KELLER RESIDENTS TO VOTE IN MARCH ON CRIME CONTROL DISTRICT

KELLER - Residents will vote March 13 on whether to increase the city's
sales tax rate by a half-cent to pay for more police personnel and
equipment and to expand the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program in city
schools.

The temporary board of directors for the proposed Keller Crime Control
District voted unanimously last night to have the election after it heard
little opposition during two public hearings it sponsored this week. Only
three residents spoke.

"The amazing thing is we had the public hearings, and of the people that
came forward to talk, two-thirds of them were 100 percent for the program"
as a whole, board Chairman John N. Anderson said. "I think we've had
nothing but positive response."

If voters approve a crime control district, the city's sales tax rate will
increase to 8.25 percent from 7.75 percent. That increase would generate
about $700,000 in sales tax revenue next year, officials said.

The money would pay for four D.A.R.E. officers and two D.A.R.E. vehicles.
It also would pay for additional police equipment, four public service
officers and officers who would work with the elderly and with domestic
violence victims, Anderson said.

At the hearings, one resident said that Keller school district, not the
city, should be responsible for the D.A.R.E. programs. Another resident
objected to paying for D.A.R.E. vehicles. They both said they support the
effort overall.

A third resident said he opposed the crime control district because the
D.A.R.E. program doesn't work, an opinion some PTA leaders dispute.

Police Chief Bill Griffith said the challenge is to get those who support
the crime control district out to the polls. Early voting will be Feb. 25
to March 9.

"It's been out in the community, and I think there's a lot of people out
there who support it," he said. "That's why it is important that we get as
many people out to vote as possible."

Councilman Doyle Landers, who serves on the temporary board of directors
for the proposed district, said he hopes 3,000 people vote in the election.

"I'm an eternal optimist," he said. "I'm glad and grateful that we're at
this point where the people can decide the merits of it."

But residents shouldn't be forced into paying the sales tax rate increase
if they don't support the proposal, Landers said.

"The truth of it is that it's in the hands of the voters, where it should
be," he said. "This is not a council doing. This is not a committee doing.
It's up to the citizens."

Jennifer Radcliffe, (817) 685-3875

IMPACT on your city service

If voters approve the half-cent sales tax rate increase March 13 to create
a crime control district, about $700,000 would be generated and would go
toward these items:

* 4 D.A.R.E. officers: $206,000

* 4 public service officers: $120,000

* Mobile data equipment: $100,000

* 2 D.A.R.E. vehicles: $62,000

* Senior citizens advocate: $60,000

* 2 unmarked vehicles: $50,000

* Domestic violence advocate and equipment: $35,000

* K-9 program support: $6,000