Local City Budgets Hurt By Recession
Theodore Kim, in The Dallas Morning News, reports on how the recession is impacting north Texas cities. Dallas is facing a budget shortfall of $100 million. Fort Worth's projected shortfall is $400 million over five years. Grand Prairie's city manager is looking at "catastrophic losses." Frisco's city manager says, "We're all in the same boat." The biggest impact on services is yet to be determined, as cities craft new budgets for the next fiscal year beginning October 1.
Richardson is not immune. The Richardson Coalition PAC says city sales tax revenues is down:
"The year-to-date sales tax revenue is down 2.4% ($240,000) below budget estimates, so the financial situation of the city is quite manageable at this time. The City is watching local financial indicators closely and is prepared to address budget challenges as we progress through the fiscal year."Worse, appraisers are telling communities to expect residential property assessments to fall by 10 percent or more in southern Dallas County and by 3 percent in areas of Collin County. Cities benefited from increased property tax revenues during the real estate boom. Now they are suffering the flip side, all without having changed property tax rates a penny.
Richardson has a city council election in May. The topic of how the city can weather the recession should be the main issue in the campaign. A quick look at the candidates' Web sites reveals more campaigning as usual. They are all similar to Steve Mitchell's, which emphasizes preserving neighborhoods, redeveloping multifamily properties and retail centers and attracting new retail and businesses to reduce our dependence on property tax.
All good goals, but drawing up a budget for next year is likely to be the first contentious issue for the next city council. Discussing their ideas on how to do that, without undercutting long-term goals, should be topic number one in the election campaign.
A Survey with a Hidden Agenda
PegasusNews.com invited me to participate in a survey, ostensibly for the purpose of improving the site for me.
"We need just a minute of your time to help us improve PegasusNews.com. We'd really appreciate it if you'd click on this link and take a VERY short survey [...] Your responses will help us improve the site for you. We really appreciate the help!"Out of a dozen or so questions, only one had anything to do with site improvements, an open question about what I like best about the site. After that, I was barraged with questions about age, marital status, income, etc.. Most likely, the purpose of the survey was to gather demographic information on readers to provide to potential advertisers to help set advertising rates. If any site improvements come about because of the survey, it'll be a side effect. I don't have a problem with PegasusNews.com doing such a survey, but I wish they'd level with readers about why they are doing the survey. Credibility should be a news site's most valuable asset. PegasusNews.com is squandering theirs on something trivial and unnecessary.
4 comments:
I took the same survey, and had the same reaction.
It's a little thing, but it just feels wrong for a news site not to be up front with readers, even on the little things.
About the Council race.
Recusing oneself from a vote is what is supposed to happen whenever there is a perceived or real conflict of interest on an issue before an elected body. Should there ever be such an occasion, I am sure Chris Davis would gladly recuse herself from any votes regarding a conflict of interest. This "whisper campaign" by others is to distract attention from Murphy.
John Murphy loves to get a whisper campaign going during election time. Two years ago he dug up some decades old sin by his opponent, Darrel Day, and that was all John talked about throughout the campaign. He never seems to speak of his specific accomplishments for the city. After all of these years what are John’s council accomplishments? Are there any?
Then there is former mayor Gary Slagel, who has run his personal business for years out of city hall and has officed in Startech, a city owned building, without paying market rate for rent. That’s conflict of interest for you.
Bob Townsend, who lived on my street before moving to the east side to run for council, made up a flat-out lie two years ago to explain to all of my neighbors why I opposed him for re-election. My wife and I both corrected him, but I hear he may still be using the same lie this year. What were are Bob’s innovations and accomplishments for the city after all these years? Are there any?
These coalition people you endorse claim to work hard and want to take credit for everything good that has taken place. Slagel, Murphy, and Townsend speak in broad generalities about council accomplishments but where can we ask for a list of things THEY came up with? What did they bring to the party? They would take credit for low humidity if they could. Where do we go to ask for their specific contributions? Are there any? Good attendance and following orders from Slagel does not alone a good councilman make. Can we please get a list of specific contributions from these coalition folks?
Cognoski, you spoke of the flyer I gave out at the last forum, but one key point I made you over looked. I pointed out that most folks feel that the last two years has seen a big improvement in the council accomplishments and the way it works in general. The two new council members and the new mayor brought this about. New blood, new ideas, new energy, accomplished this, and retiring more of the coalition will make another improvement in the council. If we could loose the Slagel, Murphy, Townsend coalition we could also loose the “follow the leader, group think” that they have brought to the council for years. We need new energy for our city with more independent thought.
These ol’ boys hang on to their spot on the council as just a hobby, lets encourage them to take up fishing.
Ed L Haynes
Ed L Haynes, thank you for your feedback. If Chris Davis pledges to resign from her county employment if elected to the Richardson city council, I would treat her potential conflict of interest as a non-issue.
I prefer to hear about candidates' programs for Richardson, not smear campaigns about the candidates. If you have something positive to say about Chris Davis' plans for Richardson, it would serve her better to talk about that than her unwise call for candidates to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
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