Let me pay you to shine your shoes

November 16, 2016

Our city must be desperate.

It appears that we are going to give $5 million in tax incentives to a golf driving range company if the company will promise to invest $15.7 million and start construction this year.

The city wants them to build their driving range in the same development on the west side that our former city manager saw to it was given significant tax incentives.  Our former city chief financial officer then went to work for one of the owners of the development after the new city manager came in and saw the financial mess that the city was in.

That same former city chief financial is now over at EPISD.  You can ask many EPISD employees about her and you will find out a lot more than the newspaper has printed.

Take our money please

According to a recent article in the Times the golf company “said it was prepared to take a swing at El Paso’s market without any financial sweeteners”.

The company later retracted the statement, probably after the city asked them to cooperate.

We deserve better

Brutus

9 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

EPISD promotions

November 12, 2016

This came in anonymously:

3 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

EPISD bonds

November 10, 2016

The bond issue for EPISD has been approved by the voters.

Congratulations to the board president–she did an outstanding job promoting them.

Pay attention

We need to continue to pay attention and focus on how the bonds are administered.

Is the money being spent fairly and wisely?  Are they using the funds for the projects they told us the money would be spent on?

Will the committee that gets appointed to oversee the spending take care of us or of the special interests?

We deserve better

Brutus

10 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

EPISD bonds–planning failure

November 7, 2016

Could it be that the people behind the bond issue at EPISD really don’t think that the bonds will be approved tomorrow?

Are they planning to do a two step with a subsequent second attempt like the Ysleta district did?

Could failure of this bond issue become their excuse to make sweeping changes at the district?

Is it possible that they will work to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse?

Am I getting carried away?

We deserve better

Brutus

4 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

EPISD bonds–pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered

November 4, 2016

Of course EPISD needs bond money to fix our schools.  Past school boards have neglected basic maintenance that should have been paid for out of maintenance and operations funds, not future bonds.

What they don’t need is a lot of money all at one time.

Take the case of the new Jefferson high school stadium.  The school board voted this year to spend $2.8 million dollars “leftover” from their 2007 bond issue.

By the way, we are not opposed to Jefferson having a stadium.  We are opposed to Jefferson having a stadium that the voters did not approve.

Leftover my foot

The voters did not authorize building the stadium when they voted nine years ago in 2007.  If for some reason the district ended up with unspent money it should have been returned to the voters by reducing debt.

Can you imagine what will happen nine years from now if we give the district over six hundred million dollars all at one time?

They can’t handle the construction involved with that much money in just five years.

The reasonable thing for the district to do is to ask for a smaller sum, say $100 million.  Tell us specifically what they want to do with it.  Convince us to approve the money.  Then do exactly what they said they want to do with the money in a short period of time.  Earn our respect and trust.  Then ask for another dollop.

We deserve better

Brutus

16 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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