Some are more equal than others

May 13, 2014

Reality Checker brought up a good point about EPISD offering a $2,000 incentive to teachers who announce their retirement early.  He/she compared the incentive to the $1,500 car allowance that our not qualified superintendent gets paid every month.

Are we that ugly? was an earlier post that explained what the superintendent is getting paid while he shows up late to meetings.  I don’t think he is late because of his studying to get his superintendent’s certificate.  The word I get is that he has fallen behind on those milestones too.

Comparing the allowances that he gets to the $2,000 incentive per teacher we can see:

  • $1,500 per month for a car allowance
  • $1,200 per month for home office costs
  • $2,500 per month for incidental benefits, whatever those are.
  • $35,000 for moving expenses
  • $3,500 per month for housing while he is trying to find a suitable house
  • $1,666 per month that the district pays into a special annuity for his retirement–it looks like this is in addition to his normal retirement.
  • Costs associated with getting certified as a superintendent if he ever gets around to it.
  • Priceless–the district will pay for his spouse to travel with him when he is out of town on district business.

Seventy eight retirees

The fixed allowances add up to over $13,000 dollars per month which works out annually to what they are willing to pay seventy eight souls to announce their retirement.  These figures do not include anything for his sorely needed education or for his wife to travel with him.

His contract also requires the district to pay for his personal protection.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

5 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Second round of rail crossing closures

May 12, 2014

They’re back.

Item 15.1 on the regular agenda of the May 13, 2014 city council meeting proposes the closing of yet another rail crossing in the five points area.  This time they are after Maple street.

The April 23, 2013 city council meeting had a long and contentious discussion about the closing of several other crossings.  The closures were made necessary in order for the ball park to be built.  Our city administrators failed to tell us that we did not own all of the land under our old city hall.  The railroad extracted the street closures as part of the deal to sell the city the sliver of land.

Train wreck explained parts of the issue.

Public outreach

At the 2013 meeting several people including the then superintendent of schools for the Ysleta district complained that they had not been informed about the closings.  The public asked for more time.

Some city council members as well as members of city staff maintained the position that the city had done a remarkable job of reaching out to the public.  Another city council member pointed out the truth.  The city had conducted meetings about “quiet zones” for the railroad.  Quiet zones can be created without closing rail crossings.  The city failed to tell the members of the public that the kind of quiet zone they were talking about would close streets.

Once the die was cast some city council members repeatedly asked city staff for assurances that there would be plenty of public notice if further closings were going to be contemplated.  City staff made the appropriate promises and assurances.

Surprise, surprise!

Just one year later the city and the railroad are back at the table.  They want to close Maple street.  Have the public safety agencies, the schools, the citizens, the property owners been warned?  I have not heard a word.

A change in management at the city may be the only way that we can change their secretive method of operation.  City staff frequently lies to the citizens and city council.  People need to go.  We do not need a continuation of the current administration.

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | Ball park, City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

New tax rate comparison

May 11, 2014

If having high property taxes are our goal then maybe we should hire a city manager from one of the 6 large cities in the US that have higher property taxes than us. That’s right, according to the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence we had the 7th highest property taxes of the 50 largest cities in the US in 2013.

No income tax

Some would say that we rank so high because we have no income tax in Texas.  The numbers show that our effective tax rate on a $150,000 home was 2.446%.  Houston is in Texas and had a 1.896% rate.  Seattle has no state income tax and had a 0.941% rate. The average rate of the 50 largest cities was 1.507%.  That puts our tax rate at 162% of the 50 city average.

No income

U. S. News and World Report ranked metropolitan areas with the highest poverty rate in 2011.  El Paso ranked 6th highest with 24.3 percent of our population living below the poverty line.

Temporary improvement

The 2009 Minnesota report put us in 6th place.  The 2011 report showed us at 5th place and the 2012 numbers had us at 4th place.  We went down to number 7 this year because we paid off some debt, not because we had lower taxes for maintenance and operations. Without voter approval our representatives  in local governments have seen to it that the debt numbers will increase soon.  Several of the recent tax and spend initiatives have not hit our tax bills yet.  The county has approved $150 million for new medical clinics that the hospital chief executive  thinks we need to “repurpose”, in other words spend some other way than what he sold the county on originally.  We have the city hall destruction and the remodeling of the buildings they moved into.  Street reconstruction bonds are being issued. The voters themselves approved over $500 million in quality of life bonds that have not been issued yet and thus are not part of our tax bills yet.

Operating income declining

EPISD is forecasting a $17 million dollar shortfall next year.  It looks like they will go to the voters to get permission to have a tax increase. The various boards are trying to deal with the debts of the children’s hospital.  Some say that the number is above $59 million.  Every dollar that they do not pay is a dollar that the county hospital must absorb and that means higher property taxes for us.

The city just dealt with $7.35 million of required budget cuts because forecast revenue is short of what they wanted us to expect.  Our chief financial officer is a finalist for the job of city manager.  It looks like she may well be qualified to help us raise our tax rates.

We deserve better

Brutus

5 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Wink and a nod

May 10, 2014

None of our elected city leaders seemed to be concerned about the ethics of the money swap that the city engaged in with the state of Texas last week.

The state had money that could only be used for pedestrian wayfinding and facility enhancements related to pedestrian access.

The city had money that it was going to spend for wayfinding and facility enhancements related to pedestrian access.

The two governments decided to swap money with the state funding the pedestrian things and the city giving the state money for aesthetic enhancements to bridges.

Both sides agreed to swap $10 million each.  I give you 10, you give me 10.

City staff wants us to believe that this is tied to another $6 million or so that the state was already going to spend.

Either way you look at it the money swap was designed to circumvent rules that control how money is to be spent.  The city manager once again presented a crisis situation to council–do it this week or lose the opportunity.

The intended result would have been that the city got both their pedestrian improvements and beautification money for the bridges over I-10 near downtown.  Council may have been able to divert those funds away from the bridges toward public safety lighting projects around town.  I guess that we will have to see if that can be done.

They seem to think that rules are made to be bent.

We deserve better

Brutus

2 Comments | Ball park, City government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Political gamesmanship

May 9, 2014

At Tuesday’s virtually behind the doors closed meeting of the board of managers of the El Paso Independent School District we saw something of the character of our city’s chief financial officer.

The board wanted to take some steps that would dramatically affect teachers and their employment with the district.  The board chose to have a special meeting at 2 P.M.   Obviously teachers and members of the public would have difficulty attending the meeting at that hour.  Many of the items were on the consent agenda.  Their placement there limited public discussion and facilitated a quick vote without board discussion.

The president of the board did move two of the most significant items off of the agenda and postponed their consideration until the next meeting which I believe is scheduled for May 24.

Ducking the controversy

Our chief financial officer did not attend the meeting.  Maybe she will claim that she was busy with city business.  That of course brings up the conflict of interest that she has when representing both organizations.  This was an important vote but she evidently chose to duck it.

By not voting she really voted yes.  If she had objections to the way the board was going to change the rules with the teachers she should have made the time to be at the meeting and vote no.

Did her behavior assist her efforts to become city manager?  To me the answer is no.  What she showed is that she acts in her own political best interest even though she has a responsibility to the district.  Would she behave the same way as city manager?

You decide.  The teachers probably have already.

We deserve better

Brutus

9 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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