I guess that I should be proud to be thinking similarly to Rich Write over at elchuqueno.com, The link should take you to an article he posted on November 28, 2016. The post below was written on November 26 but was not scheduled to be posted until today:
The Texas comptroller keeps track of each city’s debt.
This clip came from the comptroller’s web site last week:
It tells us that from 2005 to 2014 our per capita debt increased by 83.9%.
Quality of life bonds
We probably should expect that with the $470 million or so of quality of life bonds that we approved.
Except:
The comptroller’s analysis shows the quality of life bonds substantially unissued.
We deserve better
Brutus
Here’s an idea. Do not issue those bonds. Go back to the drawing board, and come up with something doable and of real benefit to El Pasoans, instead of the friends of CC. I mean, if the bonds haven’t been issued, then the projects have not started, right?
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If I am reading this right, the city has another big problem on the horizon and it has not been covered by the local talking heads. Four years later, few of the 2012 QOL projects have even been started, much less finished.
But let’s start with the good news. We’ve apparently not been paying interest on the amounts approved for all those QOL projects and promises that are still gathering dust.
The double whammy however is that when the city gets around to these projects, both the construction costs and interest rates will in all likelihood be substantially higher than over the past four years. The bottom line is that we will end up paying more in interest than we anticipated and the projects will need to be scaled back to stay within the original construction budgets.
Once again, taxpayers are getting the short end of the stick and will be paying more for less.
To add salt to the wound, consider that the city made sure Foster and Hunt got their ballpark in one short year.
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It is much more when you add in debt of all taxing entities like EPISD, UMC, etc. Debt, spend and tax – the El Paso road to prosperity.
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Ya know, if there was a need in 2012 fur some damn thing and we ain’t bought it yet, don’t it seem likely thet we don’t need the damn thing any more?
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Great point, but let’s not let common sense get in the way of progress.
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How about improving the quality of life for our overworked EPPD !!!
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