the city.

Burnet has changed to Emergency Communications Network’s CodeRED, which automatically contacts residents to inform them of severe weather, boil-water notices, road work and community announcements. Cell phone numbers, email addresses and business and home telephones can be registered to receive notifications.

"It’s a way to get the word out to residents in a timely manner," City Manager David Vaughn said.

CodeRED recently acquired the city’s previous emergency notification system, and those who registered with that provider have been transferred to the new system.

Residents can update their information, or go to sign up, at the city’s website, www.cityofburnet.com.

The CodeRED system provides another feature to travelers through the area, or Burnet residents in another CodeRED community.

The CodeRED Mobile Alert app provides users with alerts based on their location.

“Once you sign up, even if you travel to another CodeRED community, you will be able to access those alerts as well,” Vaughn said. “This is a really useful and unique feature that we are excited to begin using in the near future.”

jared@thepicayune.com

BURNET — The Burnet School Board Oct. 15 approved buying out the contract of Business Manager Preston Ingram, who says he is stepping down at a time when the district is in solid financial shape.

Ingram started working for the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District 15 years ago. His last day is Dec. 21, the final day of the fall semester.

BURNET — A mother whose boyfriend went to prison after he was convicted of fatally stabbing her son pleaded guilty Oct. 16 to charges she tried to hide the bone-handled knife used in the crime.

Investigators said they found the blade in a freezer when they went to the Briggs home where the homicide occurred.

Suzanne Dowdle, 67, accepted five years deferred adjudication, a form of probation, and a $1,000 fine in the Nov. 22, 2009, slaying that led to a charge of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.

Dowdle appeared before 33rd state District Judge Guilford "Gil" Jones to learn her fate. She is the mother of attorney and mediator Angela Dowdle, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for the District Attorney’s Office and lost during a July 31 runoff.

Angela Dowdle was not in the courtroom Oct. 16.

According to investigators and prosecutors, Suzanne Dowdle’s boyfriend Dwayne Edward Nash, 51, stabbed Dowdle’s son Coy Dowdle, 39, at the Briggs residence Nash and the mother shared.

Coy Dowdle apparently arrived at the home in the 700 block of FM 2657 following a distraught call from his mother, according to testimony during the murder trial.

Coy Dowdle and Nash got in a scuffle.

Nash stabbed the 39-year-old man in the heart with a bone-handled knife, testimony revealed.

Investigators found the knife in a freezer at the residence, investigators said.

In June, a Hays County jury found Nash guilty of murder in Dowdle’s death and sentenced him 75 years in prison. He is serving his sentence in the William G. McConnell Unit in Beeville.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office prosecuted both the tampering with evidence case and the murder case because the victim’s sister, Angela Dowdle, at one time worked in the Burnet County District Attorney’s Office, though not at the time of her brother’s death.

Nash’s trial originally was scheduled for December 2011, but state District Judge Doug Shaver ordered it moved to Hays County, saying it would be difficult to select a jury in Burnet County.

daniel@thepicayune.com

BURNET — The Burnet School Board Oct. 15 approved the retirement of Business Manager Preston Ingram, who says he is stepping down at a time when the district is in solid financial shape.

Ingram started working for the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District 15 years ago. His last day is Dec. 21, the final day of the fall semester.

"I think we’re financially stable," he said. "It’s a perfect turnover."

Earlier in the year,  trustees confronted a potential $1.5 million deficit, only to eventually arrive at a $7.6 million general fund balance.

One of the most important recommendations Ingram said he made to the board occurred at the start of the new school year, which resulted in significant savings.

He told the board interest rates for district’s $37.5 million bond had dropped to 1.85 percent. Originally the rate was 3.92 percent.

"We appreciate Mr. Ingram’s years of service to BCISD as he has helped the district navigate the ever-changing and sometimes choppy waters of school finance," said Superintendent Keith McBurnett in a statement. "I know the board of trustees and the staff of Burnet CISD join me in wishing Preston the very best in his future endeavors."

Ingram said it was his idea to retire, but he didn’t want to leave until he felt the district was financially sound.

Trustees made his retirement official by approving the measure during the School Board meeting.

"I take care of the needs of the future," Ingram said. "I just wanted to get to a place where it felt right."

Ingram’s first day at BCISD was Oct. 5, 1997. He was the business manager at Odem-Edroy Independent School District before BCISD. In all, he spent 25 years in education.

He came to Burnet for one reason, he said.

"The excitement of moving to a bigger, growing district," he said with a grin.

District officials will begin searching for a new business manager and hope to have one identified by the end of December, McBurnett said.

As to the future, Ingram is a certified public accountant and can work at a financial firm if he chooses.

One aspect of his school district job he won’t miss are the state audits, which seem to come every month, he said.

"These are hard jobs," he said. "It’s very interesting. You have to be right, you have to make good decisions. You have to be right when you handle other people’s money. You have to be extra diligent."

jfierro@thepicayune.com

MARBLE FALLS — The city could save millions by fixing up existing athletic fields instead of trying to build a new multimillion-dollar sports complex, suggests a member of a group deciding the fate of the proposed facility.

Members of the City Council, Economic Development Corp. and Parks and Recreation Commission held a second workshop Oct. 15 to discuss whether building the sports complex — which could cost an estimated $34 million spread out over several phases — makes economic sense for the city.

Steve Manley, a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, asked attendees to consider upgrading the city’s current facilities, which he said would save the community millions.

He brought pictures of some of the existing parks, which he said need leveling and better parking.

“Some people would call it quaint,” he said, showing pictures of parks on a projector. “I call it embarrassing.”

Manley said he believes the costs for upgrades is $1.45 million, which is less than the projected $8 million apiece for the recreational complex phases.

Parks and Recreation Commission Chairman David Rhodes asked Manley for a solution to raise the money.

“I didn’t know I had to come up with a plan,” Manley said. “Sell off some of this (city-owned) land.”

Rhodes wants the group to figure out a way to raise $8 million and asked them to remember that Marble Falls “is advertised as a destination community.”

Supporters say that a sports complex will attract regional tournaments and competitions, helping pump up sales taxes and improving the local economy.

City Manager Ralph Hendricks said improving the existing parks would be costly, which is why the city is maintaining them rather than upgrading the parks and fields.

“Something needs to be done,” said Mayor George Russell. “I don’t know what that something is.”

However, the the mayor credited Councilwoman and EDC Director Jane Marie Hurst for saying the complex needs walking trails, which could be viewed as phase 1A.

“There’s a need, no question,” he said. “We don’t have the financing whereabouts to do it.”

Russell said it might be worth trying to build a complex and upgrade the existing parks because they will still be used during the week.

One way to help funding is to ask the various athletic associations to raise their registration fees, officials suggested. In the past, a bond issue or a tax increase also has been suggested.

“It’s time for this community to step up,” said Hurst, who added she has three sons who all played in those youth parks. “Phases 1A, 1B, 2, 3 is a way to phase into it. When it comes to property taxes and sales taxes, some people won’t like it, but most of the people are going to like it.”

The next workshop is 4 p.m. Nov. 6 in the council chambers, 800 Third St.

jfierro@thepicayune.com