The word on the street is that the city has sent out letters to property owners near the proposed arena informing them that the city intends to take their properties through eminent domain.
We were told originally that the city would not use eminent domain.
Baloney!
They are doing this in spite of the fact that the arena project is tied up in the courts.
Shameful!
We deserve better
Brutus
5 Comments | 
City government | 
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Posted by Brutus
The folks over at city council are having one of their special meetings today.
The first item on the agenda is:
Not a single item on the list is a necessity yet things that we need like road repairs are not on the list.
Notice that they are planning to issue $80 million in certificates of obligation.
We deserve better
Brutus
14 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
One of the rumors on the street is that the city wants to put pay raises for the mayor and city representatives one the ballot of the next election.
We have seen that they have activated an Ad Hoc Charter Advisory Committee.
Can anyone enlighten us?
We deserve better
Brutus
12 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Our central appraisal district has re-appraised all of the properties in the county.
Many homeowners are seeing their appraised values going up. State law limits the amount of the increase to 10% of last year’s appraisal.
A common misconception is that property tax bills will automatically go up as a result of an increased appraisal.
Actually each taxing entity is required to calculate the “effective tax rate”. From the state comptroller’s web site:
The effective tax rate is the rate the taxing unit needs to generate about the same amount of revenue it received in
the year before on properties taxed in both years.
Thus if every homeowner’s appraisal goes up 5% the effective tax rate will have to go down 5%.
Where one might see a tax increase is if their home value goes up more than the average increase of all of the other home owners.
When our local elected officials publish their new tax rates don’t make the mistake of looking at the rate (percentage) they publish.
If home values go up 5% and the taxing entity’s rate stays the same as last year they are increasing taxes 5% even though the rate is the same.
We deserve better
Brutus
9 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
In both the political and business worlds we are unfortunately seeing more situations where the power of government is used to oppress someone’s opponents.
We see it at both the national and local levels.
Adversaries used to fight in their own arenas but now some are involving government to crush their opponents.
We deserve better
Brutus
Leave a Comment » | City government, County Government, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
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