Apparently the Lampasas Economic Dunces Club has agreed to borrow yet ANOTHER huge pile of money ($1,500,000.00) from BancorpSouth for their failed ‘business’ park. One of the conditions of the NEW loan [see pages 9 and 10] is that the LEDC agreed to EXTEND the terms of the OLD loan (made in 2015 for $1,345,000) for another TEN YEARS!
Seems ridiculous to me, but what do I know? I’m just an idiot taxpaying, non-banker Lampasshole chump.
Let’s break all this profligate spending down and start at the beginning:
Loan #93300010855800 was originated back in 2015. It was for $1.345 MILLION and the proceeds were mostly wasted spent to put pipes in the ground at the corpse repository ‘business’ park.
The terms of the loan were 3.35% for 15 years – with a maturity date of March 5th, 2030.
That “finance charge” means “total interest payments” – the total COST of the loan. Yes, you read that right – the LEDC will squander $377,116 over 15 years to borrow that money. So when they borrowed $1.345 million to put pipes in the ground in a business park that sits completely empty 6 years later, they ACTUALLY are wasting $1,722,116.00 – NOT just the $1.345 million in principal.
The fun fact about all these interest payments is that they are mostly front-loaded. In other words, the interest payments are HUGE up front and dwindle over time as the loan balance shrinks. The very FIRST interest payment was $43,295 (in 2015) and the very LAST interest payment will be $945 in 2030.
Since this loan has been running now for 6 years, they have forked over $244,000 in interest payments already – or about 65% of the total interest they will owe over the course of the loan (244/377 = 64.7%).
So the TERM of the loan is only 40% complete but the INTEREST PAYMENTS are 65% complete. The bank only has another $133,000 in juice to squeeze from the LEDC nutsack over the next 9 years.
[Reminder – the NEW loan will generate roughly $561,000 for BancorpSouth: $1.5 million at 3.20% for 21 years]
Oh, and BancorpSouth ALSO wants a 1% “loan origination fee” [page 9]- that’s a measly $15,000 for those of you who suck at math.
What’s a banker to do? Hmmm. Well, MAYBE they could tack ANOTHER 10 years on to that first loan as a condition of the LEDC getting this NEW loan! Naturally, the interest rate will be kept the same as the FIRST loan (3.35%) and NOT adjusted downward to that of the second loan (3.2%).
According to the June 5th Radiogram, the LISD board will meet tonight. Among other things, they will discuss:
“…adjustment to the compensation schedule for 2021-22. Also discussed will be the planning for federal grand applications, plans for a safe return to in person instruction.”
I THINK Rhonda Witcher meant “grant” applications and “in-person” instruction, but what do you expect from a former college professor?
“Adjustment” to the compensation schedule ALWAYS means “adjustment upwards”. Not a year goes by that the school system doesn’t give raises to everyone and anyone – including the bloated administration. Of course, school performance continues downward despite all the spending (see my post HERE).
Let’s look at the other recent “adjustments” to the compensation schedule, shall we?
April 2018: The Lampasas Independent School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved a general pay increase for all the district’s teachers, administrators and auxiliary staff. Each teacher will receive a $1,500 increase, a raise of about 3% will go to administrators, and an increase of about 5% will be given to aides, clerical and auxiliary staff. The pay raise willadd about $800,000 to the budget.
July 2019: The Lampasas Independent School District Board of Trustees approved teacher raises totaling $1.5 million for the coming school year.
March 2020: Our school board approved a compensation plan for next yearthat includes a 7% general pay increase of the midpoint for teachers, clerical/aides, and auxiliary. A general pay increase of 5% of the midpoint for administratorswas approved as well.
January 2021: The Lampasas Independent School District Board of Trustees voted Monday night to extend Superintendent Dr. Chane Rascoe’s contract, which now is set to expire in June 2024. Trustees also granted Rascoe a 7% raise, bringing his salary to $169,864 as of July 1. In addition, trustees voted togive all school district employees an additional 10 days of paid leave for “COVID-19- related issues”
Ah yes, those “COVID-19-related issues”. Not Covid, mind you….but any “issues” that “relate” to it as well.
That’s two weeks of vacation for any bullshit you can come up with – like “I think my kid has Covid” or “my husband may have Covid and I have to take care of him”. If there is a single employee of the school system who DIDN’T grab some “Covid” time this past school year, I’d sure love to meet them.
I know our intrepid City council member Cathy Kuehne took HER time off, even though she felt fine!
Ah yes. Pork chops and panko – such a deadly plague.
Anyways, AFTER the school board gives everyone and their assistant a fat raise, they will move on to “plans for a safe return to in-person learning”.
Say what? What plans are there to make? Here is how you do it: pretend it is the year 2019 again and do what you did back then. I’m not sure if the school board reads the news, but The Fauci Emails are putting the nails into the coffin of Covid as we speak.
Of course, anyone with a brain knew that masking kids was moronic a year ago. But NOW you have overwhelming evidence AND anyone who wants the untested and experimental fluids injected into their arms should have done so by now.
There is ZERO excuse not to get rid of ALL the Covid bullshit. Masks, Lysol, Plexiglas, bus fumigation, water fountains covered with trash bags – you name it. Get rid of it ALL.
Will the school board be wise enough to do that? I’d put my money on “no”. But we shall see tonight.
Back from a week vacation and ready to rip Covid Cult morons to shreds once again.
The silence is DEAFENING from the likes of Heath Bishop, Potato Head Stephanie Fitzharris, Melissa Johnson, Bruce Haywood, Lola Barnes, Karen Spivey-Cummings, Julie Cain Landrum and the rest as Fauci’s emails are released to the public.
Oh, what’s that, Fauci Muppet? If you feel perfectly fine you DON’T need a mask? Gee. You don’t say.
NOW, we have Fauci caught red-handed lying over and over again. Thank God for Judicial Watch and all their FOIA requests. I think I’ll donate yet another chunk of money to them today. They are a fantastic organization.
An apology would be nice. Even better would be to put you in the stocks in the town square and throw rotten tomatoes at you for the weekend, you absolute loser morons.
But no. All we get is crickets. I don’t think they are even embarrassed about being so wrong all the time. They are completely unaware of their own idiocy.
Funny how the biggest libtards around are the ones who scream loudest when it’s THEIR ox being gored:
The dummy got her wish….let’s see how things are going for her five months later…….
Oh. Shocker. You don’t like it much when the red-hot poker is being shoved up YOUR ass, do you?
Karen Spivey-Cummings has always been in a dead heat with Bruce Haywood when it came to being the most libtarded hypocrite around these parts. I commented on her repeatedly last year because she is a gigantic maskhole and Covid Cult nutjob.
These are the dunces that elect Marxists like Joe Biden and AOC, they scream to shut down the entire economy over a cold virus, scream for “free money” to be handed out to everyone to sit home and not work…then they wonder why the hell their property taxes, gas prices and the price of everything on the planet goes through the roof.
What’s the matter, clown horn? Don’t want to pay your “fair share”? According to you, tax cuts are evil and don’t work! But it’s different now that YOU want one, eh? What a dunce.
The sad part is that it’s mostly the old, retired libtards (like this Karen) who will be crushed the hardest by the policies of Biden, Harris and other Marxists. We’ll see prices go up 8% or 10% a year and their social security will go up only 2% a year, because that’s how the Feds slam your ass.
Have fun eating cat food, you dipshit.
You should just take a page out of fellow libtard Bruce Haywood’s Book of Hypocrisy! Demand all the free stuff and then just don’t pay any taxes:
It all comes down to something I learned in first grade but which libtards NEVER can figure out: TANSTAAFL
As promised, here is a list of the foolish and profligate spending that took place under the Talbert administration (May 2017 through May 2021) as well as some projects while she was a City council member AND LEDC member.
Being the Head Goldfish, her memory is so short she has likely forgotten all of these and misremembers her term as one of unbridled success that was unfairly bashed by “keyboard warriors” like myself. Let’s go through them and see if that delusion holds any water, shall we?
For starters, they SOLD an old building they weren’t using for $75,000. THEN, 15 months later, they decided to buy it back for $229,000 so they could use it for their new council chambers.
Ridiculous NO-BID $180,000 Bathroom: Finley invoked his “buy board bullshit” and convinced Misti to piss away (pun intended) $180,000 on a BATHROOM at a park that is barely used. Is that a lot for a bathroom? Well, back in July of 2015 Misti herself signed off on a concession stand AND bathrooms at Gavin Garret Soccer Complex for only $18,930!! It’s true: click here and go to page 7. I guess the Head Goldfish had a short memory once again! The taxpayer screwed for another $155,000 or so.
But in 2020 (after receiving a ‘prize’ from Waste Connections), Finley and Misti decided that competitive bidding was a hassle and just awarded a FIVE YEAR garbage contract to Waste Connections without any other companies bidding. Just a coincidence, I am sure.
Lying About Being Transparent: Misti and her attorney JC Brown were the stonewall queens. Misti TALKED a big game, but I was refused public information over and over and over again.
Misti’s “logic”?The city would be willing to consider “doing the electric [infrastructure] at our cost because [it is] an enterprise for us; we do sell electric service.” Of course, EVERY OTHER HOUSE in the City ALSO buys electricity from the City. So why didn’t THEY get free hookups too?
Which brings us to the finale: the Business Park disaster. I have spilled a ton of ink on this, so I won’t rehash it all. You can use the search function on the blog here and search for “business park”.
Additionally, here are a few links that dive into the MILLIONS wasted on this “goat pasture” project. Misti was not only on City council during all this, she was ALSO sitting on the LEDC board.
One of the VERY FEW City employees who seems to NOT have his head up his ass is hanging up his cleats?
If you check our Glossary of Terms, you will find a blurb about Rickie written long ago:
Rickie Roy: Current Public Works director Assistant City Manager and general kicker of ass. Rickie gets shit done and doesn’t waste time. His voice could make a wolverine purr and Rickie’s City council presentations are the BOMB. One time, a cobra bit Rickie Roy in the leg. After five days of excruciating pain, the cobra died.
Of course, Finley wouldn’t NEED an assistant if he didn’t waste hundreds of hours every year on stupid shit like the Old City Hall remodel, the ‘business’ park debacle and now the Hostess House idiocy.
HUGE blow to the nascent TJ Monroe reign of incompetence. The City will need every full brain firing on all cylinders to get us through the next two years. Losing Rickie Roy makes the odds of success far lower. He probably couldn’t stand the sea of incompetence around him and bailed to save his own sanity.
Godspeed Rickie Roy. Good luck in your future endeavors.
It’s been YEARS since a scumbag politician I detest has dropped dead and allowed me to celebrate joyously. Considering how many of them I detest and how old all these rat bastards are, this is quite shocking from a statistical standpoint.
Perhaps wishing upon a star will hurry it along.
Paul Wellstone – dead in 2002 (plane crash, age 58 – THAT was a gift!)
Ted Kennedy – dead in 2009. I remember dozens of people texting me at 6am to tell me this. They all knew how much I hated this scumbag. I stood outside the bar that morning and waited for it to open to celebrate.
John McCain – dead in 2018 (I had a loooong nine-year wait after Ted). I heard about that brain tumor while driving on I-35 and literally WHOOPED in joy. Huge piece of shit.
Sheila Jackson Lee – Dead at 74 after badmouthing Trump. July 19, 2024.
Nancy Pelosi – 85 years old. Odds of dying in the next year: 16-13-1 (fractured hip)
Mitch McConnell – 83 years old. Odds of dying in the next year:5-1 (constant glitching)
Maxine Waters – 86 years old. Odds of dying in the next year: 10-1
Rosa DeLauro – 82 years old. Odds of dying in the next year: 20-1
Bernie Sanders – 83 years old. Odds of dying next year 10-1
John Kerry – 81 years old. Odds of dying in next year: 14-1
Dick “Dirtbag” Durbin – 80 years old. Odds of dying: 15-1
Ed Markey – 78 years old. Odds of dying in the next year: 19-1
Chuck Schumer – 74 years old. Odds of dying in the next year: 30-1
Hillary Clinton – 77 years old. Odds of dying in the next year: 35-1
Sherrod Brown – 72 years old. Odds of dying in the next year: 40-1
Alexandria Ocrazio-Cortex – 35 years old. Yeah, a 900-1 longshot but one can always dream of her getting Wellstoned.
Misti also got her digs in on the “keyboard warriors” out there (me) who criticize City council’s never-ending poor financial decisions.
Poor baby.
If you are going to enjoy the type of low-level celebrity you do by being mayor, you better damn well be ready for being called out for any terrible decisions you make with tax dollars.
Turns out Talbert made a LOT of them over four years. Millions of dollars. That is no exaggeration. Since it clearly rankles Talbert that these colossal bungles are made public here, I’m going to give her a little going-away gift and summarize ALL the horrible spending decisions of the Talbert administration just as soon as I can. Of course, it may take a while since I can think of a dozen right off the top of my head!
Misti, of course, spends her time with her little insulated group of fellow politicians and City workers. In doing so, she rarely hears the many, many citizens who privately rage about their taxes being wasted continually. In short, she is in an echo chamber comprised of the likes of Monroe, Williamson, Toups, deGraffenreid, Walsh and other “yes men”.
[In fact, several City council members traveled to the Texas Municipal League conventions repeatedly with the very same employees they were supposed to be overseeing and whose continued employment was in their hands. Not a good look and quite unprofessional.]
This detaches her from reality and allows her to live under the delusion that her selfless and brilliant decisions are being unfairly attacked by meanies.
Here is to hoping that Zac and Herb govern with a strong sense of COST BENEFIT analysis. Let’s hope they remember each tax dollar they spend was taken from a productive citizen in the private sector and that they run the City on sound economics instead of impulsive desires, delusions and crazy pipe dreams.
Let’s hope they view Finley as a WELL-PAID employee of the City instead of a “best fried” they don’t want to upset, like some other council members we know. City council is supposed to represent and advocate for the CITIZENS – not for the employees of the City.
Finley has been taking a lap lately that he’s managing to get the pools open this year – despite having trouble recruiting lifeguards due to the shitty $7.25/hr he offers (as a reminder, Finley makes $140,000 per year PLUS huge benefits).
That’s all well and good and no doubt TJ will pat him on the back for a job well done.
What they don’t mention is that the pool is open only FIVE days a week now, as opposed to SIX days previously. So the pool will be open 16.6% LESS days than it was before.
Oddly, the COST to operate the pool still moves higher. For the 2017/2018 fiscal year, the pool (Hanna Springs) was budgeted $134,827 for the season. THIS season, they were budgeted $151,517 – an increase of 12.4% in three years.
On a per-open-day basis, that means the cost of the pool has rocketed something like 34% in three years. All the while, lifeguard pay has remained at a shitty $7.25 per hour. Kinda makes you wonder where all the money goes!
Costs go UP and service goes DOWN. Finley would have made an outstanding Postmaster General.
I laughed at that the very same day and said “I’ll take the over on that”
Well, the estimates are coming in. Just like the ridiculous Bike Trail project, this one is FAR more expensive than they told us:
Apparently, it’ll cost $150,000 JUST to fix the “structural deficiencies” for “public event loads”. Which is odd, because I’ve gone to more than a few “public events” there that were loaded with people. Like the Casino Night back in 2013 or so.
The kitchen will cost between $23,000 and $88,000. Care to guess which one they will go with? I’m guessing Cathy Kuehne will insist on the best “even if it costs a little more” – seeing as how it’s not HER money. It’s YOURS.
The CHEAP version is a cool half a million. I’m sure they’ll get that all back by renting it out. It’ll only take about 97 years or so!
Then again, this is City council with T(otal) J(oke) Monroe at the helm now. NEVER underestimate their ability to go “full retard” and spring for the $771,000 package – which will end up being over a million by the time you multiply it by the “Finley Factor”.
