Saturday, January 7, 2012

ER #27: One Flew Over the Council's Nest

City Hall Elevator Rumblings #27


Rider #1: It looks like the council work session and meeting this week (1-11/12-12, Item #9) will be another doozie.


Rider #2: Don’t you know! As a result of last month’s meeting, we now are going to have to spend $200,000 to “test” the bond market for the $170 million the council wants to spend on the Entertainment Center. And this is after their current bond and financial advisors have stated funding $170 million would increase the total cost of the project, put tax payers on the line for bonded debt cost -- which the council promised wouldn’t happen -- and jeopardize the city’s AAA bond rating. What was there to really test in the first place? And where is the city manager’s adamant rebuttal of this agenda item by raising a ruckus concerning the financial peril this $170 million bond issue could place on the city’s overall finances and tax payers?**


Rider #1: Do you think we could have a mental competence test also included in this $200,000 agenda item for the six council members* who voted for this expensively moronic proposal? Really, are they that far out of touch with the public and in bed with Billy Bob, ex-mayor Gears, LCG, chamber of commerce and all the other high dollar contributors to their campaigns that they would totally disregard credible and sound financial advice? And putting tax payers at such a high risk by spending $200,000 to find out what they already know...it doesn’t get any more scatterbrained than that!


Rider #2: Who knows? I guess they think that tax paying homeowners aren’t smart enough to realize how inane this $200,000 vote will be. The council certainly doesn’t seem concerned about having to later increase the overall tax rate to fund this boondoggle when all the fluffy revenue projections for the $250 million Entertainment Center ‘goes south.’ And certainly, the city manager doesn’t want to buck a decision by those who sign his pay check and meal ticket at the La Cima Club.



* Stopher, Cannaday, Galloway, Patrick, Santoscoy and Webb.


** The city of Dallas is now discovering that their debt cost payments have increased for property tax payers from 25% to 33% (DMN). Appears they haven’t been too mindful when approving all of their bond projects, and property owners are feeling the burden of these poor decisions.


A note from counsel: These “candid” elevator conversations have been injected with fabricated nouns, verbs, adjectives, conjunctions, adverbs, modifiers and maybe a few dangling participles….Mark Holbrook