Stray thoughts

It came to me while I am severely under-employed due to a broken right arm, San Angelo needs to create a new position:rainmaker!

Over the past week or so, all I've had to do is start a lawnmower and here comes the rain. Sometimes I only need to look at the mower hard! Obviouly by the Latin phrase "post hoc, ergo propter hoc", (really loose translation, That which happened first must have caused that which followed it regardless of cause and effect). I must be responsible for the rain, every dryland farmer in three counties owes me at least 1% of gross for my rainmaking, it's cheaper than cloudseeding and a dang sight more effective!

OK we're having fun, but it goes to a more real topic. I have seen things where spending public money actually created more wealth than was spent by the taxpayers. I have seen an albino deer in the wild, but I have seen one about as often as the other.

Folks, I've been at this a while. I wish I could tell you there was some spending/taxation mix we could live with and not put a 40% tax burden on our children and grandchildren. I also wish I could win the lottery. By any statistical projection, I will win the lottery first. Twice.

Smoke-Free, forget them until September unless of course they continue to violate Election Code. Meanwhile we have a highly compressed Capital Improvements Process where, as usual, people are asking for about 5 times as much money as the City will actually have in budget.

Let me make that concrete. Four out of five projects, nearly all of which are well-intentioned, will simply die, at least for this year. A hefty portion of the 20% of projects that survive might see the funding moved 3-5 years down the road, partly depending on the economy. Unlike the feds, City cannot create money from nothing. City has one, and really, grants included, only one source of money: OAP, I call it, Our Ass Pocket.

That is why Charter Review made it a lengthy process with several public hearings. We are getting a late start this year, but in defense of staff 1) the process is fairly new, everyone is still learning it; and 2) we had a tough job bringing a $2.3 million deficit real close to even without eliminating basic services. That was NOT an easy job!

BTW, had to take a break just now to talk to a Speak Out San Angelo contributor. Small sum, but it will all help. More importantly, he promised to speak to friends, neighbors and co-workers on the issue. As I have pointed out before, the absolute Gold Standard of politics is one-on-one conversation. Not some fellow with a strange accent on a phone bank, I mean people who know one another talking to one another. That you cannot buy, you cannot fake, it either happens or it doesn't. Therein lies the fate of our November 2 smoking election. Turn out, or lose, and that applies to either side.

Budget Machinations

I am glad I withheld my initial reaction to the July 15 Council meeting When Chief Vasquez dropped his "20% pay raise" budget bombshell. Let me say before anything else, I am glad the officers got the raise. In a gosanangelo.com comment that day, I predicted they would get 7, maybe 10%, deservedly so. Where do I keep misplacing that Karnak turban?

The process was ugly, no two ways about it. I have spoken to most of Council since, I can reliably report "stunned" would be an understatement. This was not a reasoned negotiation, this was a parliamentary mugging. Only the Mayor and Councilmembers Farmer and Silvas spoke that day. Farmer took the time to do the math and state a dollar amount and expressed her shock that Chief Vasquez seemed to expect Council to act that day absent any prior notice. Mr. Silvas, the "new kid on the block" went into a statement which, while trying to offend no one, he agreed really boiled down to, "Why the heck am I hearing about this for the first time today?". Other members told me they had stayed silent because they were so angry at this "ambush" they did not trust themselves not to say something they would later regret.

It is a safe consensus, our public safety personnel got this raise in spite of, not because of, the Vasquez presentation.

I have watched the video of that meeting several times. Jerry Sea, of the WTOS and NAACP spoke for the raise, but mentioned "This is the best City Council we have ever had". I wholeheartedly agree, 30 years of seeing them come and go, some tried, some flat lied to us, and current Council is dealing with problems unfairly dumped on them. This I state plainly: Council AND staff (we also, in my opinion, have the best City Manager we've ever had) passed a small miracle in this new budget.

Council, by ordinance and Charter change, has made the budget process more responsible and transparent than ever before. This Council did not deserve the ambush Vasquez set for them. It is to Council's credit that they overlooked the political insult and gave our officers what they rated.

Understand, we have a significant change in local government. I was in the trenches against the "ol' boy club". Folks, that is done. The oldest "rats in the barn" are Mayor Lown and Councilman Morrison, each starting their third. They are part of the cats who ran the rats OUT of the barn.

Capital Improvements is one such; we moved this, with approval of the voters, from ordinance and procedure, to required by Charter. It is new, as is the SAPD "Meet and Confer" process. In the process, some time will be lost as the bureaucrats set rules by which they play. I am inclined to give all parties, City Manager, Police Chief, City Council, a good amount of latitude for the mechanics of making reforms effective.

All that said, the cops got a raise, the Council dodged a bullet, this is as good a chance as Council will ever have to say "OK, Rookie mistakes get a pass BUT...never again". God's honest, a lot of people spent a lot of time and trouble making these budget reforms come to pass. Not picking on SAPD's somewhat unique position with an elected Chief, EVERY city department needs to be put on notice, get your requests in on time, with numbers to support them, or you will be SOL until the next year's budget.

Capital Ideas

They had the first public hearing on the Capital Budget and Capital Improvement Plan yesterday evening. They had an updated copy of all the projects and estimated costs. Lots of information available. This meeting was for the staff and citizens to interact, and they did for around 2 hours. They don't have the latest information up on the city website yet, but last years info is there and most of the projects are on going. There is another meeting Thursday at the Carl Ray Johnson rec center at 6:30pm.

p.s.: This is also on the testbed

Trust or Consequences

In the course of discussing Prop 26, the appointed police chief, a recurring theme has been how much distrust voters have for the City Council, the City Manager, city gov't in general. Typical would be something like "It's all about the monied, old boy network that has always run San Angelo, they don't care about anything but themselves, can't be trusted", etc, etc and so forth.

Now it is understandable that the average citizen doesn't really pay attention to city gov't until they see utilities bills or taxes going up and it's check writing time. I have to remember, most people have a life and are not political junkies.

That said, let me point out a couple of "inconvenient truths". I have been following city affairs far more closely than most people for over twenty years. First thing, no Council ever took office by martial law, voters put them there, to the extent we are spreading blame, save a bit of that peanut butter for ourselves. Second, the "old boys" aren't there. City manager, Mayor, Councilmembers, no one has been there six years yet. In fairness, it took way longer than that for the pipes to rust out and the potholes cave in. The neglect that rose up and bit us in the nether regions last year was not the fault of the current city gov't, but it was definitely a steaming bowl of offal dumped in their laps.

Another inconvenient truth is that life ain't always fair, and nuttin's for free. We all want good streets and dependable water and by the way find a way to do $200 million of infrastructure without raising my bills. Sorry, the good infrastructure fairy seems to be out to lunch, and the money will eventually come from the same source as all gov't expenditures, our ass pocket. If you have some secret formula to make the necessary repairs at little or no cost, please share it with us.

The situation we are in is why I am especially proud of Prop 25, Capital Improvements. If we pass this measure, no future Manager or Council will be able to say "Gee, nobody told us", there will always be a detailed five year-out plan in effect, and future Councils will see it before anything else on the budget. Then they can fall out and fight for scraps going to tennis courts and lights.

The Charter Committe did not offer Prop 5, a pay raise by whatever name, to reward the oversights of Councils long gone, nor to "pay off" the existing Council. We hoped it might make it possible for knowledgable working folk to be able to afford to run and serve. As Thomas Jefferson observed, a periodic revolution is healthy for the body politic.

I know the bill just recently hit your mailbox, but the genesis of that bill pre-dates our existing city government. We are paying for mistakes made years ago, by people long gone.

Now before someone shouts "pollyanna", I don't claim the city has quite hit perfection, there are a few items left to be addressed. A $200,000 misunderstanding on water bills might be one detail, mind you that is just generating and mailing the bills, no pipes included. I think it would be nice to catch three green lights in a row on Bryant Raceway. Newest improvement there, going south from Harris, unless you floor it you get to stop at Beauregard. Then Washington. Then Av N. Then Knickerbocker.

Zoning is an ongoing nuisance for homeowners, entrepaneurs and developers. Keeping rendering plants out of residential neighborhoods is one thing, making honest businesses jump through hoops over details of fence heights and counting trees, or giving homeowners grief over two feet from right-of-way or adjoining property when no neighbors object is an impediment to growth.

More of the same, that's why government needs interested citizens looking over its shoulder, and making rude noises from time to time. that's part of what we try to do here, but we can use all the help we can get. I try to remember to give the city an "ataboy" when they get it right, this is not all negative.

All the above notwithstanding, on some items, blaming the current Council for problems handed off to them is like blaming the new driver when a thirty year old bus breaks down. We really do have new faces, new attitudes there. Try actually talking to your Councilmember, you might be surprised how receptive they are to new ideas.

By the way, KIDY is generously giving a half hour of valuable air time to a debate/discussion featuring yours truly and Councilman Dwain Morrison on the Charter Amendments. Although we deeply disagree on Prop 26, over the years I have agreed with Dwain more often than not, this should be an informative, respectful discussion of the issues. There will be a "questions" period and KIDY is soliciting questions from the public at www.myfoxsanangelo.com If you care, please contribute and listen.

Above all, early voting starts Monday. Please, please, sometime between now and election day, get up and vote. This barkeep never objected to discussing politics in a bar; they don't teach it in civics class, but the two primary sources of the American Revolution were; Chuches and taverns. I do have one rule: if you didn't vote, I don't want to hear it; voting is your license to bitch.

Charter Election Status

We are actively gearing up the education and information campaign on the Charter Amendments that are on the ballot in the November election. We have more information on the main ConchoInfo.org website, we have an informational PowerPoint presentation, and the city has election information here.

Most of these amendments are non-controversial housekeeping measures that update the language to comply with current state and federal laws and how we actually do business. The heavy hitters are the Appointed Chiefs amendment, the Capital Budget amendment, and the raise in allowances for the Mayor and Council Members.

You opinions, as always, are welcome here.

Rates & progress

If you have been paying attention lately, one thing is clear. Water and sewer rates are going to have to go up. We may be lucky and get state or federal assistance to fix our infrastructure. We must get creative and figure out how to use the 4b sales tax to pay for some repairs where appropriate and legal, but in the end the rates will have to go up. The only question left is how do you raise the rates.

A flat, $15.00 per meter increase is too simplistic. It's not equitable and it's very regressive. To use a very overworked term, it isn't fair.

There is a strong case for putting at least the majority of the increase into the meter charge or a separate capital fund charge on the water bill. It makes sense to have capital projects paid for by the fixed part of the bill, but make sure that the meter charge is raised proportionally. At the current rate and a $15.00 increase, a 5/8" meter users rate would rise from $10.08 to $25.08, an increase of 149%. An 8" meter users rate would go from $136.03 to $151.03, an increase of only 11%. A Rough estimate tells me that a 140% to 145% increase on all the meters would still raise the same money, with a more equal distribution of the capital repair costs, and a savings to the smaller user of $.30 to $.60. Not a lot but significant to those on a fixed income.

There are probably other questions that need to be asked about how to do this rate. I will grant that prior rate increases were too heavy on the per gallon charge for the politically popular goal of keeping meter rates low, but we need to be wary of going too far the other way. An 80% to the meter with 20% to the per gallon charge would leave a per meter increase of $12.00, and if the 20 split is based on a very conservative usage rate of 140 gpd (the Texas conservation goal) which is 13 gpd below current usage we should be safe. Sewer rates definitely need to be raised so that waste treatment is more self supporting.

In the end, there need to be rate increases. We still need to fine tune where and how much they will be.

Capital Idea (updated)

I felt sorry for the City Council yesterday. They have been hearing about infrastructure problems for the last few months. Yesterday they saw the final sticker price. They ended up with a bad case of sticker shock. They are searching for additional ways to pay the bill, but in the end local water users will suffer from sticker shock sometime this spring.

Our infrastructure problems are nothing new. They are a result of past policies of neglect, political pandering, and a policy of ignoring capital problems until they became serious. They ignored infrastructure problems because they could do it so easily. There was nothing that required them to look at capital problems.

It's interesting that this is happening at the same time they are forming a charter review committee. I am on this committee and have been doing some research. I looked at reports such as this one about what is happening in city charters in Texas. I noticed that there is something interesting included in many charters, especially the newer ones: a capital budget. (Our charter is here.)

We are not the only city that is having infrastructure problems. The upkeep on basic capital assets is not something that gets a lot of attention until something breaks. Flashy projects like arenas or tennis courts are much more appealing and have a higher visibility. Everyone likes to talk about the great stereo and seats in a new car. Nobody talks about what it takes to change the oil or check the brakes. Basic maintenance isn't sexy but it has to be done. There has to be some way to make sure that basic maintenance is done.

What I see happening is many cities are building a requirement for capital improvements into the city charter. They are spelling out that each annual city budget must include a capital budget. They are requiring a capital improvement plan, often as a section of an overall comprehensive plan, and they are requiring that capital projects be looked at as part of the overall budget process and that a separate periodic review be held, with every 2 years being common.

As part of our charter review, we need to add a capital improvement improvement plan along the lines I just described, and put it before the voters. We need to ensure that no future city government can ignore the city's basic capital and infrastructure needs.

Buy the Book

One thing you will discover if you do much research on issues is that there is a tremendous amount of paper involved. The introduction of the computer into government and business has had an unintended result: We are creating more documents today then ever, and they are getting bigger. Lets take a look at some of the paper involved in the Capital Improvement Plan being developed.

The CIP will a number of sections detailing needs and justifications. These, in turn, will reflect what is in the city's Comprehensive Plan. This is a very large document that coordinates all other planning. It is both the starting point and the executive summary of a number of other plans.

One of these other plans is the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan. This is a 250+ page study plus a large update on what recreation and parks should look like here in the future. This report plus updates cost the city a lot of money, and is only available on paper. There is so much there I doubt many people outside of the parks and recreation department know more about it than the power point slide show that was presented by the consultant who developed the plan. As far as this type of plan goes, it seems to be pretty good, but there are some concerns.

Our paid consultants started with guidelines from the National Recreation and Parks Association. They then did local surveys, polls, and focus groups to fine tune and prioritize the results. A bit of fine tuning, include lists, charts maps of parks and and proposed sites, eight by ten color glossies with circles and arrows and they had a completed plan. So where is the problem.

First off, I find the NRPA guidelines a bit too generic. They start with a plan developed by Kansas City, and then expand it to fit San Angelo and New York City. I will grant you that the hope is that a consultant will really treat each study as unique, but reality, time and money have a way of interfering with that. What most of these reports end up being is a list of about 2 dozen one size fits all sports and recreation activities in the order of their popularity on the last poll and a list of possible sites. They include cost estimates for each.

The problem I have is that we end up with a list with some odd resources on it (do we really need a city owned Ice Rink?) We also see no mention of many locally popular recreations (No, I am not going to mention Mr. Ryans professional Billiard Hall.)

The other problem is that we see project appear on various plans just because some consultant said you should have one so you can keep with New York City, even though the money could be better spent on water, roads, sewer, or even recreations that might stimulate the city.

The unintended consequence of the ease with which computers allow reports and plans to be generated is there are now so many of them, and they are so thick that it is almost impossible to know what is in them. You do have to be careful that some project doesn't sneak onto the budget just because is was one page in a large plan that nobody had time to read.

Capital Fun

The city government is finishing up work on a Capital Improvement Plan. As recent events have shown, it's about time.

At the last City Council, the various departments gave a short synopsis of what they see as the capital needs. They gave out a handout with projects, costs, and justifications for the projects they want funded which I have scanned in and put here on the main web site. This is a wish list of all the capital expenditure type projects in the city. You will find projects such as a new ambulance, upgraded communications, airport public restrooms, etc.. There were nine separate sections in the handout. Lots of numbers and so-so pictures. The power point slides and presentations by the department heads was much better and more informative. The handout was just for background reference.

This handout seems to be very complete including projects that may not be able to justify much priority. Some of the sections, such as IT are pretty thin. Sewer and Water seem thin until you realize the scope of the projects on each page. The thickest section is from Parks and Recreation. Part of the reason is there is one page for each park and recreation center, so that is not too surprising. Still, there are some surprises in this handout. We will cover some of them in future blog articles. Until then, take a look for your self and see what you think should be the priorities, and see what they might have missed.

Pay Me now, or Pay Me Later

I drive a somewhat beat-up '77 Ford F-150. Friends who know I can afford (slightly) better sometines ask why I drive that old junker. My reply: when I turn the key, it goes "Vroom", and takes me where I need to go; it is on propane and I pay $1.80 for fuel; and most importantly, it is paid for!

When I read of the huge infrastructure costs looming, I try to put them in the context of my pickup.

The water line work is indisputable. Two downtown breaks, one involving a front page picture of workers up to their necks in water, then the tragic fire at Honey Creek with no effective water pressure and purely decorative fireplugs, Yeah, I've got to agree, we need to spend serious money on water mains, not just the two inch residential lines. This will have to be paid for, but so long as no one tries to hang a bunch of bells and whistles on the funding, you won't hear this conservative beef about it; this is by definition, the proper work of local government. The fine distinction between city and water dept. budgets I will leave for another day, the point is, we all have a problem that the city will have to fix, and we will all, in one way or another, pay for it.

The school report is a bit different. The totally unrealistic "needs" list comes up with a figure we cannot possibly afford, and I ask , "For what?' Bear in mind, last school bond, I wrote a guest column in the Standard-Times supporting the bond issue, tax increase and all. I had been shown the projects, and used the line in my column that these nearly all fell in the "Pay me now or pay me later" category used in a commercial of the time. Before we can really judge today's high dollar estimate, we need to know the criteria used to declare physical plant unusable.

Most of my primary education happened in a building completed in 1890. Granted, this was the late Paleolithic era and we were happy to be out of the smokey caves our grand-parents had attended. It was also an era when eighth graders were expected to be able to diagram sentences and derive square roots. The first art is totally lost today, even among faculty; the second, I doubt many faculty members could do if an EMP rendered calculators useless.

My point is, reasonably well built buildings do not automatically become obselete in 40 years. We are not now looking at the 17th Sistine Chapel with a Jackson Pollock abstract no one understands on the ceiling. If we need to spend another serious sum on maintainence and upgrades, that is one thing. To suggest that strictly based on age and overdue maintainence we need to start nearly from scratch and build a new school system for a declining enrollment sounds like someone is dreaming with someone else's dollars.

Now we move, as my Mother put it, from the sublime to the ridiculous. It is suggested, with a straight face, that San Angelo needs to spend $14 Million tax dollars (again, I skip over departmental budget details, but it IS public money) to build a convention center/hotel. From the location suggested, I suppose it is intended to relieve the economic blight endemic to Knickerbocker Rd. You see, the AV equipment at the convention center on Concho is outdated. "Golly gee honey, the motor went out on the rear window in the Caddy. Guess we ought to scrap that junker and get a new BMW!"

Let's ignore the huge available square footage of convention space normally unbooked in San Angelo. Forget the 50% average occupancy rate of existing hotels. Completely gloss over the inconvenience that the best-face-on-it figures assume a 70% occupancy of rooms 35% more expensive than similar vacant space in town for this taxpayer financed Taj Mahal to break even. Assume that the tooth fairy was going to leave behind each guest a gold doubloon and this fever dream was ever actually going to make a dime, someone tell me why the city should invest a plugged nickel in it. The city could take a mere $50,000, find a reliable bookie, and bet the Cubs to win the Series. The actuarial odds of making money are better with the bookie.

Back to Realityland. Some things absolutely need ground-up replacing, sooner the better. Other things, like the need for backup water supply ($50 to $150 million) are temporarily on the back burner. Schools probably do need a large sum for upgrades and maintainece, but overall they are in way better shape than the more recently and expensively constructed Boston "Big Dig".

We need to maintain what we have. Don't buy a new $50,000 dually when the '77 paid for Ford still works. Don't design for a 40 year life span to begin with. "Disposable" should be a term used for tissues and diapers, not buildings. I am old enough to remember an aphorism being common; "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without". If that sounds a bit antiquated and overly frugal, compare it to coming up with roughly a Billion dollars we don't have.