Sickening.
That’s the only way to describe the utter waste of tax dollars called the “Lampasas Economic Development Corporation”. After seeing the latest figures (10/1/19 through 9/30/20), I decided to go over the previous five filings as well. The following totals are the amounts wasted by the LEDC in JUST the last six fiscal years (10/1/14 through 9/30/20):
INTEREST PAYMENTS: $327,173 That is money that goes straight into the pockets of the banks for the privilege of borrowing money to “improve” the ‘goat pasture’ (former councilman Mike White’s words, not mine) known as The Business Park. That is $327,173 in tax dollars that will not be used for parks, streets or swimming pools. It is gone forever. Misti Talbert and TJ Monroe (among others) are directly responsible for this.
LEGAL FEES: $93,237 How the LEDC managed to blow nearly a hundred grand on legal fees for a “business park” that has sat empty for 17 years is beyond my comprehension. Perhaps the idiots who run the LEDC can comprehend it (Talbert, Monroe, etc), but I cannot. Some lawyer out there has a nice new boat, no doubt. Citizens of Lampasas have nothing to show for it.
ADMIN/OVERHEAD: $72,000 The LEDC spend exactly $12,000 per year on administration/overhead. Year in and year out. It appears it is paid to the City – perhaps for consulting their accountants and wasting City time. But I really couldn’t tell you. More money vaporized.
ADVERTISING/PROMOTION: $31,389 The LEDC has somehow spent over $30,000 promoting and advertising their “business park”. What exactly are they advertising and promoting? A goat pasture (Mike White’s words, not mine) with tumbleweeds and cactus all over it? Whatever they spent it on, the ‘business park’ STILL sits empty after 17 years.
TRAVEL: $31,205 The LEDC has blown over $30,000 on “travel” over those six years. While $5,000 per year might not sound like a lot in the grand scheme of things, I have to wonder why it isn’t $0. Where exactly do these dunces need to travel to and why? What was gained by it? Clearly not any tenants for the goat pasture (Mike White’s words, not mine). Anyways, somebody got a lot of nice little useless junkets. The taxpayers got the bill.
FURTHERMORE – all this money is being thrown around with next to ZERO controls or oversight. I have covered repeatedly how Misti Talbert and TJ Monroe essentially oversaw their own activities by holding positions on the LEDC and City council (as MAYORS!) at the same time. It is a very incestuous and inbred group of dummies.
This group ALSO: (1) has no written whistleblower policies, (2) has no written conflict of interest policies and (2) has no written document retention and/or document destruction policy.
Add all that up? You have a small group of insulated, inbred, low-IQ people with next to zero oversight handling millions of tax dollars who are not accountable for their results. The predictable outcome is exactly the one that has been taking place over the last 17 years: millions of dollars wasted and nothing to show for it.
Disband the LEDC. Eliminate the Director of Economic Development position. Let the free market preside.