County judge and the Times editorial board

November 3, 2016

A concerned reader sent this in:

 

http://www.elpasotimes.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/11/02/editorial-el-paso-threaten-small-towns/93143142/

Is there any doubt that Veronica Escobar is running the editorial board of the El Paso Times?
Hers is the uninhibited ego who tried to pull this coup d’etat at the MPO. Fortunately, our city leadership and Vince Perez had the wisdom to see that her ploy was unacceptable and disenfranchised 80% of the county’s residents … oh, and let’s not forget …  a violation of state law.
Noe and Acosta were giving the Judge and the small towns a simple message, “If you want to play with the rules, we can too.” Their response was Politics 101. As a city resident, I would be disappointed if they didn’t take this position.
The Times comes back and covers for Escobar. Have no doubt … Judge Escobar is in constant contact with Bob Moore. Positions like this one are a reflection of Moore’s unwavering allegiance to the Judge.
Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI), if you are reading this, please note … businesses threatened by emerging technologies do not survive when they are co-opted by B-caliber politicians.
Brutus, we deserve better.

3 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Times, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

County Commissioner playing by the rules

November 1, 2016

Our local Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Policy Board (MPO) recently voted to change its membership.

The move was spearheaded by our state senator and one of our state representatives working in conjunction with the smaller municipalities and the county (e.g. other than the city of El Paso).

The cabal wanted to neuter the city of El Paso’s  power on the board by changing the membership so that the city of El Paso would only have one voting member of the board instead of the eight it currently has.

Put simply they want our money.

Not legal

The MPO was created under 23 USC (United States Code) 450.310.

Section 450.310 (j) reads:

(j) Redesignation of an MPO (in accordance with the provisions of this section) is required whenever the existing MPO proposes to make:

(1) A substantial change in the proportion of voting members on the existing MPO representing the largest incorporated city, other units of general purpose local government served by the MPO, and the State(s);

That is certainly what the cabal is trying to do.

The problem is that 450.310 (h) defines how the redesignation can be authorized:

(h) An existing MPO may be redesignated only by agreement between the Governor and units of general purpose local government that together represent at least 75 percent of the existing metropolitan planning area population (including the largest incorporated city, based on population, as named by the Bureau of the Census).

Without the city of El Paso’s vote they cannot achieve the 75 percent representation required to redesignate the MPO.  Subsection h also requires the approval of the city of El Paso because it is the area’s largest incorporated city.

County commissioner

Of particular interest is that County Commissioner Vincent Perez voted against the redesignation–in fact voting against the County Judge.    He told the Times that the board’s actions do not comply with federal regulations.

He also indicated that he was “particularly disappointed” with the board’s legal counsel (a county employee) and that the lawyer should be “evaluated and possibly fired”.

Thank you Commissioner Perez for standing up for the rule of law.

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | City government, County Government, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

County hospital board goes dark

October 20, 2016

If you are interested in following the activities of our county hospital board, good luck.

The board meeting packets contain the backup information supporting the agenda items.  The latest packet that they have posted is for the August 9, 2016 board meeting.  Here we are in October and they have not had time to make the items available.

The board meeting packets should be made available before the board meetings so that the public can be informed.  Granted, there is no law requiring this.

They used to post the meeting packets before the meeting.

Is is just a coincidence that our former city chief financial officer is now a member of the hospital board?

We deserve better

Brutus

Leave a Comment » | County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

A new tax to counteract gravity

October 3, 2016

The local government press agency (AKA El Paso Times) floated a trial balloon the other day.

It seems that some of our county officials are thinking about railing against mother nature and using that as an excuse to raise taxes and increase the size of county government.

The article told us that some county people want to tax us with a stormwater fee.   The immediate problem is that they have no authority to do so.  Their solution is to ask the state legislature to allow the county to assess the fee.

As long as we have the mountain rain water runoff will be a problem.  No amount of money can fix it.

Then again that’s not why they want the money.

We deserve better

Brutus

10 Comments | County Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Dated data

September 21, 2016

The Times published “Tax bills still rising steadily in El Paso” on their front page last Sunday.

They cited information from a 2010 study and wrote “El Paso’s median property-tax bill ranked 299th or in the top half of 805 of the nation’s largest counties, in a Tax Foundation report using 2010 data, the latest report available from the organization.”

Not current

In Climbing to the top we wrote that the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence places El Paso as having the third highest tax rate among America’s 50 largest cities.  The report was based on 2015 taxes.  You can’t get more current than that.

We know that people at the Times read this blog.

Was this article written to help the EPISD bond?  Were they trying to convince us  that El Paso’s tax rates aren’t that bad?

We deserve better

Brutus

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

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »