Mlevin

School Districts Should Trim Central Office Before Raising Taxes

Edgewood ISD announced this week they are cutting as many as 12 central office positions, though the district says they have 92 more than needed. Other Texas districts should follow – consider that Dallas and Houston ISDs have about 3,000 central office staff while the Catholic school systems in New York and Chicago, each with 100,000 plus students, have between 22 and 28.

Travis County Appraisals Skyrocket

At a time of record foreclosures and declining home values, someone forgot to tell the Travis County appraiser. Values were posted minutes ago and my home rose a whopping 19.3%, sending my school property tax cut up in smoldering flames. However, values are up 31% in Lago Vista.

If you own a home in Travis County, check your value at:

Not So Fast Eddie!

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Dallas) today called for increasing both the state and federal gas tax, citing a lack of transportation funds. Yet 43% of the state gas tax is being diverted to non-transportation items and an increasing share of federal gas tax revenues are going to rail schemes that move few people for big bucks and even recreational paths.

Did You Know Texas Cities Can Tax Leased Cars?

Even we have trouble keeping up with all the different taxes and fees and today we learned that a 2001 law passed by the Legislature allows Texas cities to impose property taxes on leased cars. The Galveston Daily News reports that League City collects $243 per year on a car appraised at $40,000, but that they may repeal the tax at tomorrow’s Council meeting.

Texas Fire Hydrant Imbroglio: Common Sense in Government Has Been Extinguished

Last session the Legislature passed a law requiring all fire hydrants with a flow of less than 250 gallons per minute be painted black to avoid hook-ups to inoperative hydrants, but now the Green Valley Special Utility District has decided to paint all of its hydrants black because it cannot guarantee this flow level, even citing the possibility of a terrorist attack that could make it liable for

Go Figure: Harris County Appraisals Balloon Again While Homes Sell for Less

The Harris County Appraisal District has just released its 2008 home values and KHOU reports “the Harris County Appraisal District says most homes there increased in value, even though the Houston Association of Realtors says they’re selling for 1.7 percent less.” This inequity demonstrates once against that most of the promised state property tax relief is being offset by higher appraisals.

Lubbock Taxpayers to Roll Out Red Carpet for Visitors

The Lubbock City Council has just approved an engineering contract for a new $6.7 million visitors center in the city’s “Depot District.” Opponents had urged that the monies be used for streets, parks, or civic center renovations.

New Pig Book Shows Congress is High on the Hog

Citizens Against Government Waste has just released their annual PIG Book cataloging Congress’ waste of tax dollars. It shows there were 11,610 pork projects approved this past year at a cost of $17.2 billion. Among them: $3 million for First Tee, a character-building golfing program, $1.9 million for the Charles Rangel Center for Public Service and $742,764 to fund olive fruit fly research.

March Lobbying Madness with Public Funds

The Center for Responsive Politics has a new bracket comparing the Sweet 16 universities by their federal lobbying expenditures. By this measure, UCLA ($560k) will play UNC ($31Ok) in the Finals – UT-Austin at $200k would be on the sidelines. The bracket is at: https://www.capitaleye.org/img/lobbying_16.gif.

Survey Reveals Texas Cities Waste Money

Hot air has arrived before summer, as the City of Austin has paid $20,000 in public funds for a survey of the public on global warming, which asks questions such as “whether you will be affected by climate change.” It also asks respondents to say what the difference is between “global warming” and “climate change.”