Monday, August 28, 2017

CCR 08-28-17 Irving's Zombie Apocalypse

the   Controversial  Committee   Report
“We don’t raise sacred cows...we just butcher them.”

“Irving’s Zombie Apocalypse”


   The time is growing short.  

   Denizens of ‘beautiful downtown Irving’ will soon realize how their city council has been turned into PowerPoint, brain eating zombies by the city manager with regard to the proposed 2017-18 city budget and property tax rate.  

   While munching on citizen brains (to keep them ill informed) this budget season, your Irving council members  Zombies will also be feasting on buckets of fresh, new tax revenues.  Expect plenty of gorging and self-satisfaction, by the Irving Zombies, as they provide what cronies, developers and special interest concerns want…instead of addressing what citizens actually need — tax relief.

   If you are looking for tax relief — by a lowering of the city tax rate — then you would be better served by putting pictures, of the Irving Zombie majority (at least eight), on a milk carton.  The caption on the milk carton would read: “MISSING — council members who once represented what citizens need.”

   Yes, dear readers, you have seen your property values escalate, by the Dallas County Appraisal District, faster than a zombie on crystal meth.  And your increased property value (unless you happened to protest the amount, which some Irving Zombies have successfully done) will certainly mean you will be paying more in property taxes when the Irving Zombies finalize the city budget and property tax rate.

   Of course, the zombie talking points uttered will have you believe maintaining the current tax rate (with the flood of additional new revenues) is critical to running the city.  And please, don’t fall for the zombie straw dog arguments of ‘our tax rate is one of the lowest in the area,’  or ‘look in comparison how high the IISD tax rate is.’  This could be followed by ‘there is no State income tax.’  Frankly, those issues are not germane to what citizens need from their elected Irving Zombies at this point in time.

   Items not mentioned by the zombies will be their spending for consultants previously let go by the council; new projects proposed for the budget which address zombie desires; and the continuation of listening to power brokers and string pullers over citizen needs.

   The zombies will also note businesses in Irving contribute 73% of the local tax buck pool.  Okay, that’s a good thing.  What the zombies will not state is that businesses have an alternative when having to paying higher taxes. The alternative is increasing the price of their products or services.  Unfortunately, tax paying citizens do not have this tool as an alternative — unless they cancel their cable bill to provide funds to pay higher taxes — in their arsenal.

   The stage has been set for citizen’s brains to be devoured by the Irving Zombies, who could be the poster children for all the other taxing entities in the area failing to provide tax relief to its citizens. 

   As the 2017-18 city budget and tax rate must be in place by October 1, 2017, the only opportunity left for citizens to protest — potential rampant spending, wasting of resources, and maintaining increased city tax revenues — will be in the two public forums held by the Irving Zombies.

   However, don’t expect a sympathetic ear should you desire to attend and speak at one of these forum sessions.  The zombie brains are already predisposed and addicted to the potential new revenue diet of increased tax bucks to support the city manager, cronies and special interest concerns.

   At this stage of the game, the only other option, available for citizens to reduce the city’s tax rate, would be for the Irving Zombies to experience the wrath of a city-wide tax protest group similar to the one formed in the early ‘80s.  The ’80’s group, which successfully pulled this effort off, was responsible for a drastic shifting of the city council mindset.  And this led to a higher level of responsibility and tax reform considerations by elected officials.  The group even sponsored and elected individuals to the council to ensure not only tax relief, but that ordinary, average citizen needs were met in a more responsible fashion.

   While the poor Cajun grandmother of the CCRs staff wasn’t formally educated, she did have one adage which seems appropriate for all the Irving Zombies reluctance to decreasing the city’s current tax rate.  She once stated: “the hardest thing to open is a closed mind.”

   And, dear readers, while the minds of the Irving Zombies might currently be closed, an e-mail note to them could be a small dose of reality to help them remember and overcome their addiction of amassing your tax bucks for self-aggrandizing agendas.  

   This might even cause the Irving Zombies to remember where the key to unlock and open their mind of serving citizen’s interest was placed.  Shouldn’t Irving Zombies have an open mind when it comes to spending your hard earned bucks? 

   Send your kind and “consider the next election” notes to Irving’s walking dead, the Irving Zombies, noted below  : 

John Danish jcdanish@juno.com
Brad LaMorgese blamorgese@sbcglobal.net
David Palmer   david.palmer1@verizon.net
Rick Stopfer rick@rickleads.com
Dennis Webb         webbdennis7@gmail.com
and city manager:
Chris Hillman         chillman@cityofirving.org

   The ball is now in your court.  As staff of the CCR was recently almost bitten by a couple of the Irving Zombies, we are seeking a protective shelter in an unnamed location which will be stocked with a pantry full of Patrón® and Blue Bell® ice cream.

   After all, one can never be over prepared for when the Irving Zombie Apocalypse occurs on October 1, 2017.


…………………………………..Mark Holbrook