It's better to be a big fish in a small pond.
County Judge Chris Davis' alma mater is currently under a 3 year UIL probationary suspension for misreporting the number of students in attendance. Alto ISD football had been playing with the big boys in the 2A- Division I conference for several years. In 2021, they dropped themselves down to Division II after a long losing streak.
2A Division I: 165.5 - 229 students
2A Division II: 105 - 165.4 students
(Source: UIL)
On Aug 2, 2022, UIL ruled unanimously Alto High School football ineligible for playoffs for 2 years, and on probation for 3 years. They don't have a thousand kids to keep track of; there are less than 166 enrolled students per conference cutoffs.
The vote comes after violations of conference based enrollment reporting. The UIL said the Alto, TX school district turned in enrollment numbers that were not accurate and affected Alto in realignment which moved them into conference 2A-II instead of conference 2A-I. (Source: KLTV)
This is only newsworthy to regional football teams, however it is yet another example of the systemic flipping of facts of practically everything that comes out of Cherokee County. And the padding of enrollment numbers to get into a larger state football conference and the dropping of a few to get into a more competitive one when things don't work out. It is being reported the UIL Committee realigned Alto ISD because of an alleged "error" involving three late enrolled students. The football team has currently been playing the 2021-2022 season in the lower ranked 2A Division II.
The Jacksonville Progress reports the UIL was alerted by two former employees that Alto ISD deliberately misrepresented enrollment numbers to remain in its winning football conference.
An allegation by two former Alto Independent School District employees, one of which resigned and the other terminated — was submitted to the UIL earlier this year stating that the district had under counted it students on Snap Shot Day (Oct. 30, 2021).
The UIL investigation revealed that the district's 163 number did not include three students who began class in the district on Oct. 19-20, 2021. These students were officially reported as being enrolled in the district on Nov. 1, 2021.
Dr. Jamey Harrison of the UIL reminded everyone that schools were sent a Snap Shot Verification form on Nov. 16, 2021, so that corrections could be made to the number submitted if needed.
Alto officials signed off on the form, confirming that the original number sent in was correct. (Source: UIL Executive Committee rules Alto football ineligible for district awards, Jacksonville Progress Aug. 2, 2022)
The fact the Alto ISD superintendent blames the high school counselor and principal for the SNAFU tells you exactly who is running this train.
Property owners get railroaded with defaulted school taxes.
Texas school districts are funded from county property taxes and directly from the state. As of 2022, each district receives an allotment of $6100 per student each year. Federal funding is also distributed based upon need and attendance. After years of misappropriations, reporting has ceased on how delinquent school taxes are resolved after being passed on to property owners. To date, state government watchdogs have overlooked this reverse Robin Hood. They know if they start asking questions, so called "conservative" Cherokee County and neighboring counties would flip to Democrat in a New York minute. They'd rather watch the place implode.
One disaster after another.
Jacksonville and Rusk school districts voted to increase property taxes to cover their combined $1.7 million tax deficits, to avoid being penalized by the Texas Comptroller's Office. Commercial real estate appraisals came in 15% lower than actual market values according to MAPS audits conducted by the State in 2018 and 2019. (Source: Cherokee County Appraisal District fails state property study, Daily Progress Feb. 13, 2020) Timber and agricultural exemptions in rural areas were blamed for CCAD's tax shortfalls, not the commercial and Section 8 rental properties of board members.
Cherokee County TX Chief Appraiser: "This is insane."
Cherokee County blames the Tax Code for devaluing the property of those controlling the purse strings, and passing costs onto those not in the clique. It's just so "confusing and unfair" according to Chief Appraiser Lee Flowers who Jacksonville City Council recently voted unanimously to remove from office for a $5 million tax "mistake." The CCAD Board of Directors who own a big chunk of property in the area of course voted to keep Flowers on the county payroll.
The Jacksonville city council called for the removal of Cherokee County Chief Appraiser Lee Flowers in May 2021 over pending litigation from conflicting numbers on an amended tax roll levy.
City Manager Greg Smith stated the city had lost $200,000 in tax revenue as a result of the difference in original tax levies Flowers deemed "clerical data entry mistakes." (Source: Jacksonville Progress May 15, 2021)
(Click to view)
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has done "limited scope" property tax appraisal audits since the 2018 failures, thanks to County Judge Chris Davis and Governor Greg Abbott declaring Cherokee County a disaster area right in time to cleverly circumvent in-depth biennial MAPS reviews. Never forget, as Attorney General, Greg Abbot's office also did not pursue criminal charges against those who robbed Lon Morris out of existence, Texas' oldest Junior College. Offended locals would jump party lines if their kinfolk were exposed manipulating enrollment and Financial Aid. They were such good stewards of your tax dollars and public trust funds. Keep forking it over, folks. You know you love it.
Everyone gets good marks during election year.
They also hope you forget about the $431,375.91 stolen out of the Cherokee County Tax Assessor-Collector's office. Stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars each year out of the Rusk, TX courthouse apparently doesn't get the attention of the governor or Attorney General.
Funds missing from Cherokee County tax office - July 12, 2022
RUSK, Texas (KLTV) - Texas Rangers are investigating the disappearance of funds from the tax office in Cherokee County.
District Attorney Elmer Beckworth said the office notified him about missing funds and he forwarded the case to Texas Rangers.
Beckworth said he could not comment further on time periods or how much money was missing.
The county auditor’s office deferred comment to Beckworth. (Source: KLTV)
Audit reveals over $430,000 missing from county tax office - July 13, 2022
An internal audit of Cherokee County offices and departmental accounts revealed a discrepancy of $431,375.91 related to the tax office.
“Red flags were discovered by my internal auditor in doing a routine part of the audit that initially drew our attention to this,” said Cherokee County Auditor Steven Daughety. “We did do an audit report. Those findings were turned over to the D.A. because of our concerns with it.”
The information was presented to the district attorney on January 12, 2022, according to Daughety. (Source: Jacksonville Progress)
