This morning on the show we discussed how the City Council is looking to increase taxes without being tied to raising taxes. In a nutshell, the council wants to raise taxes from the bond election that was approved by voters a year before they start any of the approved projects. So your taxes will be going up because of the bond projects you approved, but we are at least a year away from starting those projects.
Instead the council will use that money to repaint City Hall, fix concrete at a fire station, and whatever else they want. Of course, they never mentioned any of this during the bond election and I’m pretty sure they knew about some of these projects back then.
Many people in Lubbock aren’t too happy about this. When I first heard this plan a couple of weeks back it was shady and I knew what the council was up to, and many of you have felt the same way. Many of our elected officials ran for office saying that they were against raising taxes. What they never said publicly was that while they are against raising taxes, raising fee’s however much they want is just fine. Now our elected officials are trying to pull a fast one on us regarding raising taxes due to the bond election. The council wants to do many things with your money, but they just don’t have enough to do it with. And of course they can’t be caught raising taxes either. So instead they plan on raising taxes, but blaming the bond election all while hoping that you don’t see this as a tax hike for projects you didn’t approve.
Like I said earlier, many people are upset about this and want to have their voice heard. Well lucky for you our council will hold two public hearings… during the morning hours. As Boortz would say, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?!
Why is this council against holding important meetings at night? The council is going to raise taxes and they want your input, but only if you can skip work in the morning. By only having 2 meetings and only having them in the morning shows me that the Lubbock City Council doesn’t care about your opinion. They want to hide from you. They don’t want to be confronted and told that they are doing something wrong.
We have asked Mayor Tom Martin why they don’t hold council meetings at night and his excuse is that all meetings would last until 2am. Yeah, I don’t see that happening. Council meetings could start at 6 or 6:30pm and instead of doing closed door sessions after the meeting, they could hold them before. If the meetings were at night then more people could attend and get involved. I know it’s a radical idea and it might mean missing Wheel of Fortune, but if the council really wants citizen input they would hold meetings at night.
City Council meetings probably won’t change. I know that, but it should still be brought up and debated. What should change though is this unwritten policy the council has of holding public hearings in the mornings. Sure, have your morning public hearing, but let’s have a few at night too where more people would have the opportunity to attend and have their voices heard. Many on the council have said that they want more participation from the citizens, but it doesn’t seem like they really do to me.
More tomorrow on LFN. It’s an Open Line Friday so I encourage you to call in about this.
