The City of Richardson Bond Election is just around the corner (May 8)! Before it arrives, NNA would like to make sure that our residents know what they're voting for and how their votes will affect our neighborhood. To get us all up to speed, representatives from the city will be given a special presentation to Northrich residents on Thursday, May 6 at 7p. The presentation will take place in the Northrich Elementary School cafeteria, and there will time allotted for follow-up questions following the presentation.
There has been a lot of talk (some real, some not) regarding the implications that this bond election will have on Northrich residents and their resources. Put the hearsay aside and get the facts right from the source, the City. Of course, feel free to do some homework of your own, so we can all benefit from each others' insights. You can find details regarding the bond election here: http://www.cor.net/Bond/2010Bond.aspx?id=11894.
Hope to see all of you Thursday night. Please spread the word to all of your friends and neighbors, so we can have a great turnout and even better discussion.
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ReplyDeletePost from the Dallas Morning News blog on the bond.
ReplyDeleteThough this is going before the voters, they are only as informed as the material they are given. When marketing campaigns, instead of frank discussion and ramifications either way are presented the voters are ill informed of the issue.
Many have no idea what a CAFR is, or whether we need to refund any old bonds, or what the charter is, much less to know if the city is in compliance with the laws that govern us. There is so much of the city protocols that most do not understand that a "pep rally" campaign with all those feel good statements is the only way council and staff know how to operate. We have less than 5% turnout to any election and many citizens have little contact unless there is a problem.
Several on the other side of this issue have said that the bond package is separate from all the other issues brought to light. That is a very limited approach to a broad perspective. They are planning to sell all the bonds up front just as was done on the 2006 bond AND refund some older debt. So what does $66m upfront do for a $180m budget? For one, it makes the September fiscal year end look pretty stout with all that cash and the projects pushed to another budget year(s).
Agreed that putting anyone under a microscope you find the winnings and losses of anyone having a human existence. We are all practicing "life". Looking toward the intentions is a better measure of who someone is professionally or personally, and sometimes the two are mutually exclusive.
He may be a nice guy to some, but Slagel's business practices of operating his business out of the Mayor's office, to operating virtually rent free at StarTech to mutually exclusive contracts with NTTA, to travel on taxpayer monies, to agreeing and condoning hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits to staff that violate the terms of policy, to refusing audit on the golf fund, to refusing a proper audit of the financials, to agreeing to all the separate non-profits that staff controls, to refusing the cries of the citizenry for public transparency, to refusing to uphold the charter, to giving complete authority to Keffler to determine his own benefits, to secret economic deals that the citizens are not allowed to know or understand, IS completely inappropriate and an abuse of position. I am sorry, but the city checkbook is NOT a tool for Slagel or Keffler's benevolence as they see fit.
Part 2
ReplyDeleteThis bond is wrong for this community not because of all the projects, but because of the financial aspects surrounding this bond. And the violations of the charter and public trust that have existed FOR YEARS.
All of their actions are questionable and if this bond truly is 100% the resident wishes then why has the city, chamber and coalition spent so much money and effort to get this bond passed? Maybe that needs to be the next public information request.
This bond election is putting borrowed monies in the hands of fiscally self serving individuals who have allowed city debt levels, both funded and unfunded with corresponding interest to term, at over $500m and stretching to reach a billion dollars!
Good grief, you people are grown with the capability to understand Slagel, Murphy, Townsend, Keffler, Johnson, et al will not be here when the weight of these decisions are realized.
UTD has deep pockets and other resources to pull the rabbit out of a hat for a road on their campus that is tax exempt to the city budget. The structural study doesn't lend any real need to build a new fire station. And 2 schools and park users question the fire station plan. And the gymnastics center almost ended up in Highland Terrace without neighbor input. So now you are funding a project with no plan or location. And the same thing with the parks. This is the 3rd time the council and staff have come to the voters with yet another plan for the rec centers.
Remember that big ol project called the TIF that was to fund all these desperately needed infrastructure projects. P-L-L-E-E-A-S-E council and staff, can you just develop a vision with a plan and stick to it or do you just need another salary pool? Because the TIF hasn't paid for anything else but salaries since inception 3 years ago.
QUIT allowing the council and staff to build things the budget cannot afford to maintain without future tax increases!
QUIT confusing loyalty with integrity and responsibility.
QUIT putting blinders on and learn about the financial workings of our home ruled charter city so the lies are impossible.
About all COR can afford to maintain is the livelihood/futures of city employees and debt payments. Richardson is so broke it can't afford to pay attention! I wonder how we got here?
When your total Liabilities (ie the monies you owe out- funded obligations) is greater than your Assets(ie the land, buildings, fixtures, business operations and do not forget trees) YOU are broke AND require more income.
ReplyDeletePer the CAFR:
Total Assets $505,943,249
Total Liabilities $299,970,554
Net Assets $205,972,695
Looks pretty good right?
Now let's subtract the
unfunded liabilities! You
know, those pesky debt
numbers we don't want to
talk about. We can worry
about them later.
Defined benefits aka
Retirement plans $100,513,871
Healthcare benefits $ 47,029,210
Interest on current
debt to maturity-approx $100,000,000
Net assets NOW! -$ 41,570,386
Uh-oh! I think we have more debts than assets! Hmmmmm......
And it gets better! Your little ol house worth $250,000 on average is still responsible for a portion of the debts for RISD, PISD, Dallas County, Collin County, College, Hospital. That debt proportional to Richardson is.... (drum roll please!)
$314,082,117
You cannot make these numbers up. They come directly from their reports. And they can "justify" that taxes are only going up a paultry 6 cents, but YOU, my dear neighbor, must put this into context and chunk up to the big picture before you can say anything about this bond.
So lets talk about the unspoken tax increase. INFLATION! When the value of your property goes up so does the dollar amount you are required to spend for taxes. But what happens to their budget when valuations go down? The CAFR admits the values in Richardson declined .03%. Not a big deal, right? The real question is how much money does the city lose in cashflow when the values go down .03%? I refer to the CAFR. The taxable assessed value of all properties is $9,826,714,511. That is $2,948,000 decline in cashflow! Oops!
If you can understand that ONLY buyers and sellers can define property values. And money only has value when it is in motion. And a city budget of $180m that is 75% payroll and benefits with 12-13% debt service is subject to very real hardships if the market values decline even a small percentage. We as a city as well as a nation are in precarious times.
As stated earlier, the projects in the bond are NOT the issue, I repeat, NOT THE ISSUE. It is the financial binds that surround them! VOTE NO and demand fiscal responsibility from the people you deem as leaders in this city.