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from the prior year (from ,$0.0800 to $0.0909). According to thc comp- troller's ofllce "the legislature wanted to avoid injuring a [city's] ability to pay its debt." Therefore, this expanded calculation was created. The Consummate Act of Full Disclosure- Forms and Notices \Ve alluded to the "half-page" advertisements required by TNT, and feel that a more detailed discus- sion is required to appreciate the lengths to which disdosure is taken. Initially, the legal requirements included the "Notice of Appraised Value" from the chief appraiser and the "Public Notice" (actually a quar- ter-page ad), but with a legislatively mandated 18-point type size for the headline. And there were opposing ads placed by cities that contended Our history is the foundation of our pride. The future is the basis of our excitement. In today's highly energized business environment, you cannot afford to miss that ever important opportunity. Precise teamwork and coordination are an absolute must--and having First Southwest Company as a member of your team is an integral part of that process. Our half-century o fexperience coupled with our broad range of industry expertise provide the necessary' tools for that competitive edge. FIRST SOUTHWEST COMPANY INVESTMENT BANKE£S SINCE 1946 Member SIPC &NASD 1700 Pacific Avenue, Suite 500, Dallas, Texas 75201 1-800-678-3792 .wvvw. firstsw, com Abilene · Austin · Clifton · Dallas · Fort Worth · Houston · LongView Lubbock · McAllen · San Antonio, T_~vas o Fayetteville, Arkansas Los Angeles, Califbrnia . Atlant~ Georgia · Boca Raton .Miami. Orlando, Florida that the required nodces contained erroneous, or at least misleading, lan- guage. There is also a parallel series of public notices and public hearings, such that the TNT requirements occasionally will conflict with local charter requirements for the same sequence of events. For example, the two public hearings cannot hap- pen simultaneously. A city cannot use its charter-mandated budget hearing to substitute for the legisla- tively mandated "tax increase" pub- lic hearing. Two separate acts with essentially the same outcome: opportunities for public input and open discussion of budgetary issues. Local conditions may vary, but using the typical language from a Texas home rule charter, the chart on page 23 shows how the two calendars compare. Now, with additional media and public access opportunities, the law has been expanded to accommodate those means of publication and notice announcements. Cities with public access/cable television and those with Web sites are now required to place the public notice information there as well. In addi- tion to the original public notice and its prescribed language (and headline size), other statements and schedules also must be published, depending upon how deeply into the tax increase process the city gets. For tax year 2000, additional requirements were added to even further "inform" the public. As we researched this article, concurrent with the preparation of our personal federal income taxes, we were con- fused by the similarity of language