Doggone right

July 22, 2015

Deputy Dawg posted a comment the other day that I think deserves attention.

For those of you who missed it this is what he/she wrote:

There will be an upcoming election where voters will be asked to approve moving some tax funds around. The result: ZERO change in tax but the district will end up getting millions in state revenue. Of course, the voters have to approve it. It is called a “penny swap” TRE election.

http://www.episd.org/community/tre_2015.php

Did you get that? No new taxes. Millions more in revenue.

Let me repeat for the hard of hearing or the disbelievers: NO NEW TAXES but millions in new state revenue

If the ballot item is worded correctly we will have an opportunity to increase income to EPISD without increasing our taxes.  What we will be doing is increasing the tax rate for maintenance and operation of the schools (M&O) while at the same time decreasing the tax rate for debt payments (I&S) the same amount.

I hope that the district takes the opportunity to take some of the increase in state funding and use it to reduce our debt by at least the same amount that they would have at the old I&S rate.

That would be a real win for all concerned.

We deserve better

Brutus

Leave a Comment » | El Paso Independent School District, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Performance cancelled

July 21, 2015

It appears that the city has decided that it is not competent to handle the administrative process relating to the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).

Their solution is to hire two firms from out of town to help the city get it’s act together.

This must really be complex if it requires two out of town firms to make recommendations.

The real issue is that the city does not want anyone local to get to see the mess that city engineering is in.

The MPO is supposed to follow published rules.  The city needs to comply.

Any mid-level manager worth his/her salt could handle this.

We have a chief performance officer.  Isn’t this a matter of performance?

We deserve better

Brutus

7 Comments | City government, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Our money laying around

July 20, 2015

Now we are learning that the city is so loose with our money that they have failed to collect over $21 million from the state.  The state wants to pay us but the city has to do some paperwork.

According to this article in the Times:

The city of El Paso is in danger of losing millions of dollars in transportation project reimbursements after failing to submit the required paperwork to receive payment, according to Texas Department of Transportation officials.

TxDOT says the city has $21.3 million in pending reimbursements, but city officials disagreed, saying it’s closer to $9 million.

Difference

Based upon the city’s recent financial errors I know who I would tend to believe in this situation.

Even if the city is right why haven’t they moved immediately to collect the $9 million?  Do they have so much of our money that they don’t care?

More debt is an option

I have been impressed with the way our new city manager and chief financial officer have been trying to fix the mess that their predecessors left us with.

This quote from the Times really makes me wonder though:

In the worst-case scenario, Sutter said, city staff could go before the City Council to request additional certificates of obligations, which are backed by property taxes but don’t require voter approval.

We can only hope that the quote was taken out of context and that our chief financial officer was talking about something other than collecting our $21.3 million.

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | City government, El Paso Times, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Two poor choices

July 19, 2015

David K. over at Refuse the Juice nailed it in this post about the proposed wage theft ordinance.

He points out that the city is considering an ordinance that worded the way it is would allow the city to deny any business city permits for up to five years if they lose an employee wage claim–even if the employer then promptly pays the judgment.

This situation is another example of the problems we have in the city attorney’s office.  Either the proposed ordinance language is incredibly sloppy and inept or the intent of the ordinance is evil.

Either way,

We deserve better

Brutus

2 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Can it be?

July 18, 2015

I heard a rumor the other day that I hope is true.

A supplier to the El Paso Independent School District mentioned that in talking with some of the EPISD officials he/she  was told that the district would be curtailing their budget expansion and was actively developing strategies to manage their shrinking enrollment without asking for a bond election.

The district may turn out to need extra money.  If they ask for it I hope that they will consider the failed Ysleta bond issue.  The Ysleta voters might have approved some funds if the school officials had not asked for so much money in a single transaction.

My feeling is that the voters have little trust in the ability of our local governments to effectively manage projects.  Massive cost overruns and extended project delays are the norm lately.  We need to see some successes before we might become comfortable.

Let’s hope that the EPISD administrators have gotten the message.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

 

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

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