State constitutional proposals

October 22, 2019

The state has some questions on the ballot.  They are all proposed constitutional amendments.

  1. The constitutional amendment permitting a person to hold more than one office as a municipal judge at the same time.
  2. The constitutional amendment providing for the issuance of additional general obligation bonds by the Texas Water Development
    Board in an amount not to exceed $200 million to provide financial assistance for the development of certain projects in economically
    distressed areas.
  3. The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for a temporary exemption from ad valorem taxation of a portion
    of the appraised value of certain property damaged by a disaster.
  4. The constitutional amendment prohibiting the imposition of an individual income tax, including a tax on an individual’s share of
    partnership and unincorporated association income.
  5. The constitutional amendment dedicating the revenue received from the existing state sales and use taxes that are imposed on
    sporting goods to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Historical Commission to protect Texas’ natural areas,
    water quality, and history by acquiring, managing, and improving state and local parks and historic sites while not increasing the
    rate of the state sales and use taxes.
  6. The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to increase by $3 billion the maximum bond amount authorized for
    the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
  7. The constitutional amendment allowing increased distributions to the available school fund.
  8. The constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the flood infrastructure fund to assist in the financing of drainage,
    flood mitigation, and flood control projects.
  9. The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation precious metal held in a precious metal
    depository located in this state.
  10. The constitutional amendment to allow the transfer of a law enforcement animal to a qualified caretaker in certain circumstances

Number 3 strikes me as unnecessary. If property is damaged (whether by a disaster or any other way) its appraised value should decrease because it is worth less.

It would have been nice if our local news media had done a better job informing us of what the issues are behind each of the proposals.

The Times evidently did run an article but they only deliver my newspaper about 60% of the time.

We deserve better

Brutus

12 Comments | State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Early voting

October 21, 2019

Today is the first day of early voting.

In the city of El Paso the only issue (unless you vote in district 3 where there is a special city council election)  is whether we will authorize the issuance of $413,122,650 in bonds for public safety purposes.

According to the city it will cost $12 per year in year one for a $100,000 home.

In year two the cost will be $24 for that same home.

Year three will be $36, year four will be $48, five will be $60 and year six the bill will be $72.

Presumably it will stay at $72 for the life of the bonds.  The city reserves the right make the increases on a different schedule.

They also reserve the right to move the money around because after all they don’t really know what their suggested projects will cost.

Personally I can see the need for some new facilities.  I would prefer however that they actually figure out what they want and how much it will cost instead of asking for a blank check.

This is an arrogant money grab.  They evidently think that the voters will just give them a bunch of money and that they can decide what to do with it later.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

12 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Civil discourse

October 20, 2019

The blog readers got into some disagreements Saturday.

We are appreciative that on the whole there was very little offensive name calling and most of the discussion did not seem to be personal.

Yes there were a few exceptions but on the whole people were civil.

We thank you.

We deserve better

Brutus

5 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Open line Saturday

October 19, 2019

What’s on your mind today?

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Another great honor

October 18, 2019

Our readers pointed out to us the other day that the purchasing award the city recently got involved the city paying a fee of either $400 or $600 depending upon whether the city is a member of the organization.

Following up on that thought the city also receives a “Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting”.

Maybe the certificate is designed to make us feel better about what the city is telling us.

As it turns out the Government Finance Officers Association is the group awarding the certificate of achievement.

The city uses our tax money to pay for their submission:

Would the city tell us if they failed to get the certificate that they bought?

We deserve better

Brutus

5 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »