In case you missed this discussion on Facebook…
Outstanding observation ladies! You should direct your queries (and anger) towards former mayors and City council members TJ Monroe and Misti Talbert, for starters. Chuck Williamson is also on the list:
I Hope Deorald Finney Invites TJ Monroe and Chuck Williamson Over For The Mansion Warming Party!
City Council Approves Incentives For Subdivision [Dispatch 5/21/19]
What did they do? Well, as I have been ranting about on here for literally FIVE YEARS, they have been handing out taxpayer money to SUBSIDIZE all this growth. They should have been doing the OPPOSITE and charging “impact fees” on every new house. Want to hook your house up to the grid? That will be $2,500 please. Want to hook up to the water/wastewater? That will be another $2,500 please.
You think anyone is going to balk at a $5,000 charge on a $300,000 house? They aren’t. And if they do? Good riddance – that’s how you slow the growth. Then, at the end of the day when you have 500 new “rooftops” as Finley likes to call them, you at least have $2.5 million in your coffers to pay for all the millions of dollars in water/wastewater upgrade costs the City is facing right now.
But Talbert and Monroe DIDN’T do any of that. They did the exact OPPOSITE and handed out money to developers or gave them FREE electrical hookups. Deorald Finney was given a $72,000 gift on his Stone Valley subdivision when Talbert (and council) decided he didn’t have to pay to hook up to the grid.
Don’t forget about the $185,000 in taxpayer money Talbert handed to S2M2 back in 2020 for their ill-fated Brodie Estates development – which is still nowhere near finished.
Where is Misti Talbert now? Don’t worry – she’s only the president of the Lampasas Economic Development Corp. They are the ones with a gigantic empty “Business Pork” they have spent over $7 million dollars on. I’m sure she’ll drive a hard bargain over there, too. Of course, we’ll never know because the LEDC has been lawyering up every time I ask a question about what’s going on over there.
Millions of tax dollars handed out. All so YOU can have more traffic, more people sucking on the water pipe and more people on the grid. Job well done, Misti!!