An astute reader sent us a link to this editorial.
In a nutshell, some folks in Dallas are proposing a change to their city charter that would require the ballot language used on bond elections to include two numbers: the principal amount, and the amount that the city will have to pay back (principal + interest).
The newspaper wrote in praise of the transparency being demonstrated by their city council.
We deserve better
Brutus
3 Comments | 
City government, County Government | 
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Posted by Brutus
Part of the argument that the new chief executive officer of the children’s hospital is making is that the $15 million a year that his predecessor agreed to pay to the county hospital for support services is too high.
The new chief executive is publicly saying that the charge should be about half, or $7.5 million a year.
In fact looking at the county hospital’s 2013 and 2012 audit report, the net revenue that the county hospital gets (what they charge minus what it costs to provide the services) is $9.7 million each year. The audit relies upon the hospital district management group for numbers like this, so at the very least they are telling us that they are making at least $9.7 million in profit from the children’s hospital each year.
I don’t know whether to think of Fagan or of Cruella De Vil when considering our county hospital executives.
I voted against the bonds for the children’s hospital, but like the ball park feel that now that we have one we should do what we can to make it viable.
The new children’s hospital chief executive says that he is going to cut expenses. He evidently has also had a Forest Gump moment and decided to do a better job collecting his bills.
Unfortunately he has hired an out of town company to help with that process. I guess he does not believe that El Paso has any talent to speak of.
We deserve better
Brutus
2 Comments | Ball park, County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
The troubles at the Children’s Hospital are coming to a boil.
Their new CEO raised the issue of the rent that they pay to our county hospital.
You may recall that the county hospital issued $120 million in general obligation bonds back in May 2008 to pay for the Children’s Hospital and Women’s Tower construction.
These bonds were not revenue bonds that would normally be paid from the money that the facility collected. Instead these were general obligation bonds that are being paid for through property taxes. In other words the county sold the bonds and we are paying for them through our property taxes.
The new Children’s Hospital CEO is now asking why he has to pay the county hospital approximately $11.6 million each year to lease the building.
His point is that the county hospital is already getting paid for the bonds by the taxpayers. Is the current agreement actually a subsidy to the county hospital at the cost of the Children’s Hospital?
Maybe the lease includes operating expenses like utilities.
Unfortunately it will be difficult for the citizens to figure out what is really going on. It seems that as part of the dispute resolution procedures agreed to by both parties neither one can discuss the issues publicly for the next 60 days.
We deserve better
Brutus
19 Comments | County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Our county commissioners have banned fireworks in El Paso county.
Except for “professional shows”.
Expect our ball park to host some of these “professional shows”. That’s our ball park that is adjacent to Sunset Heights, one of our oldest neighborhoods.
I wonder what it will cost us to have our fire department respond to or be on standby for any fires that may be caused by burning embers landing on those old roofs.
We deserve better
Brutus
7 Comments | Ball park, City government, County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
This article in our El Paso Times deserves comment.
According to the article an off duty Border Patrol agent allegedly saw three people allegedly pointing what allegedly looked like an automatic rifle at a building.
I guess we can skip the issue of how three people work together to point a single rifle. I certainly hope that one of them was not in front of the alleged automatic rifle.
County sheriff’s deputies arrived and chased the three. The alleged automatic rifle turned out to be a paint gun.
Two of the alleged building killers were held “on suspicion of terrorist threat and evading detention”.
Imagine what they would have been charged with if they had actually squeezed the trigger.
There was a time when you did not get arrested until you had actually committed a crime.
There is a better way to handle youngsters.
We deserve better
Brutus
4 Comments | County Government, El Paso Times, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
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