Property Taxes Thoughts   2/07/09
David Tuthill

Last week, I took the trouble to go to my local county government building to stand in line to pay my 2008 property taxes.  I mailed them in December, but the  payment fell into the ?Bermuda Triangle?somewhere between the post box and the County Tax office -- never to be heard from again.   Only by keeping an eagle eye out for the canceled check did I learn something was wrong.  The hassle that befell me as I issued another big bucks check vs corralling the missing one and possibly running a foul of the counties? ?zero tolerance? for bouncing checks made it attractive to me to spend time in line and assure it was done.

You meet some interesting people while standing in line to pay your taxes.  Some real soul mates!  When I asked one older gentleman how he was doing, he replied: ?Not well. I am here being legally mugged by my local government.?

We discussed the failure and false promises of Texas legislature in the public school finance tax restructuring to provide us property tax relief from the incessant gouging by the Dallas County Appraisal District (DCAD).  In an economic recession the DCAD insists that our homes have increased in value, to justify an ever increasing tax bill.   We all agreed our local government are a bunch of godless, money-grubbing scoundrels intent on driving us from our homes.

Being my nature, I piped in about what a stellar job our local School Board Trustees are doing to protect their jobs after their gross mismanagement of DISD affairs.  Not only last year's scandals; but the years preceding the current budget fiasco.   I likened their move to a 4-year term from a 3-year term (legislation by Senator Royce West and abused by the DISD trustees) to the politics in Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabee?s attempts to keep power despite a questionable election at best.  After all, why should they be accountable to the taxpayers?

We talked about Trustee Ron Price's plans to run for city council (with a paycheck) and how it was a natural fit for him after the DISD.

We also reviewed:

(1) The Dallas city council's endless tax abatements to developers and the lack of disclosure of commercial real estate sales prices, unfairly forcing the the tax burden on homeowners.  

(2) How our tax monies are used to build taxpayer funded convention center hotels despite a successful petition drive to force one a vote on the matter, toll roads in flood planes, and those over budget suspension bridges spanning a river that is dry as a bone (except when it is flooded to its banks.

(3)  How the city council let Councilwoman Angela Hunt force out Woodard Paint & Body from their long-established location on Ross, while they gave millions from our water bills to AT&T to relocate from San Antonio with PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes).  See DallasArena.com's Party On! - Elected Officials in a holiday mood!

We covered all the waste, squandering and shady deals as we advanced in line to pay our property taxes to fund local government!

We all agreed the Legislature failed to help homeowners with property tax relief as they promised!

We all agreed that we and the schoolchildren were ill served by the self-serving DISD trustees and superintendent !

We agreed our city council had a "head in the clouds? attitude in the months building up to the economic collapse in the financial markets and real estate markets.  

It is only our hard earned tax dollars that we are paying for today (when dollars are dear) to a group of people who clasp their hands with glee as visions of squandering run through their heads.

David W. Tuthill