Public Records Transparency-Paris, TX

The Public Records website for Paris, TX is very clear and easy to use. The latest city utility report can be found there. According to the report, the courthouse used the most electricity (a cost of $7154.15) while the county sheriff's office and jail had the greatest use of water and natural gas. This cost difference could likely be explained by the courthouse's age and inefficient lighting. http://tools.cira.state.tx.us/users/0085/docs/Utility/2015/0815%20UTILITY%20REPORT.pdf

The Utility reports can be found under the Financial Transparency tab. Also under the same tab are the proposed budgets for 2014,2015, and 2016. According to the 2016 proposal, total property taxes for 2016 will be raised 0.8% more than the previous budget, a difference of $98,935, whereas $165,802 of the total amount will be tax revenue raised from new property to be added to the tax roll this year. The vote was presided over by County judge M.C. Superville, Jr. and signed by him August 24^th, 2015. The total amount of debt obligation for Lamar county, according to the report is $4,163,325 as of October 1^st. http://tools.cira.state.tx.us/users/0085/docs/Financial/Budgets/FY%202015%20-%202016%20Proposed%20Budget.pdf

At the bottom of the tab menu of the Lamar county website, one may access foreclosure sale notices. This will show a list of notices, with multiples for each month. AS of 10/16/2015, there are seven sales happening in October, six in November, and 3 for December. The links show up a s scans of trustee forms with other coinciding legal documents. http://www.co.lamar.tx.us/default.aspx?Lamar_County/Foreclosures

Upon further search of public records for my home area, I found a non-affiliated website that generates crime maps for selected areas. It was able to generate a crime map for Paris, which showed 86 total incidents inside Loop 286, which surrounds the city (by this writing date, 10/16/2015). These include 11 incidents of Assault, 1 count of assault with a deadly weapon, 15 counts of breaking and entering, 41 counts of theft, 9 counts of theft from a vehicle, many others with multiples details. Sex offenders may also be located through this map. https://www.crimereports.com/map?CRSearch=paris,%20TX