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(I am the administrative assistant for our county ju-dge...)

Texas counties are in the process of working on the 2012-2013 budget and tax rate. Some are still working...some are already approved. THREE public hearings are required. But do you think anyone ever shows up? No one has called or shown up for either of the budget hearings. No one showed up for the first tax rate hearing which lasted only FOUR MINUTES! ...and only two calls were received in the jud-ge's office prior to the meeting. There's one more tax rate hearing scheduled Tuesday, with Friday hearing to approve the bud-get and ta-x rate.

The local paper posted a link to the story on Facebook. Oh my goodness! Do people ever read the whole story, or do they just read the headline? One commented that "they" just wanted to line their pockets. If that person had attended any of the hearings, they would know that there hasn't been a payroll increase in at least two years. I had to sit on my hands to keep from replying!

Open Records Gover-nment, people. REQUEST the records. ATTEND the hearings. READ the paper. Why wait until elec-tion time?! 2012 has no contested races. 2014 is too late to voice your opinion at the p0lls for a ta-x hike in 2012!

BTW, the increase is 246825 cents per hundred appraised value of the property - appraised value is not set by the county either! (Lower than 2004s .33177) The average appraised value of a home in this county is a just over $50,000. Our coun-ty has ZERO debt. A balanced bud-get!!

We also have the second lowest ta-x rate of the 254 counties in Texas! Midland with its oil wells is the lowest...surprise. Those records are found online.

Okay. Thank you for "listening." I feel better now.

Glad you are feeling better-- I have a saying"If you don't Vo te, then you can't complain." That is one of the duties to belonging to this great na tion.
KYIS, you will be glad that you sat on your hands.

.... those who do not attend or even read or listen have no business making ANY comments .. we see things on tv and it's while the meeting is going on .. so even if we can't find the time to be there we can at least be informed of what have no business speaking out about!
Maybe you should speak up on someplace like FACEBOOK .. or get someone to do it for you so you aren't 'guilty' of anything.
Bless you for taking time to vent here - and may it be a reminder to all of us.

BTW ... YES, that hat makes your butt look big ... well, maybe it's not the hat ...

Good for you!

Wow! The words "bal anced bu dget" are for eign here. What a concept!!!!!!!

LOL, if my oldest DD sat on her hands, she wouldn't be able to say a single word! LOL

TY.

There's more to this:
There are just so many factors that affect our property tax rate. A couple of years ago (before I worked for the county), DH went to the appraisal district to ask why we had a significant jump in our property valuation over the year before. Well...the STATE contacted them that our county's appraised values were not in line with the rest of the state and they were ordered to raise them. In doing so, the commissioners court did not have to raise the tax rate even though operating costs did go up (fuel costs jack up everything as we all know). Of course, had the same people now complaining had kept up with the business of their county government, this they would know.

NOW the state has told the appraisal district that they are taking in more money than they are spending. Therefore, they have been told by the STATE to lower the appraised value which would've brought in less money for the taxing entities which in turn is the reason for the 2+ cent tax hike.

Know what you mean. As a retired Texas teacher we've not had a cost of living increase in 13 years. If DH dies first I cannot collect a penny of his Social Security. Plus I cannot collect a penny of the SS I've paid in. But since I teach two college classes I am required to pay into the SS system every paycheck. Life is not fair;(

People amaze me all the time. I go to town meeting every year and the huge things pass with ease. The little ones get everyone riled up. I am the clerk for our fire precinct and for the last 3 years we have had more at our annual meeting to v0te on the budget etc. than showed for the town meeting!?!

piney

One of the commissioners has been there awhile. One year they commissioners court actually lowered taxes. They had more people in attendance than ever. He overheard one person who had no clue at all about what was going on make the statement, "They just want to line their own pockets!" After that meeting that person told the commissioner that he sure hoped he didn't say anything to cause the CC any problems. Said commissioner had a few choice words and ended with..."How in the world can we line our own pockets when we not only lowered taxes but did not approve a salary increase this year?!"

There's no way on G0d's green earth I would ever run for public office!!!!!

... Sadly this problem goes back a long ways - we have been told for so long about how we are the only important thing in the world, and it's all about us - so let me help you with the boring and time consuming stuff.... VOTE FOR ME. and lazy selfish individuals that we are - we fell for it, still are falling for it. It didn't start with us and it wont finish with us .. but at least there are those of you who are interested and try to reach we with our lives too busy to bother with the boring and time consuming stuff.

City/Sandie...I agree! This has been going on for at least my vot-ing life, but in actuality way before that.

Well. I guess before I get on a soapbox about the nati-onal level...I better sit on my hands again...because that would be waaaaay OT. (And I'm not 'for' or 'against' any particular party/poli-tician...I'm sick of them all! But I still vote hoping one of them is telling at least a 10% truth...perhaps I should be looking for 1%...)

Hugs to all. Thanks for "listening" to me.

This too shall pass.

Used to work in local government. I can so understand! I used to tell people I don't mind hearing their complaint IF they had a reasonable solution to the problem. Normally, they didn't, they just wanted to complain! Had SO MANY get on the council with an idea of what they wanted to change, only to discover that 1. They had to deal with a budget that another council had already set. 2. Local, state and federal laws HAVE to be abided by. and 3. It takes a majority vote to change things, and NO you can't meet outside of regular meetings and decide something! Boy, I don't miss that job AT ALL!

....hahahha .... I have been learning to sit on my mouth this year! I tried stuffing something big in it but I couldn't walk...

Sherry

I always say that no one in high school would recognize me now (44 years later ! ) not because I don't look the same (where did that weight come from?) but because I am WAY more vocal than I was then. I told someone if "you don't vote you can't complain". Know what he said? It's a free country I can say what I want. AARRGGHH!!

Speak up. Get someone to do something. And it's hard to type (speak) if I sit on my hands. I even use them when on the phone!

There, I've said my piece.

Gina

Yes, people can complain and gripe even when they don't participate. My answer for folks like that is simply ask them which meeting they attended that they didn't understand the discussions.

In most conversations, if you can throw a question back at them, you will find them sputtering and making a reason for a quick departure.

It is disappointing to see/hear some of the responses from the unknowing to the people that have worked hard to do the best they can.