TX City Rollback Faces Stiff Opposition : Lone Star Times

TX City Rollback Faces Stiff Opposition

by BigJolly · 02/23/2007 9:00 am

As they say, it is never easy to buck the odds, stare down government officials and take back your city. An ordinary citizen gets tired of paying for freeloaders, starts up a petition drive and succeeds in forcing an election to reduce the tax rate. And what does she get for her trouble? Why, the chairman of the local bank monopoly declares that you should never give money back to shareholders:

We experienced the benefits of reinvesting in our business rather than returning the revenues to our shareholders to spend.

Now, I might be wrong, but if the shareholders of a public corporation didn’t receive dividends, they might just look elsewhere to invest. As he’s gushing about the performance of Texas City, he decides to

commend the Mayor

except that he forgot to mention one teeny tiny little detail - said mayor is his son. Now, don’t you think that might be important to note? Hey, I’m glad Pop is proud of his son, wish more would be, but that doesn’t mean he is doing what is best for the city by increasing revenues every year. And when the mayor’s father is leading the charge to stop the people by telling them

This Rollback Election is NOT IN YOUR BEST INTEREST. First, the tax rate is the same, only property values were increased by the Galveston Central Appraisal District

I start to wonder how he was so successful in banking. But then it dawns on me that most consumers just don’t understand the power of compounding interest. Which is exactly what has happened to the homeowners of Texas City and all other municipalities - appraisals increase your taxes and the politicians (and banker fathers of politicians) get to say that they didn’t increase your taxes!

Fortunately, there are still a few honorable elected officials and one of them happens to be GC Tax Assessor Collector Cheryl Johnson. I hear she’s always ready to service her customers with a smile! And in this case, with the facts.
I saw this sign on Johnny Palmer Hwy and corrected the message for the taxpayers of Texas City (notice that the sign is placed so that anyone heading to the hospital for free care sees it):

So don’t just sit there, tell someone in Texas City about the rollback vote on March 13th!

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Comments

6 Responses to “TX City Rollback Faces Stiff Opposition”

trl3 on February 23rd, 2007 at 6:35 am

Imagine that. A banker saying that both the government and banks know how to spend your money better than you do.

Not only that they think they have a right to your money to do with as they please.
digitaldon37 on February 23rd, 2007 at 8:23 am

We’ll never see a taxing entity adjust the tax rate, unless the real estate market takes a dive and appraisals drop.
RickG on February 23rd, 2007 at 8:56 am

I wish I lived there and could vote for that. I think I will write my Senator Patrick and ask him to consider introducing legislation that would give us a chance to adopt voter initiative statewide. If conservative politicians really believe the people know best, let us take matters into our own hands when our so-called “representatives” won’t. If we’re too stupid to handle it (as most Dems and more and more Reps believe), then we deserve what we get. Yes?
mrygill2 on February 23rd, 2007 at 9:56 am

I am emailing Dan Patrick today to request a constitutional amendment requiring that property tax RATES be dropped as values increase, so as to maintain a constant rate of income to the taxing entity.

This would require the politicians to actually vote for a tax increase, jeopardizing their jobs.
Big45Iron on February 23rd, 2007 at 1:50 pm

Perhaps you might want to rephrase the part about Cheryl Johnson servicing her customers with a smile. The customers might be smiling!! That being said, starving the beast is the only way to get it under control.
KRogers on February 24th, 2007 at 5:58 pm

Well we heard the same types of arguments against Friendswood giving a tax rebate and guess what–the sun still comes up, the police still protect and serve, the fire department and EMS are STILL on the job–the City has not rolled up the sidewalks and closed down!

The most ridiculous argument I’ve heard, so far, is that “it costs money to send out the rebate checks”! Well, it costs money for Burger King to make change, but they still do it. It would be a lot faster to take your $10, hand you your food (and laugh all the way to the bank). It is the TAXPAYERS money! Return some of it!