Author: admin

Contacts at State Level Tell Me Lampasas WAS Hit By Malicious Computer Attacks

The birdies are chirping too loudly for me to ignore now. I am told by well-placed sources at the state level that Lampasas WAS on the list of cities hit by the malicious cyber attacks last Friday.

If true, this is a HUGE black eye for City Manager Finley DeGraffenried and our TWO IT ‘experts’ Monica Wright and Kristy Acevedo. For a department which sucks up $300,000 $374,000 per year of the city budget, it is highly embarrassing and unacceptable. I love hate to say “I told you so”, but I did tell you so….about 50 times over the last 12 months: our IT Department is an overpaid, under-qualified joke – and now the city is AGAIN paying the price.

There are plenty of clues that I am correct. The most glaring is that even though the attacks happened last Friday the 16th, Finley stated in yesterday’s Radiogram (four days later) that the problem “is being corrected”.

Not “corrected”….but BEING corrected…as in, still NOT corrected.

When a computer problem is not solved four days later, it tells me that either (1) somebody is holding them hostage and they are locked out of their own systems or (2) it is so bad that even the expensive outside REAL computer experts are having trouble figuring it out – which means a LOT of billable hours at about $150 per hour, I’m guessing.

Lampasas City Offices Go Offline On Exact Same Day as Texas Ransomware Attacks…Hmmmmmm

As previously reported, around 20 to 23 cities were hit last Friday August 16th by malware/ransomware attacks. On the EXACT SAME DAY, City of Lampasas offices were reported to go offline.

According to the Radiogram, City Manager Finley DeGraffenried assures us that “a series of unrelated incidences [sic] caused the Lampasas County Sheriff’s Department, the Lampasas City Police Department AND the Lampasas City Utilities Department to go offline last Friday. He stated that technicians were called in, and that the problem is being corrected.”

Well, that is one hell of a coincidence.

I have directly emailed City Manager DeGraffenried AND his assistant Gary Cox to either confirm or deny that this was related to the statewide attacks last Friday. They have not responded.

I DO have a few questions and observations, however:

  • The “problem” (singular) is being corrected? You just said it was a series of unrelated incidences [sic] (plural). Which is it?
  • What was the “problem”, exactly? Did somebody spill coffee on multiple keyboards in multiple departments at the exact same time?
  • Why did “technicians” need to be called in? We have TWO highly paid Information Systems “experts” in a $300,000-per-year IT Department who supposedly handle this kind of thing, no? Who were these technicians? TSM Consulting? Camp Mabry? How much did THAT cost to fix? Is it fixed? Sounds like it isn’t….birdies are chirping right now on Tuesday evening telling me the systems are STILL down.

I look forward to answers to all of these questions, but unfortunately I expect the City to be evasive about the true nature and scope of the problem – seeing as how I have been harping on their IT Department for over a year now. They would love nothing less than to see me proved right.

Was Lampasas’ Inept IT Department Hit by Computer Malware Attack?

Hmmmmmm…..last week I saw an article claiming many cities in Texas were hit by malware attacks. I immediately thought to myself “Lampasas better hope they weren’t one of them, because our IT “experts” are anything but”. Of course, Texas is a huge state with thousands of cities…I figured the odds were highly against it and forgot about the whole thing.

THEN, yesterday and today, I read Facebook posts about computers being down for people trying to pay their utilities here in town since last Friday (see: Lampasas County Breaking News).

Could these two things be related?? Did Lampasas fall victim to a computer malware attack?? This is all total speculation on my part, but it would be quite fitting if the TWO unqualified IT “experts” on the bloated payroll (who I have been railing against for over a year now) left the front door wide open for a cyber attack. Quite fitting indeed.

If so, I would love to be a fly on the wall as Monica Can’t-Wright and her sidekick, Kristy “The Joker” Acevedo run around like headless chickens frantically dialing TSM Consulting to ride to the rescue and fix it all for an exorbitant sum.

Are Local Governments Front-Running New Tax Cap Law To Grab As Much Money As They Can NOW?

Yet another article in the Dispatch about taxes going up – this time at the COUNTY level.

While reading the article, I spotted something quite interesting. Supposedly the reason for the tax increase is for staffing at the new $18 million dollar Taj Mahal jail complex….which has been the subject of some heated discussions. It’s almost as if nobody thought ahead and realized that the $18 million is just the beginning – this also will increase OPERATING costs annually (the same fact that escapes all the boobs yammering for a civic center).

But that’s not the interesting part. Besides the jail money, county officials “are also looking ahead to a year from now, when a new state law about property taxes will take effect.”

For those of you who don’t know it, Texas recently passed Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 3. This bill will “require many cities, counties and other taxing units to hold an election if they wish to raise 3.5% more property tax revenue than the previous year. Since the 1980s, taxing units have been constrained to 8% annual property tax growth.”

That previous 8% level is known as the “rollback rate” – the maximum percentage a city or county can raise the rate without an election. Going forward, these poor babies will have to make do with only a 3.5% increase every year instead of the old 8%. How will they ever make ends meet???

Anyways, those words “rollback rate” made me recall an interesting snippet from the other recent Dispatch article about Mayor Talbert raising the CITY tax rates this week – they were raised to .42 from .395218 which, according to the Dispatch article, is “just below the rollback cap that applies to Lampasas for the upcoming fiscal year.”

What an amazing coincidence! On August 16th, the Dispatch has an article about the CITY raising taxes right up to the rollback limit…and now on August 20th, the COUNTY is front page news saying “officials are looking ahead to a year from now when a new state law about property taxes will go into effect.”

It’s ALMOST is if, I don’t know, these politicians and government-types are grabbing the absolute maximum amount of cash from the taxpayers before an excellent law takes effect next year limiting their future theft.

Democrats Change Mind on Border Wall After Realizing It Will Keep People From Leaving When We Switch to Socialism

U.S.—The nation’s Democratic leaders announced Tuesday they are reversing course on Trump’s proposed border wall, since “it will keep people in once we switch to socialism.”

“We thought the border wall was a bad, racist idea,” said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “But then this light bulb turned on over my head. It was actually just a light bulb though, not an actual idea, which was disappointing. But that got me thinking about trying to have an idea. And I got an idea: when we switch to socialism, everyone’s gonna try to run away. But what if there’s a big, solid object along the border? Then they can’t run away. I mean, they could try to climb, but we could shoot them.”

Senator Bernie Sanders said in his experience, walls are “absolutely necessary” to keep a socialist country’s citizens from fleeing. “The Soviets had it right: big wall in Berlin, the symbolic Iron Curtain, shooting people who try to flee. It’s all necessary to a healthy socialist state.” Besides, Sanders added, politicians like him would be exempt from the “no running away” rule and he could fly out any time he wanted on a government plane.

Dems suggested maybe the border wall could use some upgrades such as landmines on the U.S. side, outposts with guards armed with AK-47s, and attack dogs. It will also need to be extended to surround the entire country and “maybe also a big dome around the top.”

Talbert Spouts a Lot of Hilarious B.S. to Justify Tax Increases

Well, Misti “Drunken Sailor” Talbert certainly has a sense of humor. This was evident with the ridiculous excuse she gave for increasing the tax rate 6.5% recently.

According to the Lampasas Dispatch, Talbert said “residents now receive a greater level of services than they did years ago, the last time the tax rate increased.”

I’ve been around here since 2011 – the last time the RATES were supposedly increased – and if there is a greater level of service since then, you sure sneaked it past me.

Unless by “services” you mean the service of taking huge piles of $100 bills from taxpayers/citizens and setting them on fire in a spectacular orgy of waste and incompetence.

You know – like the $1.5 million you blew remodeling Old City Hall, which was your signature vanity project. The waste included canceling a $34,000 A/V system that was properly bid on by Broadcast Works and instead blowing nearly $100,000 on a NO-BID A/V contract with Azbell Electronics.

That kind of service?

Or maybe the service she is referring to is taking the lowest bid of $96,000 for the Old City Hall elevator and throwing it in the trash bin and instead paying $126,000 for said elevator (which is currently 6 months past its installation date).

Maybe the “service” is blowing over $1,000,000.00 on a “Business Park” which remains an empty 165-acre weed patch used for nothing but dumping bodies?

A mayor who wastes six-figure and seven-figure sums over and over is not a mayor who is worried about money, obviously. Yet here we are a year later, and she is fine with jacking up property taxes over TWELVE PERCENT**….ready to blame the huge increase on “increased city services” instead of the piles of money wasted over the last few years on her pet projects.

** How do I get a 12% increase? Well, the average taxable value of a Lampasas residence increased over 6% last year – from $92,110 to $97,904…(must be all those newly-minted Corvive pyramid scheme millionaires in town bidding up mansions!!)

In fact, property VALUATIONS have been climbing ever since that same year of 2011 – a fact Talbert ignores when she tries to put lipstick on this pig by claiming RATES haven’t been raised since 2011. Tack on another 6.3% RATE increase on that increase valuation, and voila: over 12%.

While Talbert may be hilarious with her ridiculous explanations, in the end the joke is on the taxpayer who pays for her mistakes. As usual.

Misti “Drunken Sailor” Talbert Spits in Taxpayers’ Eye

Mayor Misti “Drunken Sailor” Talbert is just doing what drunken sailors do best: soaking the taxpayer to pay for all of her idiotic spending decisions over the last 8 years. According to the Lampasas Dispatch, City Council unanimously approved raising the tax RATE from .395218 to a nice round number of .42 – which is an increase in the tax RATE of 6.3%.

That is just the RATE, mind you. Your appraised values are all going to be much higher this year as well. But the pigs in City Hall aren’t happy with that slop. They want more, as always….and Mayor Talbert is happy to oblige. Whether it is creating new positions with huge salaries (Assistant City Manager), wildly over-budget unnecessary vanity projects that STILL aren’t completed (Old City Hall) or just plain old salary increases for completely unnecessary positions (network administrator), Misti “Drunken Sailor” Talbert has NEVER met a spending increase she didn’t like and she has been an enthusiastic supporter of ALL of those expensive decisions.

But Misti is not alone in her drunken spending. Unfortunately, we also have two public school teachers on City Council. Public school teachers, being government employees themselves, are used to asking for more and more funds every year (they were recently awarded $1.5 million in raises, mind you), never having to operate in a “for profit” environment or run their own business. So to see them vote for much higher taxes and wasteful spending isn’t a huge shock to me.

But that’s not all! According to Finley’s twisted math that only a government worker could understand, some of our government workers are actually UNDERPAID by up to 18.7%!!! Yes, it’s true! Never mind the piles of evidence I present here to the contrary. They are going to increase taxes and spending and salaries anyways – because they know that YOU, the taxpayer, are just a cow to be milked over and over without complaint.

Of course, Misti is doing what all cowards in public office do: blaming the huge increases on a need for more “public safety” areas like police protection and the fire department. Who can argue with that?? It’s all a giant pile of horse shit, of course….and we will get to that in the coming posts.

Perhaps it is time for a recall election to replace Misti “Drunken Sailor” Talbert? The city of Lampasas has tolerated outrageous waste and incompetence for YEARS now. When will the taxpayer finally say “ENOUGH!!”?

County Commissioners Vote Down TALA Resorts PID

Congratulations to the Lampasas County Commissioners and Judge Hoyer for unanimously voting down the creation of a PID for TALA Resorts. Excellent move by the county.

Commissioner Carroll stated that “we are not in the business of treating water or in the real estate business so there is no need for the county to be involved”. Commissioner Briggs heartily agreed.

The Original Lampasshole also heartily agrees. TALA looks to me like a very shady bunch of wolves. I did a bunch of research on the parties involved in TALA, and they look highly suspect, to say the least.

No way this project goes forward without TALA getting the handout it was looking for. The whole idea of 250 to 300 houses worth $3 million each that rich people will just hop on out to for the weekend in the middle of Hill Country is completely ridiculous. The capper was their pie-in-the-sky bullshit about having a $100,000 telescope and an astronomer on staff. Naturally these clowns dangled the ever-present carrot of “more property taxes for the schools” in front of county officials and taxpayers.

Excellent job by all those involved to tell TALA to take a hike. I suspect the “resort” will not be built and these vultures will cruise to the next town and try their schtick again.

Thank you Commissioner Carroll and Briggs and all the rest. Job well done!

Side-By-Side IT Comparison: How Overpaid Are Monica and Kristy?

I hate to flagellate a deceased equine, but literally every single city or county I look at makes it more and more obvious that our IT Department is FAR larger and more expensive than it has any right to be. Just for kicks, I recently compared the entire COUNTY of Burnet to our little town of Lampasas. Here is what I found:

LAMPASAS

Population 7,800

Area 6.2 square miles

IT staff – 2

IT salary $125,881

IT benefits $55,081

Consulting expense $21,600

TOTAL $202,562

BURNET COUNTY

Population 50,000

Area 1021 square miles

IT staff – 2

IT salary $113,336

IT benefits $43,788

Consulting expense $0

TOTAL $157,124

As you can see, Lampasas spends 29% MORE on salary, benefits and paying for outside consultants.

I have included “consulting” in this comparison because it represents the money we hand to TSM Consulting ($1,800 per month, every month) to be on call to do Kristy’s job for her. That is just the MINIMUM. They actually pay them more when there is actual work to do….but I am being conservative in my comparison.

You may notice the benefits are wildly higher here in Lampasas – something I have railed against for a year now. Here is the breakdown on benefits:

Kristy and Monica: $19,288 for retirement and $25,905 for insurance

Burnet county: $12,520 for retirement and $21,528 for insurance

The annual retirement contribution is FIFTY-FOUR PERCENT HIGHER here in our little town than it is 15 miles down the street. Insurance is TWENTY PERCENT HIGHER.

Yet more proof that our IT Department is over-staffed, over-paid and under worked. I say “under worked” because Monica takes off over TWO MONTHS every year, when you add it all up (as I did).

But that STILL isn’t enough loafing around for our IT Princesses! Oh, no! They want MORE time off, as you can see below:

Ideas For The New Budget – Part II

I have previously cited plenty of examples of waste in the city budget and why I think it happens. What to do about it? Here are a few ideas:

  • Eliminate the Lampasas Economic Development Corp. Mandy Walsh may be the nicest lady on the planet (I do not know her) but she is costing the city over $100,000 per year to go to conventions and attend a monthly LEDC meeting. The LEDC has wasted over a million dollars on the “business park” which is a complete disaster and not a legitimate function of any small government. After eliminating the LEDC, private citizens will still open up Burger Kings, MOJO Coffee shops, antique stores and new hotels and some old businesses will still fail. That is the nature of free-market capitalism. We don’t need a group of 5 or 6 “planners” wasting six figures to do that. The world of Lampasas will keep on spinning after LEDC is gone and the city will save a TON of money.
  • Start looking SERIOUSLY at alternatives to the current health care plan or provider. Lampasas seems to spend around $12,000 to $14,000 PER EMPLOYEE while other cities our size seem to spend more like $7,000 to $8,000 per employee. That is insane. Gary Cox needs to get on the horn to Harker Heights, Crockett, Princeton, Kaufman and other cities and ask their managers how they do it. I saw one city that used a Texas Municipal League program for their health care. Why don’t we? Hell, Kristy and Monica ALONE cost the city $25,905 for insurance (line item 505-5115). A 30% reduction in these costs would bring us in line with other cities our size and save OVER a quarter of a million dollars PER YEAR.
  • PLEASE FORGET about the civic center idea. We don’t need another “Old City Hall” debacle on our hands wasting hundreds of thousands per year in operating costs and interest payments. A cursory Google search shows many cities lose a ton of money on this type of project. The fact that Bruce “Always Wrong” Haywood wants one should be reason enough to bury it forever.

Implementing just these few ideas could easily save the city up to HALF A MILLION PER YEAR. That sounds like a lot, and it is. However, it only represents LESS THAN 2% of our $27,000,000 budget. I know most American families (including me) have had to cut spending at LEAST a few percent when times are tight. Don’t tell me the Lampasas City government can’t do the same and get by with 98.15% of what they spent last year.

I implore City Council to at least consider these proposals. They are all well-researched and well-documented.