County Government | elpasospeak

MPO deception

September 17, 2015

Our El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is conducting a survey “about how you travel about the city”. I got one in my mailbox the other day.

They evidently did not feel that anyone in El Paso could handle the job so they hired the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. A&M in turn hired the ETC Institute out of Olathe, Kansas. So much for buying local.

The accompanying letter says “We need your ideas. We need your opinions”. The survey is multiple choice and nowhere is there so much as a blank spot where you can share an idea or opinion. It seems that they have made up their minds about what we need and the questions are probably designed to prove their point.

The letter goes on to say “Your participation is voluntary and your responses will remain anonymous”. More on that later.

The second question asks: “What are the names of the two cross streets closest to your home?”. Being an anonymous survey this should give the researchers an indication of where you live and you the impression that they really don’t know who you are. They ask questions about your commuting habits, bicycling, and walking. Questions about important things like the condition of our streets did not make the cut. This survey was designed to support an agenda that they already have.

They also ask about your health, physical condition, and exercise habits.

Then they get personal. The want to know your gender, age, weight, height, ethnicity, relationship status, social media usage, and number of vehicles you have. Let’s not forget that they also ask about your personal income.

They even ask “How happy, satisfied, or pleased have you been with your personal life?”.

Some of us might feel that it would be safe to answer those questions since our responses are anonymous.

Horse feathers!

At the bottom of the survey they have printed both your residence address and a serial number.

Anonymous my foot!

Are these people idiots or do they think that we are?

We deserve better

Brutus

5 Comments | City government, County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Nearing the end

September 16, 2015

The Times is at it again, doing what they can to try to influence public opinion to support their chosen ones.

Their recent reporting on the county hospital/children’s hospital has been highlighting deficiencies in the arguments the children’s hospital is trying to make.

Make no mistake, the children’s hospital has gotten into a mess. Their outrageously expensive interim management team is making the mess worse. Unless a white knight swoops in at the last minute it looks like the hospital will fail.

What the Times is not highlighting is how this mess came about. Feel free to add to this list:

The hospital should never have been built. Numerous studies pointed out that there was little need and the hospital would have little chance of being economically viable.
Our county leaders decided that they knew better and sold us a bill of goods and a bond issue.
While the studies predicted failure with a moderately sized facility our county leaders decided to build an even bigger one.
Near opening day our county leaders played dirty pool and stalled the presentation of contracts between the two hospitals. The leadership of the children’s hospital made a fatal mistake and accepted the contracts so that they could open the doors when they should have insisted on fair contracts. Instead they believed the county pitch “trust me, I’m with the government”.
Our county officials are charging the children’s hospital close to $10 million per year for rent even though the taxpayers are paying for the building separately through a bond issue.
Rather than fix the mess when the children’s hospital fell behind on its payments, our county officials waited until the debt was insurmountable thus guaranteeing that the county would gain control.

The county got us into this mess and now we are going to have to pay for it. More on that later.

We deserve better

Brutus

15 Comments | County Government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Allowance for fabrication

September 12, 2015

The bankruptcy judge has instructed our county hospital and the children’s hospital to negotiate.

No one has come forward with an explanation that makes sense as to why the children’s hospital has to pay rent to the county hospital when the voters are paying for the construction of the children’s hospital with bonds.

It seems that the county found a way to get paid for something that we are already paying for.

If I am correct our county hospital administrator recently said that the payments were not actually for rent. Instead they were to pay for the inevitable depreciation and wear and tear on the building over the next several years.

If so

If that were the case we could expect to see the amount placed in reserve on the county hospital’s financial statements. It wouldn’t be right to spend that money on regular county hospital expenses. I don’t see such a reserve on their statements.

Also if they need to collect for the eventual refurbishing of the children’s hospital as a matter of sound financial governance they we should expect to see the county hospital accruing money in a similar fashion for their own building. I don’t see anything like that on their financials either.

We deserve better

Brutus

4 Comments | County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Wrong twice?

September 5, 2015

Wind Talker posted a comment the other day in response to Is this an awakening?

The comment was polite, well written, and it looks like she/he knows what they are talking about.

The comment corrected us on two points. We were evidently wrong about a proposed tax rate and about the nature of the services that the districts provide.

We thank Wind Talker for correcting us.

Our information came from an El Paso Times article:

Also on Monday, Commissioners Court will discuss the proposed tax rates by Emergency Services Districts No. 1 and 2. Both taxing jurisdictions are proposing a property tax increase of 10 cents per $100 taxable value. The county administration is recommending that Commissioners Court deny both requests.

Emergency Services Districts No. 1 and 2 provide fire and ambulance services to Horizon and the county’s unincorporated areas. Their budgets are approved by Commissioners Court.

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | County Government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Is the jig up?

September 2, 2015

The Times published an article about the ongoing troubles between our county hospital and the children’s hospital yesterday.

It looks like there may be a new party at the table now. According to the article our county hospital and the children’s hospital colluded to get federal money that they should not have received.

The article quoted a former lawyer for the children’s hospital:

She said that as a governmental entity, UMC could put up money for federal health grants known as intergovernmental transfers. For each dollar UMC put up, the feds put up $1.40, Vogel said. The idea was to use Children’s Hospital’s rent payment for the local match, but federal rules prohibit such an explicit quid pro quo, so the deal wasn’t put in writing, Vogel said.

Liars, cheaters, thieves?

According to the article the children’s hospital recently made claims in front of a federal bankruptcy judge that any rent money that have paid in the past was actually used to scam a federal matching fund program.

We will have to wait to see if the feds take legal action. We should probably expect them to demand a return of the money.

Will we see this prosecuted as a criminal case?

Can we believe anything that either side says at this point?

We deserve better

Brutus

8 Comments | County Government, El Paso Times, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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