So every time you read a newspaper or turn on the television someone somewhere is talking about budget cuts. This goes for local and national news.
What I want to discuss today is our local budget and the cuts that are being made. Now if you have read any of my other writings you know that I am pro middle class. You also no that I am anti-government that does not help our middle class.
So the city of Corpus Christi is needing to trim its budget and create alittle more revenue. And how do you think they will do that? That is right by cutting jobs and raising taxes. The same anti-middle class type of government I spoke about.
Well to be fair the number of jobs that will be lost will depend on taxes actually. It will depend on the current tax rate staying the same or raising it to the effective tax rate. What does that mean? It means that because of property value declining the city has less money to fund services. So in order to fund those services the city says it must raise the tax rate to a level at which revenue would be the same as last year.
So let me get this straight, property values are down but the city wants to raise the tax? The city wants to raise it to a level at which the city makes at least the same amount of revenue as last year. That sure does sound like a cost of living (for the city anyways) raise to me. How many middle class workers out there get a raise every year just so they can make what they did in the previous year? Right not very many.
Not only are they raising taxes but they are cutting jobs. Where are the biggest cuts being made in their new budget plan? Public safety. That is right services that are here to protect you, keep you safe, save your life are the ones the city says are the ones we can do without. How much are they cutting from public safety? Approx 2.5 million dollars this year alone. So that 2.5 million dollars that they just saved from the public safety sector of the city goes where? It goes into the general fund to be spent by other departments. Why not keep it in the public safety fund so that there will not have to be such cuts in the future? Oh that makes too much sense.
Just alittle side note here. Our city spent 1.5 million dollars on outside attorney fees last year alone. The city has 17 full time well paid attorneys and one part time attorney and we are still paying outside firms 1.5 million dollars a year to do their work. Another interesting point is that cities approximately the same size as Corpus Christi spend quite a bit less. Arlington a city of roughly 380,000 only paid $339,000 last year. Just saying if you want to make cuts lets look everywhere.
Besides cutting jobs and raising taxes the city says that in order to meet their budget they will need to close certain facilities. Like school and libraries. Really our education system is already taking a huge hit from the state cuts and on top of that the city wants to close schools and libraries.
I can see where our cities priorities lie. They lie in whatever best serves our city council. Just the other day the local newspaper had an article showing the top 8 spot in Corpus Christi that were going to be revitalized. Guess which areas those were? That is right the areas where our council members have invested money. Coincidence doubt it.
Lets close schools and libraries, lets cut funding to police and fire departments, lets keep letting property values decline, lets raise the taxes and those declining properties, lets pay other people millions of dollars to do the work of other city employees, lets make sure that the parts of the city that our council members have invested money looks pretty.
Just making observations, I could be wrong.
Please feel free to leave a comment/opinion on this issue for it will affect everyone that lives here.
Agree or disagree at least we know what the PEOPLE think.
3 comments:
They just fired their main human resource lady too. I heard she was making over 100,000 dollars a year. Our mayor says streets are a priority, really cuz they they are still horrible. They have some many different street projects going on it is ridiculous. They say revitalization is important. Where is that happening. We have missed out on a Bass Pro Shop, looks like Schlitterbahn is going to open closer to Port A then Corpus, we missed out on a resort on the island. What direction is this city going in? We should be thriving here with our location and resources yet we are help back by our civil leaders. I hope this council gets it right although it is pretty much the same council as last time.
Lets not forget wastefull spending, 1.5 mil to the water gardens, 600,000 at first, with same problem returning so just throw another 500,000 at it. Companies have sought to set up shop only to get fed up with the cities backwoods politics. If it does not line the pokets of current council they send them packing. Seems strange that the current mayor is a real estate developer, and is in position to control what or who can set up shop.
has been thrown at the water gardens and the city knows that if it floods again the pumps will break. Fixing things with a band aid I say. As for our mayor being in real estate I agree that presents many concerns for me and now Mr. Loeb is on the council. That is right from the Loeb family of real estate. So I agree that the council memebers have their own agendas to make their projects money. How about the million dolloar wading pool we have downtown. It is so full of chlorine and other chemicals it hurts your eyes to stand near it. The mainetance on that pool is ridiculous. Has it ever occurred to anyone why any new projects always end up in the downtown Port area? Look into who owns or runs those properties it would amaze you.
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