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The DMN editorial
states the County's wishful
budgeting does not add up and could face a $20 million
dollar shortfall.
The editorial points out that in the past years ?the
county commissioners have allowed a futile blue sky budget process to play out
with officials making impractical requests and budget director Ryan Brown
providing reality checks. The impassioned pleas and a general reluctance to
explain which needs are most urgent. ... Absent from
this theater of the absurd are clear priorities and forward thinking planning
process.?
What with taxpayers saving some (not a lot) of
our tax money from school finance reform,
I guess we can spend that savings on more taxes
in other areas. This is despite a 10%
INCREASE in the property values.
The County Commissioners want a 6%
increase in the tax rate on top of that 10% increase in
property values!
Most of the commissioners don?t think our older
homeowners on limited incomes deserve a break either!
As Texas is still a primarily Republican state, the commissioners are
also deaf to the voice of the voters
who want a 5% cap on
appraisal increases, as well as further protections
from local governments' ability to
use eminent domain to seize our properties for
development.
This is a clear illustration that local governments
can?t prioritize or control their spending and view
their constituents as open wallets. The
Legislature failed to enact a cap of 5%
percent, due to lobbying by local governments with taxpayers money against this,
which would have forced a bit of reality into local government spending and
protection of homeowners from local government.
In light of the successful Trinity River Petition, we
should require all local governments start with a grass roots petition regarding
any project to be funded. Once
local governments get the necessary signatures for their projects and an
independent third party verifies them, they can be
placed on the ballot for voters? approval or rejection.
David W. Tuthill
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