The chart we posted the other day in Try to get a home mortgage like this one has been on my mind and I finally figured out why.
Let’s go back to the ball park financing issue as it rolled out to the taxpayers.
- We were told that the ball park was going to be built whether we wanted it or not. The election was not about whether to build the ball park but how it would be paid for.
- We were told that if we voted yes in the election the hotel occupancy tax would pay for the costs of building the ball park.
- We were told that state law forbid the use of property tax receipts to pay for the ball park because of the statute they chose to use to create the funding.
Yet the chart that the city came up with after the election shows that the city did not intend to pay any of the principal due on the debt for the first ten years of financing.
Why? There was not enough money projected to come in from the hotel occupancy taxes (HOT). They admitted right there and then that HOT money would not be adequate to pay for the ball park. In fact HOT money is not even sufficient to pay the interest on the debt. They are using general fund money to make up the shortfall. The general fund gets revenue from property taxes, sales taxes, and fines and fees.
They knew
If the chart showed the city paying both principal and interest starting in year one and HOT money proved to be insufficient then we might be convinced to believe that someone just missed a number. In this case however they planned to skip principal payments for the first ten years. Why? Because they knew HOT money would not be sufficient to pay for the ball park and lying to the bond buyers could land them in jail.
Lying to us was a choice they made because they did not expect repercussions.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Comment: Folks in the general population don’t have the legal experience or clout to follow through on holding these people accountable.
Question: What’s the solution?
LikeLike
Tar and feathers?
LikeLike
We crazies did not have all this information at the time; it’s public now because those responsible are either retired and living on the pensions we provide them, or off somewhere wrecking another city’s finances. (Speaking of retirement, I believe Ms. Shaung will be able to do so by now that her paid leave has ended, how’s that Brio system working out for us?) Key council players in this scheme are beyond reach: Ms Niland will be re-elected with massive financing from the team that brought us the park (you can’t miss those giant CORTNEY signs all over the westside). Progressives Byrd and Ortega, who are more victims of their own hubris than authors of the scheme, are gone from council (although Ms Byrd will be taking her place on the EPISD board – watch out!).
Perhaps we should ask Stephanie Townsend Allala for some advice on holding the perpetrators accountable.
LikeLike
“Ms Niland will be re-elected with massive financing from the team that brought us the park”
———————————————————–
No, she will be re-elected by voters in her district. Her one opponent is a delayed adolescent who likes to post menstruation jokes on Twitter. Not a serious candidate. Apparently no one in Dist 8 disliked Ms. Niland or cared enough about their district to step up to the plate. So it goes.
LikeLike
Agree 100%. Let’s join forces and support her.
LikeLike
I was referring to Stephanie Townsend Allala.
LikeLike
As goes Kaifornia goes the rest….
LikeLike
True, we did not know all this, but we did know! We (those few of us crazy enough to speak out against the prevailing mood) did try to warn everyone, but no one was listening, and you know what? Very few are listening even now! I’m just glad I’m retired, and soon will be gone from here. I only have one adult child left in town, and I suspect this huge bill will help to drive him out, before too much longer.
LikeLike
Brutus
Take it to the Texas Attorney General’s office and ask for an opinion to the violation of the law in using tax dollars to fund the Ball Park. File a complaint with the AG’s office is not real hard. Just make sure you have your documentation in order. Will cost you no more than to send a letter. Just make sure you have the Texas governmental codes they are being violated. The worst that can happen is the refusal to take action in rendering an opinion. In fifty to sixty business days you should have an answer.
Do not expect the AG’s office to step in but you will most likely be told to take your criminal complaint to the El Paso DA’s office.
Once again filing a complaint with the DA’s office is not hard either. Cite the laws being violated and documentation to back it up.
Also I never tried it but you also have the County Sheriff office if you think you can prove a criminal violation of the Texas governmental code.
Brutus you can find all the Texas governmental codes on-line.
Sure it best to have a lawyer but how many of us can afford fifty to a hundred thousand dollars for a lawyer. Also the cost for a lawyer will be higher because you would not want a lawyer from El Paso to carry your case.
Now Brutus some will try and tell you that you can’t do what I suggested and this is only a suggestion and not legal advice, but they are wrong.
It’s pretty amazing what one can do with a computer, letters and the will to take on government and petition for relief.
Warning: Brutus if you do make head way against them do expect them to come after you using ever underhanded means at their disposal. Watch your back, who you trust and always be aware of your surrounding and safety. Go get them Brutus!
LikeLike
I would like to know if any of the perpetrators of this crime (former city manager, council members, and mayor) can be banned from holding further office in our community. Even if Niland is re-elected, could she and Susie Byrd have recall elections to remove them from their respective offices? I know that Joyce Wilson has been appointed to the El Paso City Charter Committee. Can that action be redacted as well? I feel all involved have shown deep inadequacies as civic leaders.
LikeLike
Unless voters deny Niland a second term in the election, you’re stuck with her. A lot of people in her district would not be unwiling to openly sign a recall petition because they do not want to alienate her financial benefactors for fear of being socially ostracized or punished in business.
LikeLike
Bingo.
LikeLike
“Even if Niland is re-elected, could she and Susie Byrd have recall elections to remove them from their respective offices?”
——————————————————————-
That would require enough voters in Dist #8 who give a shit to make the effort. There are not that many in Dist #8 or any other district in El Paso.
LikeLike
We also have local election issues that exist similarly on the state and national level. Individuals who have financial interests that require city council support are contributing to the campaigns of candidates who are running in districts other than the districts in which these monied players live. They want to pick your rep as well as their own. That’s just wrong. It shows that the money players want to control the entire council. Some of those big contributors also donate to the campaigns of competing candidates. The only reason a person would double down like that is to make sure that they have purchased council votes, regardless who wins.
LikeLike