Shannon Thomason, chairman of the Concerned Citizens Council, said he expects to turn the list of signatures over to officials with the city of Big Spring sometime Friday.

When asked whether he feels confident he and his fellow group members have collected the required signatures, Thomason seemed confident.

“I believe we'll make it,” he said. “We need approximately 1,200 signatures on the petition to force an election, and I feel like we'll have them.”

The city council adopted the ad valorem tax rate of $1.013243 per $100 property value in September, 6.246 cents above the effective rate — the rate that would bring in the same revenue as last year — of 95.0783 cents and 3.3 cents above the roll back rate of 97.9398 cents. The roll back rate produces an 8 percent increase in revenue over the effective rate.

The adopted rate for the 2009-10 fiscal year is the same as the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

At the heart of the issue for the Concerned Citizens Council is a proposal to replace the city swimming pool, which was closed earlier this year because it didn't conform to federal standards. The revenue garnered from the adopted tax rate will bring an estimated $331,400 above the effective rate. The bulk of that money — $243,579 — would be ear-marked for the pool project.

According to Thomason, his group understands the need for a new city swimming pool, but believes the council should have taken the issue — specifically the size and cost of a new pool facility — before the voters.

“What we at Concerned Citizens unanimously agreed upon is that a project of this size needs to go before the voters and that's our entire reason behind the rollback,” he added. “I've stated on several occasions that personally I'm not against a pool at all. In fact, I am not even against a water park. I'm not convinced we need a water park. I'm certainly not convinced we can afford it right now, and I'm thoroughly convinced the taxes here are high enough.”

If the rollback is successful, the tax rate would fall back to 97.9398 cents per $100 property value — the roll back rate set by the state of Texas. This would leave the city's current budget with a shortfall of about $180,000.

The city council has discussed a number of different remedies for its swimming pool problems, ranging from the renovation of the existing pool to the design and construction of a water park. However, Big Spring Mayor Russ McEwen urged local residents to understand no formal decision on the size or cost of a new swimming pool has been made, and the money raised by the proposed tax levy would only represent seed money for the project.

“As people come to look at us to relocate businesses or to move to our community, they are looking for a progressive community,” said McEwen prior to passing the tax rate. “And I feel very strongly that this type of swimming pool is something we can show off. People will see, as they go into our park, a progressive community trying to do the best they can for the youth in their community. Quite frankly, I'm proud to put this type of pool forward for our community so we can provide for our children.”

Even if the petition contains enough signatures to meet the required 10 percent of registered voters in the city, city officials say the names must first be verified. A similar petition to force recall elections for several council members in 2006 failed because many of the signatures were found to be invalid.

The city must complete its check of the petition within 20 days of its submission. If the petition succeeds, the municipality will be forced to call a special election on the matter no sooner than 30 days, and no later than 90 days.

Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it