From 2007 through the end of 2011, Hays County’s debt will have risen over 500%, from $64 million to about $400 million. Capital project spending will have soared by 1,300%
The first public meeting will be held Wednesday, Feb. 23, 7pm-8:30pm at Rogelio’s Banquet Hall in San Marcos
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By Sam Brannon
Guest Commentary
Every day the news channels and newspapers churn out stories about the growing national and state debt and budget problems. And for all the talk about the scope and scale of the issues involved, the average taxpayer has precious little impact on the outcome of either.We hear a lot less about the financial conditions of our local governments. That’s interesting to me because we can actually have an impact at the local level. Our elected officials live in our neighborhoods. We run into them at grocery stores, ball games, coffee shops, at church, and if all else fails, we can show up to the weekly Commissioners Court or City Council meetings to get the latest updates. More or less.
To me, it seems that we won’t have any real influence on debt and spending at the national or state level until we get our local governments’ finances in order, in our own proverbial backyard. That’s where our influence is greatest, should we decide to use it.
A quick review
As some readers will recall, it was last September that I and 50-plus other Hays County residents addressed the Commissioners Court regarding the simultaneous property tax rate increase and elected official pay raise that were being proposed for 2011. We were all relieved that our elected officials listened to us, and that neither the tax rate nor their pay were increased for this year.
That event caused a few of us to begin looking closely at the 2011 budget as well as the recent trends in spending and debt. Early last December we began the Hays Citizens' Budget Project to gather a more complete view of the county finances. We are more than a little concerned about what we found, too.
From 2007 through the end of 2011, Hays County’s debt will have risen over 500%, from $64 million to about $400 million. Capital project spending will have soared by 1,300%. Although the population only grew 13% since 2007, the County’s spending on normal government operations has increased by 40%. If these numbers seem a little unreal, rest knowing that they have been confirmed by the County Auditor.
Growth in debt and spendinghave far outpaced Hays County’s
population growth over
both 4-year and 11-year periods
Meanwhile, over the same time period, unemployment has doubled, food stamp recipients have doubled, over 4,000 Hays County residential properties have gone into foreclosure, and commercial foreclosures such as Springtown, Sanctuary Lofts and StoneCreek Crossing are on the rise.
A growing number of people and businesses in our community are feeling very economically pressed, and that pressure will surely increase along with the property tax rate increases on the horizon.
The county recently announced its interest in purchasing the LCRA water operations in Hays County. The price mentioned so far is $140 million. We have a 911 dispatch consolidation project that could cost $5 million to $10 million. There’s still talk of a new jail for somewhere between $20 million-$70 million. The Habitat Conservation Plan calls for another 15,000-30,000 acres to be purchased in the coming years for somewhere between $100 million-$500 million. And of course there are more road expansions being proposed.
It's fair to say that there will always be more spending projects being evaluated and that there will always be compelling arguments made for why they are important to us. But ultimately it's up the taxpayers to determine if we want them and if we can afford them. To do our job well, we need to be informed.
Your Participation is Requested
The Hays Citizens’ Budget Project has two presentations scheduled this coming week where we’ll be discussing the current trends, and how we can reverse them, should we decide to do so. The 2012 budget planning is set to begin in earnest in April, and there are about $100 million in new construction projects also set to begin in April. In our opinion, given the situation, all spending and projects should be on the table for discussion.
It is important to realize that your voice belongs in the discussion, and we’re working with our Commissioners Court to see that this happens. The Hays Citizens' Budget Project is requesting that formal Public Hearings be held in each precinct during March, in San Marcos, Kyle/Buda, Dripping Springs and Wimberley. This will allow an open community conversation on the financial situation and how we wish to move forward.
County Judge Bert Cobb has confirmed his support for the Public Hearings in March, and I’m very hopeful that we’ll receive the same support from the rest of the court. These Public Hearings are important so that our elected officials will have the opportunity to explain why the current debt/spending trends are or are not sustainable, and allow us to ask smart questions and receive direct answers.
We taxpayers will be able to share our concerns about the financial direction of the county, and we’ll provide direct answers to the smart questions from elected officials. This is as it should be - open community dialogue on important issues.
Everyone in Hays County is invited to join Hays Citizens’ Budget Project presentations. We're calling them “Hays County: At a Crossroads.”
The first public meeting will be held Wednesday, Feb. 23, 7pm-8:30pm at Rogelio’s Banquet Hall (the door to the left of the restaurant) 625 S. LBJ Drive, in San Marcos. This meeting is open to the public, sponsored by a group of San Marcos small-business owners.
Other scheduled meetings:
* Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011 Time: 7pm-8:30pm at
* Tuesday, March 1, 9 am, at the Hays County Commissioners Court Meeting, Hays County Courthouse, San Marcos Square. Pct. 1 Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe confirmed that she’ll slot us for a 20-minute presentation of our findings to the court, and discussion will follow. This is open to the public.
We’ve already had two public meetings and a number of small private presentations, and the feedback has been that we should proceed with great caution on all spending. We’re also working to secure presentation venues in both the Kyle/Buda and Wimberley areas, and we’re happy to do as many as we can across Hays County. If you’d like to invite us to your Chamber of Commerce, Neighborhood Association, grass-roots or other organization, write to me at: LoveHaysCounty@hotmail.com
7 comments:
while I agree that future projects should be closely examined, most of the debt talked about in this article is due to sinking fund payments that are coming due. The fact is these bonds were issued during boom times. No one could have predicted the future and that the economy would tank. So yes the author is correct that debt will grow in the near future but the notion that we can avoid that coming debt is just false. Given the time and place, bonds with sinking funds were the right choice. We owe what we owe and that can't be changed, we can however look closely at future projects to avoid these ballon type payments that are eating up a good part of the county's yearly budget. Until those debts are put to bed we can all expect higher taxes, that's the cost of progress and I for one am willing to pay the price of admission to continue living in Hays County.
This is all nonsense.
Nothing is going to save us from another recession other than raising taxes, especially the rich. They have all the money anyway. Yes, let's budget away all services that help the poor, seniors, and the disenfranchised, and we can all feel like we are doing the right thing.
This type of community input is fake democracy. Watch out, citizens, another political hustle in the making.
The citizen budget project is intended to help the people most who are barely making ends meet and cannot afford higher taxes. If the county leaders will slow down the building of major projects the community will have better homes, because mothers will get to stay home with their children instead of working outside the home to pay higher taxes. There are of course many other benefits from lower taxes.
As we now see, no government can spend its way out of trouble. The only way for the county, the state, and the nation to avoid bankruptcy is to do like families must, tighten the belt, trim the spending, and save for a rainy day.
It is unfortunate the unions, such as GM workers union and the school teachers bully the country into disaster because the unions are so selfish and promote excessive spending.
When planning to attend the meetings discussed in Sam's article, keep in mind the following:
The new Republican right wing strategy is to split the vast middle and working class – pitting unionized workers against non-unionized, public-sector workers against non-public, older workers within sight of Medicare and Social Security against younger workers who don’t believe these programs will be there for them, and the poor against the working middle class.
By splitting working America along these lines, opportunist right wingers want Americans to believe that we can no longer afford to do what we need to do as a nation, as a state, and as a county.
Their main objective is to deflect attention from the increasing share of total income and wealth going to America's wealthy - while the jobs, wages, and government services of everyone else languish.
Republicans would rather no one notice their campaign to shrink the pie even further with additional tax cuts, benefitting mainly the rich, further reducing the estate tax, allowing the wealthy to shift ever more of their income into capital gains taxed at 15 percent, and forcing local governments to slash programs and projects for the average citizen.
My comment here does no way intend to diminish Sam's organized efforts to get citizen input re: our county budget problems. But huge budget concerns are happening at all levels of government, and largely for similar reasons.
As to the public meetings addressed in this article, keep in mind the underlying reasons for our problems, and not let false premise union and government employee scapegoating get in the way of sane and balanced budget solutions.
By the way, Anonymous # 4, a union teacher or government worker makes maybe $60,000 a year. How much do the Wall Street bankers who received our government bailout money make? And what is the net worth and annual income of the new Republican politicians like our Texas Legislators, who are so adamant about slashing budgets for the lower middle class and poor?
And as to GM workers, the clever corporate business strategy of filing for bankruptcy has nullified most past union contracts and they are now making the same amount of money as the non-union Toyota workers in Kentucky.
The tax evading leadership of the right wing needs to get their divisive propoganda points correct. A more accurate one is that workers in the corporate sector are falling further and further behind because of their blind belief in antiguated "trickle down" economics - while educators have fortunately been immune to the excessive recessionary and often criminal behavior of Wall Street.
But now the right wing wants to go after the educators who mostly care about our children and their intellectual and social development - and have been paid too little for too long given what they do for our society.
Go teacher unions!
Rocky - Please don't try to frame this in ideology, or worse, party affiliation.
The Hays Citizens Budget Project Mission Statement:
"To facilitate proactive, earnest and sustained communication among our neighbors,and with our local elected officials, on matters of public debt / spending / taxes, in order to raise the standard of living and quality of life for the families and businesses that call Hays County "Home". "
Join us in Dripping Springs on Thursday, see what you think.
Last Anonymous,
The facts are local budgeting is about ideology and party affiliation, especially in Hays County and Texas. When comments like Anonymous 4 starts scapegoating teachers and unions - lies used by a divisive conservative agenda, it needs to be challenged.
If the Hays Citizens Budget Project is sincere about objective citizen input - and I have no reason to believe otherwise - then great, the County will benefit.
Hays County citizens need to be reminded that the government budget shortfalls currently in play were caused primarily by excessive and criminal private sector activity - and the resulting decrease in tax revenues, not government largesse, teachers and unions. In fact, unions hardly exist in Texas, so that is not the problem here.
Good luck with your meetings. But don't dismiss the elephant in the room if you want to find real solutions to our local budget crisis.
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