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Mission Plans Tax Hike

Tax hike comes as cities across Texas grapple with pro-taxpayer reform Senate Bill 2 coming into effect in 2020.

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Mansfield Building Future Wealth Through Out-of-Towners

The city of Mansfield is looking to expand its appeal and services to more out-of-towners thanks to previous visitors. The city council is considering letting the Mansfield Economic Development Corporation, or MEDC as it is so well known around here, to conduct a study on the need for future facilities that would include full service business centers and possibly a convention center.

At DFW, Your Dollars Fly Away

An investigation in north Texas finds that Dallas-Fort Worth Airport executives have been living large — and taxpayers are footing the bill for extravegant travel, including $800 first-class flights to Austin. TFR’s Michael Quinn Sullivan was interviewed for the CBS television investigation. The video is available online.

Checking In For Waste

In the middle of a national economic crisis and local revenue shortfalls, the City of Dallas is embarking on what is never a good idea: government ownership of a hotel. The city council recently voted to put city taxpayers $400 million in debt for the construction of a new convention center. The city has massive budget problems, having a hard time doing its existing jobs — police, fire, transportation — yet somehow council members think they can add “hotel ownership” without consequence. As it stands now, taxpayers have no say in this boondoggle.

Margo’s Sword

Dee Margo, a conservative businessman in El Paso, says he’s tired of the typical saber-rattling in politics, so he’s campaigning on results. Margo is the Republican nominee for House District 78, having handily defeated incumbent liberal Republican Pat Haggerty in the March primary.

Arlington Fumbles Financing of New Stadium

The city of Arlington is finding that they fumbled the financing for the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington. The stadium, which was jointly financed by Jerry Jones and the city of Arlington is finding itself in the same predicament of many homeowners around the state as they have suffered the sting from a variable rate on the bonds that they used to finance the stadium.

Teacher Blows Whistle On Fraud

A former Joshua ISD teacher says the middle school library was closed to make room for a book sale profitting the school… so the district could afford a field trip to Six Flags Amusement Park. Um, excuse me, how educational is an amusement park? Oh, never mind… The teacher wants the Texas Education Agency to investiage the district’s finances.

Lobbying For A Tax Increase

Dallas-Fort Worth area city fathers are looking to take a bigger bite out of your wallet — to fund lobbyists who’ll twist lawmakers arms in Austin to allow those same city fathers to take even bigger bites out of your wallet. The Fort Worth Business Press reports that "three counties, 15 or 20 cities" are willing to spend "substantial money " to hire lobbyists for the legislative session. Their goal? To raise taxes in north Texas.

Give Dallas ISD an”F” for Managing Its Finances

Today’s stunning Dallas Morning News story reveals that Dallas ISD overspent its 2007-08 budget by $64 million and, worse, nobody realized it until just now. The district would be bankrupt were it not for its reserve, which is down to $56 million – half of what a district its size should have.

Smith County Embraces Open Government

Texas is now home to the only TWO counties in the nation opening their books up to taxpayers for real-time review. The first was COllin County, in north Texas. Now comes word that commissioners in east Texas’ Smith County have thrown sunlight on their expenses.