Monday Last Day to Register to Vote for Nov. 3 Election

GREGG COUNTY — A tax cut for homeowners, shifting part of an existing tax account to highway work and enshrining the right to hunt are among seven issues Texans will weigh on a Nov. 3 Constitutional Amendment referendum. Monday is the last day to register to have a say on the ballot. According to the Longview News-Journal and KETK, early voting is Oct. 19-30.

Residents of Longview also will decide in this election whether to remove the park designation from Hinsley Park so that it can be sold to developers. The park sits amid the commercially active intersection at Hawkins Parkway and Eastman Road, and developers last week unveiled retail development plans and schematics of the park they would build off North Judson Road to replace Hinsley Park.

The state ballot issues arise from the 84th Legislative Session earlier this year and are topped by a tax break.

Proposition 1 would increase the mandatory homestead exemption on school taxes from today’s $15,000 level to $25,000. The exemption represents the amount people claiming the exemption may shave off the value of a primary home before taxes are applied.

Gregg County Tax Assessor/Collector Kirk Shields said his office is so sure that voters will give homeowners an additional $10,000 exemption on their primary residences that tax bills mailed this past week have the cut written into them.