The 2008-2009 Membership Directory is hot off the presses! We will be distributing the membership directories at the luncheon on August 27, 2008. We will have a special table manned by one of our awesome Ambassador Committee Members, so don't forget to stop by. If you are unable to attend the next luncheon you can pick up a book at the SABOMA office. Our office hours are 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Please give us a call at (210) 822-4499 to ensure that we are not out of the office at a meeting.

TTARA Tax Relief Calculator

As a result of the school finance and tax reforms in 2006, Texans enjoyed $7 billion in savings on their 2007 property tax bills. The Legislature rolled back school tax rates for maintenance and operations significantly, financing the rate cuts in part with revenue from restructuring the state franchise tax and increases in tobacco taxes.

A soon-to-be released analysis by the TTARA Research Foundation will offer greater insight into the property tax relief initiative. While the Legislature accomplished its goal in reducing school taxes, the tax reductions were not readily apparent for a number of reasons:

Almost all school districts have exercised local authority to increase tax rates above the state- mandated one-third reduction (many with the approval of local voters),

Local voters have approved additional debt service taxes in a number of districts to improve local school facilities,

City, county, and special district taxes have continued to increase, and Property values continue to rise.

The combination of these factors masked the effect of the school tax rate cuts when total tax bills were compared to those of prior years. Still, the simple fact remains that had the Legislature not acted, Texans would have paid $7 billion more in property taxes last year than they did.

Property tax relief was real and it was substantial, even though it may have not have been as clearly evident as lawmakers had hoped. To make it easier for Texas property owners to see how their school district property taxes were in fact reduced as a result of the tax package, TTARA has prepared a property tax savings calculator. All you need to know is the name of the school district in which you own property, and the taxable value of that property in 2007. The calculator compares the 2007 school district taxes actually paid to the taxes that would have been paid had the Legislature not acted. The property tax savings calculator may be found by on the TTARA website, by clicking here.

TTARA Annual Meeting

The TTARA 2008 Annual Meeting will be held on October 21-22, 2008 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin. The room rate will be $235 per night. More information will be provided at a later date.

Trane is offering training on Basic Start-Up & Service of the Trane VFD

Section 1: TR1 Start-up - Basic installation, Application Concerns, Field wiring, Basic Programming, Installation inspection

Section 2: Lab experience - Basic drive start-up Drives will be present for hands on instruction

Section 3: Drive troubleshooting - TR1 Messages & Faults, LCP Messages & Drive control, Discussion of Faults and reasons, for problems and cures for faults

Training Dates

Austin - Monday, August 18, 12:00pm - 4:00pm

San Antonio - Tuesday, August 19, 12:00pm - 4:00pm

San Antonio - Wednesday, August 20, 8:00am- 12:00pm

Weslaco - Thursday, August 21, 8:00am - 12:00pm

Classes are limited to the first 24 Registrants

The cost of the class is $175 with discounts offered for additional attendees.

Email Patrick.blische@trane.com or call 210-516-1737 for a registration form and more information.

San Antonio Building Codes Academy (SABCA)

Development Services will host the Third Annual San Antonio Building codes Academy, October 7 through October 10, 2008 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. The seminars for this session are:

2006 IBC Solving Means of Egress in Commercial Buildings

2006 IRC Performing Residential Building Inspections

Each seminar will be led by a fully accredited International Code council Instructor and are worth 0.6 CEUs.

Early Bird registration begins August 5 and ends August 22, 2008. For more information on registration please visit the Development Services homepage at www.SanAntoni o.gov/dsd, or send an email to SABCA@sana ntonio.gov

Lunch Learn Series

The department is hosting monthly Lunch and Learn training sessions taught by our resident experts in their respective disciplines. You do not need a reservation to attend and these sessions are FREE. Each Lunch and Lean event will be held in Training Rooms A and B on the second floor of the Development Services Department. The scheduled sessions are:

Friday, August 15, 2008: Unified Development Code Navigation (http://www.municod e.com/)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008: Low Impact Development to Meet Stormwater Requirements (www.lowimpactdevelopment.org/index.htm)

Each session begins at 11:00 a.m. and lasts approximately an hour and a half. Please bring your lunch.

Honeywell is offering a program on Honeywell's

Enterprise Building Integrator (EBI)

Total Building Management

Date and Time:

8/27/08

11:00 AM to 2:00 PM

(Lunch will be provided)

Location:

HEB Federal Credit Union Building

1100 N.W. Loop 410, Suite 109

San Antonio, Texas 78213

RSVP to:

Letty.garne r@honeywell.com or call (210) 524- 5828

No Later than: August 20, 2008