Let’s talk about the EPISD bonds

July 8, 2016

As we know, the EPISD is making plans to have a bond authorization election in November of 2016.

We received copies of presentations made to the district’s facilities advisory committee in the past few weeks from an anonymous source.

The presentations give us an opportunity to review what they are considering and what they have been told, so get ready to read a lot about the issues in coming days on this blog.  The posts will be considered to be negative by some and positive by others.

Please let me start by saying once again that I think EPISD needs some bond money and that I think that the current board and their new president are doing a much better job than their predecessors.

We differ on the what, how much, when and why of what they are talking about.

Hopefully we can use this blog to generate honest, impersonal discussion about the topic before final decisions are made by the committee.

Stay tuned

We deserve better

Brutus

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Double whammy

July 7, 2016

The Times reported the other day that El Paso’s average wage was 23.5 percent below the national average.

On the other hand we have the third highest property taxes of America’s 50 largest cities.

What does it take to be in third place?  Our property taxes are 193 percent of the 50 city average.

Some will observe that Texas does not have an income tax.  A state income tax might lower property taxes, so if we just look at just the Texas cities on the list of 50 we compute that the El Paso tax rate is 120.5 percent of the Texas average.

Simple arithmetic

With wages 23.5 percent lower than the national average our citizens have less money.  Yet our property taxes are 20.5 percent higher than the other high tax rate Texas cities.

That does not add up to a good economic situation yet we are told that “It’s all good”.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Time to tell

July 6, 2016

Do you remember the mess the city got involved in re-re-re-re-modeling San Jacinto Plaza?

We were told that the public could not know the details relating to the mess because of potential litigation.

The project is supposedly finished.

Finished that is, except for the restrooms that council now says are needed.  They were left off originally so that the prior city manager and her acolytes could lie to us about the cost of the project.

Time to tell

Why is it that the city has not come forward and told us how and why the mess occurred and who was responsible?

We deserve better

Brutus

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Rubber stamp?

July 5, 2016

Word is leaking out that the facilities advisory committee formed by EPISD is being railroaded by their facilitators.

We’ve been told that a recent meeting committee members were told that the district’s bond request will probably be $600 million instead of the $500 million that has recently been reported.

We have also been told that when committee members raise objections to simple things like changing the next meeting time the facilitators in effect belittle the objector.

Worse yet committee members were supposedly told that they should not let word of the $600 million leak out to the public.

We deserve better

Brutus

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Posted by Brutus

Let’s keep our independence

July 4, 2016

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness–

That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed,

that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

*****

Please vote.

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
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