We don’t hear much about our county hospital lately.
Could it be that we have an honest, competent administrator over there now?
We deserve better
Brutus
Things are quiet at the county hospital
April 29, 2018
6 Comments | 
County Government | 
Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Slight of hand
April 23, 2018Our 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
Hiring a bully
April 21, 2018In 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
What law?
April 20, 2018From what we can see our local central appraisal district is the only local government that obeys this Texas law:
GOVERNMENT CODE
TITLE 10. GENERAL GOVERNMENT
SUBTITLE F. STATE AND LOCAL CONTRACTS AND FUND MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER 2265. REQUIRED PUBLICATION AND REPORTING BY GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES
Sec. 2265.001. RECORDING AND REPORTING OF ELECTRICITY, WATER, AND NATURAL GAS CONSUMPTION. (a) In this section, “governmental entity” means:
(1) a board, commission, or department of the state or a political subdivision of the state, including a municipality, a county, or any kind of district; or
(2) an institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003, Education Code.
(b) Notwithstanding any other law, a governmental entity responsible for payments for electric, water, or natural gas utility services shall record in an electronic repository the governmental entity’s metered amount of electricity, water, or natural gas consumed for which it is responsible to pay and the aggregate costs for those utility services. The governmental entity shall report the recorded information on a publicly accessible Internet website with an interface designed for ease of navigation if available, or at another publicly accessible location.
We deserve better
Brutus
Leave a Comment » | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Is it because we are blue?
April 7, 2018A regular reader sent this in:
Are El Paso taxes higher because we are a blue county?
12 Comments | City government, County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
elpasospeak 
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