The city of Denton has unveiled its 2009-2010 budget, which while not raises taxes does cut back services while contuining to spend big on taxpayer-funded lobbyists.
With city management planning to increase the size of Denton’s budget by 21% tax rate increases would normally be in play. To the city’s credit, no rate increases are planned but that means cuts.
They are scaling back raises, lowering travel and professional conference costs and reducing the budget for new library materials.
Tthe budget is cutting planned increases to police positions in favor of expanded bureaucracies. Denton is boosting spending in the city planning department by over ($500,000) so they can plan to replace a water slide ($250,000) and acquire or improve land ($1 million).
Not mentioned in the Denton Record Chronicle article is Denton’s historical allotment of tax dollars to taxpayer funded lobbying. Every year for the last decade the city has doled out up to $100,000 to lobbyists who are charged with finding new ways to tax citizens, the very individuals footing the bill.
Taxpayer funded lobbying is a practice that rakes in millions annually, money not only not working for taxpayers but actively working against their interests.
Check out www.TexasTaxpayers.com to learn more and sign a petition to end this practice. Here is a video we put out a year ago on Denton City Council’s taxpayer funded lobbying habit.
