Ted Cruz Roasts Phil Gramm

"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers."
Acts 2:42

Earlier this month, the Travis County Republican Party held their annual Reagan Day dinner.  Former Senator Phil Gramm won this year's Reagan courage award.  He was introduced by last year's winner, Senator Ted Cruz:



Highlights:

• "You know, it's amazing how many people in Washington are terrified of what the New York Times says."

• What the media said about Phil Gramm at the time:
• "So abrasive even his friends don't like him."
• "He has an untempered negative attitude towards government."
• "Compared to Gramm, Dick Nixon seemed warm and cuddly."

•  "If you are afraid of what the media will say about you, you can't and won't do anything of substance in this world."

Citizens for Tax Relief Now's Press Conference

"But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God."
Nehemiah 5:15

Austin City Hall -- This afternoon, Citizens for Tax Relief Now held a press conference to discuss alternatives to the tax increase the current lame duck city council is set to impose on Austin:

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

Highlights:

• Cindy Malette -- People are now paying more in property taxes than mortgages.
• Her rent went up substantially in 2013.
• Rail, busses, and bikes aren't viable for people with kids.
• Affordability crisis is due to tax rate, not appraisals.
• Effective tax rate equals tax relief now.
• City and county are operating a dysfunctional system.
• 90,000 people protested property taxes in 2014, only 50,000 voted in last Austin City Council election.

• Bill Worsham -- Two paths: Either chase unicorns or promote prosperity for all Austinites.

• Kent Philips -- City is driving gentrification.

• Julian Fernandez -- Will lower property taxes by 20%
• Forensic Audit and zero-based budgeting.
• Helen Diaz, age 90, had to sell her home because of property taxes.
• WWII vets are getting priced out in East Austin.
• We cannot let people lose their home because of high property taxes.

• Todd Phelps --  We're trying to retain our soul in Austin.
• Doesn't want to wait four years for a homestead exemption.
• Current group running city hall got us into this affordability/traffic crisis.

• Michael Cargill --  Get back to fiscal responsibility.

• Mike McNamara - We're in trouble in Travis County.

• Richard Franklin -- Local Government doesn't do a cost/benefit analysis, just give $$$ to special interests.

• Peggy Venable -- ATX is the poster child for local government debt.
• 10 cents of every dollar Austin ISD spends goes to debt service.

• Dean Wright -- 3 actions City/County needs to take:
• Freeze 2014 tax rate.
• Audit city agencies every two years.
• Zero-based budgeting every two years.

McNamara: Travis County's Dysfunctional Government

"Deliver the poor and needy;
Free them from the hand of the wicked."
Psalm 82:4

Fantastic op-ed this from Mike McNamara in today's Statesman (reprinted in full)

Travis County is a place where working people such as artists, teachers, construction workers and retirees cannot afford to live. Some may call this keeping Austin weird; I call it unacceptable.

Recently, an independent consultant called it “dysfunctional.”

It’s hard to argue with the consultant’s audit of Travis County. Rampant disorganization, low morale, no performance reviews — the report detailed ongoing mismanagement.

The consultant suggested hiring a county administrator to iron out the wrinkles. That may help; however, the way that county government functions — or not — is the primary responsibility of the elected commissioners court.

The consultant said this dysfunction costs taxpayers about $2 million a year. I contend it’s more. If there’s this level of dysfunction on the surface, how much more could be discovered — and dealt with — if the county made each department account for every dollar it spends?

Since the county is in the middle of its budget cycle, my suggestion is the commissioners court prepare a zero-based budget — build the budget from the ground up, starting at zero and justifying every dollar they want to spend.

Citizens are scared they won’t be able to afford to stay in their homes. Rather than offer solutions that provide real tax relief, the response from entrenched politicians is to feed on that fear, taking no responsibility for the decisions that led to this affordability crisis.

Take the recent media blitz about high appraisals: The truth is, appraisal reform will take years to get through the Legislature and may not result in tax relief. But the county could give some immediate relief to property owners if they would set budgets according to the effective tax rate.

The taxes the county levies on properties are determined by multiplying the tax rate by the appraised value.

The effective tax rate provision in state law requires the tax rate be reduced when values of properties on the tax roll go up, so there’s no windfall for local governments.

Here is a simplified example of how that works:

Imagine that all of the properties in Travis County were valued at $1,000. The county sets a 10 percent tax rate, so the taxes collected would be $100.

Then the next year, appraised values go up to $1,100. The effective tax rate would be 9.09 percent, since that’s the rate it takes to generate $100. That same year, new properties come on the tax roll. The total value of those properties is $120. The county would get $100 of revenue from the current properties — plus $10.91 from the new properties. In all, the county would get $110.90 that year ($1,220 x the effective tax rate of 9.09 percent).

If the county wants more revenue, it must set the tax rate above the effective tax rate. This year, Travis County is going above and beyond the effective tax rate, and it has done so every year for the past six years.

Our local leaders need to concentrate on balancing the budget with the effective tax rate. It’s not a tax cut — it’s a tax freeze, except the county still gets additional dollars from new properties on the tax roll. They can still provide all of the necessary services to residents, even in a growing community.

Setting the tax rate is the responsibility of the commissioners court, not the Travis Central Appraisal District and not the Legislature. The higher taxes we pay directly result from the higher tax rates they set.

Raising taxes shouldn’t be “business as usual” in Travis County. It should be the last resort.

It’s a new season in Austin, and voters are looking for new leaders who will implement major changes in how local government does business. The task will not be easy, but it’s the only way to resolve the dysfunction and make Austin that weird, wonderful place where musicians, teachers, public and private sector workers — heck, all of us — want to live.

MCNAMARA IS AN AUSTIN BUSINESSMAN AND THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR TRAVIS COUNTY JUDGE.

Does Sarah Eckhardt support a 2015 Travis County Bond Election?!?

"The rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower is servant to the lender."
Proverbs 22:7

Earlier this month, TPPF released some observations about the City of Austin's upcoming budget; TPPF's piece also contained this gem lifted directly from page A-15 of the City of Austin's Budget:

This is the first time we've heard about a potential Travis County bond election in May 2015.  $300 million for a new courthouse is, to put it mildly, ridiculous.  With public debt already pricing people out of the county, yet another bond election for such a frivolous cause should be a non-starter.

Upon learning about this proposed bond election last week, this website reached out to both candidates in the surprisingly competitive race for Travis County Judge: Democrat Sarah Eckhardt and Republican Mike McNamara to gauge their support for this boondoggle.

McNamara replied with this statement:

“Now is not the time to burden Travis County and City of Austin tax payers with more debt in bonded projects. Every day that I speak with property owners, they express their deep concerns about the livability of Travis County, especially in Austin. As Travis County Judge, I will work to stop increasing taxes and find ways to cut wasteful duplication and unnecessary expenditures in local government.”

After 5 days, multiple phone calls, tweets, and e-mails, we have yet to hear back from Sarah Eckhardt.  This leads to one of two conclusions: either Sarah Eckhardt supports $300 million in new debt for a courthouse, or she doesn't care enough about the issue to respond to a routine press inquiry.  Neither conclusion is flattering....

We can't afford Sarah Eckhardt.

------

Author's Note: If Sarah Eckhardt decides to respond, we'll update accordingly; for now, concerned citizens can contact Sarah Eckhardt via Twitter: @Sarah_Eckhardt.

Travis County's "Dysfunctional" County Government

"If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them."
Ecclesiastes 5:8

Ouch...from Tuesday's Statesman:

The report cited inefficiencies and morale problems stemming from Travis County’s current structure.

Some employees interviewed by the consultant described “frustrating” barriers to everyday work. Travel paperwork that requires only 30 minutes of staff time takes more than 30 days to be processed. Payments to vendors are processed so late that the county sometimes has to pay a penalty.

County staffers “often lack the vitality, creativity and the motivation to innovate that is exhibited by well managed professionals,” the report said.

And bringing new talent on board is unnecessarily difficult, the consultants found. The county’s hiring process is so “inefficient,” the report said, that some positions remain open for more than six months — a delay that “may result in the loss of promising candidates who become discouraged or accept other employment offers.”

The consultants also described Travis County as being in a budgeting rut: The same expenses and staffing decisions are renewed year after year “without adequate demonstration of performance or efficiency.” The budgeting documents “contain copious amounts of complex financial information that is impenetrable to most Travis County citizens,” the report said.

 You can read the original report here.

This website is skeptical of the report's conclusion that a 'county administrator' is needed.  To us, that sounds like adding another level of bureaucracy when the solution is to remove levels of bureaucracy that already exist.  Nonetheless, it's clear that the current progressive mafia isn't getting the job done.

Mike McNamara: Delivering the Poor and Needy

"Deliver the poor and needy; Free them from the hand of the wicked."
Psalm 82:4

The Domain (Blackfinn Ameripub) -- Earlier this evening, Mike McNamara, the Republican candidate for Travis County judge, held a campaign event where he discussed his vision for the Travis County commission:

Highlights:

• Pflugerville is going to be "the center of our attack."
• "A divided district."

• A lot of support in the Western part of the County and Circle C.

• A lot of people upset with the County commission.

• Appraisals are a smokescreen, it's about the tax rate.

• The manager of the place where the event was held had to move out of county.

• We need lower taxes for everyone.

• Traffic --  People need to drive around Austin instead of thru it.