What’s this all about?

April 19, 2015

We ran across a document from Texas Senator Jose Rodriquez to the El Paso Independent School District.    The title was ” Questions for EPISD on Budget Situation and Solutions”

Question 15 read:

Looking at EPISD’s reported budget data on TEA’s website, it appears that EPISD is consistently over budget every year by about $100 million in Total Receipts.

  • For FY 2012-13, the total receipts were budgeted at $541,595,092 but the actual total receipts were $670,657,427, which is a difference of $129,062,335.
  • Similarly, for FY 2012-12, the budgeted total receipts were $528,456,553 but the actual total receipts were $616,506,378, which is a difference of $88,049,825.
  • For FY 2010-11, the difference was $98,595,347.
  • For FY 2009-10, the difference was $102,006,209.
  • For FY 2008-09, the difference was $322,965,600.
  • For FY 2007-08, the difference was $84,797,022.
  • For FY 2006-07, the difference was $163,417,897.
  • For FY 2005-06, the difference was $83,224,294.

These figures give the impression that EPISD has consistently underestimated the budget on average by 20 to 25 percent.  Please explain the differences, including where the funds might be coming from, what EPISD plans to do to address this issue, and whether this is typical for school Districts of this size.

EPISD’s answer was:

EPISD is confirming and researching the information provided in the question and will provide a response later this week.

Maybe somebody familiar with the EPISD budget process and how the TEA gets their numbers can explain this to us.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

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

Ride for free

April 18, 2015

In Brio Blues we talked about the expensive kiosks that are at each Brio stop.  While passengers are asked to purchase a ticket before boarding a bus, we learned that the toll box on the bus is not used to read the tickets.

Ridership is based upon the honor system.

In Another giveaway we learned that each of the outdoor ticket kiosks costs us $58,500.  We never have learned how much each of the solar powered trash cans that are at some of the Brio stops cost us.

I took the Brio from downtown back out to the west side the other day.  The ticket kiosk was not working so I could not buy my ticket.  I boarded the bus through the front doors and told the driver that the machine was not working.

His response was to tell me to pay the toll box onboard the bus.

Evidently the toll boxes do work.  Yet passengers are not required to produce their fare tickets when boarding the bus.

If Sun Metro wants people to ride for free why have they spent so much money on the ticket kiosks and the toll boxes?

And while we’re at it, could someone explain the economics of solar powered trash cans?

We deserve better

Brutus

9 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Take me out to the ball game, but not on the bus

April 17, 2015

This from  Helen Marshall:

A suggestion was made on the post regarding the limited service to the baseball games to take a “regular bus” to the game.  To be frank, I had not realized how bad it was until I looked at the Sun Metro site.  You cannot go to a ball game and return home from downtown on a “regular” bus, unless you are willing to just spend an hour or so on weekday and Saturday nights (exception, the Mesa express leaves at 9:15, so you can catch quite a bit of the game but probably not all).  It’s easier to see a game on Sunday, and get a bus home, but you won’t be riding the $27 million Brio on Mesa, as there is no Sunday service. 

The last run from the Downtown Transfer Center (DTC):

Route #3 is at 8:15, Sunday 6:15.
#10 last run at 7:50, Sunday at 5:10
#11, last run at 6:25, 6:00 on weekends
#14  last run at 8:15, 6:11 on Sunday
#15, the Mesa express, last run at 9:15, Saturday 8:15, Sunday 6:40
#18  The westside express, direct to the Westside Transfer Center, last run at 8:09, Saturday at 7:30, Sunday at 7:05
#21 No weekend service
#23  Last run at 7:00
#34  Last run at 7:10
#50  To the Eastside Transfer Center, 9:15, Saturday 8:15, Sunday 7:15.

None of these routes from Downtown would allow you to attend any event downtown that would last past, say, 9 pm, and on weekends not even that late.  The Brio that runs up Mesa stops at 6 p.m.  Forget downtown dinner on Saturday!  Unless of course you want to take a taxi home…from the convenient taxi rank downtown, which is located….oops…

7 Comments | Ball park, City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Don’t look

April 16, 2015

Doing research for some recent posts I went to the city website to read minutes of the Downtown Development Corporation (DDC) meetings.

The DDC is a legal maneuver that city council used to facilitate building our ball park.  It is city council under a different name.

The DDC has published agendas for January 8,  May 28,  June 18,  August 1, and October 15 of 2013 and March 17 of 2015.

Minutes are available for the first two meetings.  Who said what during the meetings where this bond mess was created is information that is not available to us.

Members of council are now telling us that they did not know how bad the situation was.  They say they were never told.

I suppose videos would be out of the question.

We deserve better.

Brutus

 

 

14 Comments | Ball park, City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

They lied

April 15, 2015

The chart we posted the other day in Try to get a home mortgage like this one has been on my mind and I  finally figured out why.

Let’s go back to the ball park financing issue as it rolled out to the taxpayers.

  1. We were told that the ball park was going to be built whether we wanted it or not.  The election was not about whether to build the ball park but how it would be paid for.
  2. We were told that if we voted yes in the election the hotel occupancy tax would pay for the costs of building the ball park.
  3. We were told that state law forbid the use of property tax receipts to pay for the ball park because of the statute they chose to use to create the funding.

Yet the chart that the city came up with after the election  shows that the city did not intend to pay any of the principal due on the debt for the first ten years of financing.

Why?  There was not enough money projected to come in from the hotel occupancy taxes (HOT).  They admitted right there and then that HOT money would not be adequate to pay for the ball park.  In fact HOT money is not even sufficient to pay the interest on the debt.  They are using general fund money to make up the shortfall.  The general fund gets revenue from property taxes, sales taxes, and fines and fees.

They knew

If the chart showed the city paying both principal and interest starting in year one and HOT money proved to be insufficient then we might be convinced to believe that someone just missed a number.  In this case however they planned to skip principal payments for the first ten years.  Why?  Because they knew HOT money would not be sufficient to pay for the ball park and lying to the bond buyers could land them in jail.

Lying to us was a choice they made because they did not expect repercussions.

We deserve better

Brutus

14 Comments | Ball park, City government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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