Uh oh. Whoopsie! Finley appears to be overpaid by about 35% as well! Just like his side-kick Dwight Schrute.
What are the odds? Quite good, as it turns out. You see, when Finley hired Schrute on for $110,000 (which was $25,000 OVER normal) what he essentially did was make sure HIS salary would be too high as well – because we can’t have the MANAGER making only a teeny bit more than the ASSISTANT, now can we?
Such a sneaky little shit. Such are the tactics of the life-long bureaucrat.
Jasper, TX: $150,970 (population 7,500) – NOTE: this is for a COMBINED position of City Manager AND Finance Director. We pay OUR finance director ALONE over $96,000. Ergo, Jasper pays $150,970 for both positions and we pay over $258,000 for the same two jobs– 72% MORE.
Of course, we cannot forget to add in the generous health insurance, retirement and other benefits. Bringing Finley’s cost to the taxpayer up to over $225,000 per year. Every year.
Also, keep in mind that MANY of the towns listed above do NOT have an assistant manager position! In other words, these managers don’t have a lackey like Ryan Ward to dump their shit work onto. They run the City BY THEMSELVES.
The dynamic duo of Finley and Schrute total cost to taxpayers to run Lampasas, a town of 7,500? Over $400,000 per year.
One of the “brilliant” arguments for the ever-increasing salaries of City Hall Big Wigs is that “we need to keep jacking up their salaries or they’ll leave for greener pastures – why just look what Marble Falls pays!”
Once again, City council gives Finley exactly what he asks for. Apparently no wheeling or dealing or discussion. Just ANOTHER raise – one that is in excess of inflation.
We are on the cusp of a very ugly recession. People are going to be getting laid off left and right, and these government worms like Ryan Ward (who ALREADY have 100% job security) are getting MORE RAISES?!?
Disgusting.
I can’t see how this is anything other than a massive failure of City council. There are MANY positions in our City government being paid FAR higher than average. Ward HIMSELF admitted our police chief is overpaid by 8%. But he will instead get ANOTHER 4% on top.
This morning the Assistant City Manager of Lampasas Ryan Ward visited Lampasas Radio studios to visit with Ronnie Witcher about goings on in the city. They spoke briefly about the Public Hearing tonight (see story). Mr. Ward stated that the city is trying to keep the tax rate down but the property appraisals have increased so residents will see an effective tax increase.
The Assistant City Manager shared thatemployees of the City of Lampasas are in line to get a 4%pay increase this year, there will be salary adjustments and the city is looking at hiring a few more full time employees.
#1 – “The property appraisals have increased, so all you taxpaying suckers will unfortunately see an increase – nothing we can do about it!” This is a complete pile of shit and a lie, of course. The City can set the tax rate lower – down to a “no new revenue” level to keep everyone’s taxes similar to last year. But they aren’t. They need to squeeze MORE from the average citizen so that Finley’s salary can go from $156,000 to $162,240 –and Ryan Ward’s salary can go from $121,000 to $125,840.
Reminder: Ward has not even been with the City for two years, and his salary will have risen 14.4% (from $110,000 to $125,840)
I’ll repeat that again: Ryan Ward, who was hired at $110,000 in January of 2022 (despite the average salary for his position nationwide being $85,000) has gotten SEVERAL RAISES AND COLAS pushing his salary up OVER FOURTEEN PERCENT in 21 months.
#2 – “There will be salary adjustments” – so the 4% universal raise isn’t enough. Other people will see MORE than that. Because “adjustments” are never in the downward direction.
Finally – someone with the balls to admit what’s going on: you have thousands of otherwise-unemployable “scientists” floating around who need to make their mark and get funds. What better way than to tell the government what they want to hear.
Incredible story:
I Left Out the Full Truth to Get My Climate Change Paper Published
I just got published in Nature because I stuck to a narrative I knew the editors would like. That’s not the way science should work.
Multiply this by about 1,000 other scumbags all doing the same thing, and you end up with horrible policy like closing down nuke plants and replacing them with fucking PINWHEELS!!
One of my favorite excerpts:
It starts with the fact that a researcher’s career depends on his or her work being cited widely and perceived as important. This triggers the self-reinforcing feedback loops of name recognition, funding, quality applications from aspiring PhD students and postdocs, and of course, accolades.
But as the number of researchers has skyrocketed in recent years—there are close to six times more PhDs earned in the U.S. each year than there were in the early 1960s—it has become more difficult than ever to stand out from the crowd. So while there has always been a tremendous premium placed on publishing in journals like Nature and Science, it’s also become extraordinarily more competitive.
Ørsted, world offshore wind leader, needs a giant jump in guaranteed prices or it’s going to abandon its immense offshore wind farms off the US Eastern seaboard.
In order to produce their (wildly fluctuating) power,they’ll need promises of $150-200 per MWh.
Yet Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York just closed excellent nuclear plants making just as much energy,but costing $35-55 per MWh!
And not that shifty crazy fluctuating power like offshore wind makes – but proper, steady, dependable power. The type that cities and factories can actually rely on.
These nuclear plants would’ve lasted FAR beyond the lifetime of these wind turbines being proposed to “replace” them.
Indian Point nuke plant – closed down by morons
These losers get massive subsidies on the front end and cripple taxpayers, then get subsidies on the back end in perpetuity crippling the same taxpayers as customers. It’s a goddamned racket.
Once again, wind and solar are nothing but expensive toys.
Texas (Gov Abbott) needs to make plans NOW for another 7 to 10 nuclear plants to be built to supply cheap, plentiful, RELIABLE baseload electricity.
Any clown who claims to be “for” the environment yet refuses to consider nuclear is an ignorant fool.
“We have not taken money from the City, nor have we asked for anything other than what was promised to the community garden.”
That was a good one. Yeah, you haven’t asked for anything…except $10,000 worth of rain catch tanks, plumbing and water supplied by the City, over $5,000 worth of sidewalk “modifications” for your hare-brained ADA scheme…but besides all THAT, she hasn’t asked for a dime!
Since people are ready to kill each other over water these days and we are told to conserve as much as we can, I wondered how much water this loon was using over at her hobby garden (which is locked to the public).
The numbers are quite alarming…and make me wonder if some idiots are leaving hoses on over there. After all – why conserve when the taxpayers are picking up the tab for 66% of your water usage?
January of 2023 is one of the most puzzling to me: 8,400 gallons used? That’s 270 gallons a DAY, EVERY DAY. In January. Maybe you had some spinach in the ground or something, but almost 300 gallons a day is insane. To put that in perspective, that is MORE than they used in May (8000), June (8000), July (6600) and August (7300).
Also puzzling is April, May and June – 23,000 gallons used. For the same period in 2021, they only used 10,400 gallons. We actually got a decent/normal amount of rain in April, May and June this year. Almost identical to 2021, in fact (yes I keep meticulous records on rainfall here outside of town).
So how did you manage to blow through 8,000 gallons in May when it rained SEVEN different days (for over SEVEN inches!), according to my records??
She is also a failed “life coach” and she thinks autistic children are clairvoyant.
So yes – she certainly CAN be that stupid. Hands down.
By my calculations, the taxpayer has gifted her at least 125,000 gallons over the last 2.5 years. But hey, she says they are totally self-sufficient. Only in the mind of a rabid liberal does that compute.
Truly, Lampasas must be a village of surpassing wealth and refinement to boast an idiot of such caliber. The halls of its opulent Council chambers must ring with laughter all the day long!
The Lampasas Democrats Communists are offering FREE food to anyone! It appears the socialists are practicing what they preach. The chairman of the Lampasas Democrats is a communist who is constantly demanding “free” school, “free” health care, and “free” housing, among other things. I guess he is drinking his own bathwater and offering FREE food to anybody who wants it!
We invite you & your family to join the Lampasas Democrats for our annual Labor Day Celebration.
Join us to enjoy friendship, Nothing Butts BBQ, ice cream, & great speakers!
Entry is free. We do ask for a $15 suggested donation for food, however, if you are on a fixed or limited income, this donation can be waived. If you have a recurring monthly donation to LCDP, you’ll eat free.
So, my suggestion to all patriotic, America-loving citizens of Lampasas is to show up at noon and inform them you are on a limited income. After all, it is a SUGGESTED donation. Take their suggestion under consideration and then ignore it entirely.
Eat as much as you can. Stuff yourself with BBQ and ice cream and don’t bother talking to any communists. Don’t even thank them. Just demand more free food when you are done with the first round. If they whine, tell them that food is a human right and you will not be denied that right.
Then complain about the ice cream flavor being shit.
Then you leave. Do not bother listening to any communist drivel or speakers. Just devour the resources and walk away. That’s what they are doing to America. Time for some payback.
September! Football…cooler air…fall approaching. My favorite time of year.
One thing DIDN’T change with the calendar, though. It is also unlikely to change with the new year either. That would be the shitty Industrial Park “deal” – the one that was supposed to be a “boat and RV storage” business but actually just holds junk…and has for the last eight months.
Remember: the taxpayers paid almost $40,000 to have concrete removed as part of the deal – a gift to Martin’s Rod. The taxpayers ALSO paid $7,000 for the hack City attorney Jo Christy Brown to draw up an “official” agreement on paper for this “deal” – an agreement that has been violated in about 5 different ways with no consequences.
We will not see food truck, barber shops, or microbreweries on this property for a LOOONG time…probably never.
Yes, 2023 will go down as yet ANOTHER year of failure when it comes to Business Parks and Industrial Parks. Another pile of money wasted.
Are people getting fed up with the Climate Cult idiots yet?? Perhaps.
International scientists have jointly signed a declaration dismissing the existence of a climate crisis and insisting that carbon dioxide is beneficial to Earth, contrary to the popular alarmist narrative.
“There is no climate emergency,” the Global Climate Intelligence Group (CLINTEL) said in its World Climate Declaration (pdf), made public in August. “Climate science should be less political, while climate policies should be more scientific. Scientists should openly address uncertainties and exaggerations in their predictions of global warming, while politicians should dispassionately count the real costs as well as the imagined benefits of their policy measures.”
A total of 1,609 scientists and professionals from around the world have signed the declaration, including 321 from the United States.
The coalition pointed out that Earth’s climate has varied as long as it has existed, with the planet experiencing several cold and warm phases. The Little Ice Age only ended as recently as 1850, they said.
“Therefore, it is no surprise that we now are experiencing a period of warming,” the declaration said.
Warming is happening “far slower” than predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“Climate models have many shortcomings and are not remotely plausible as policy tools,” the coalition said, adding that these models “exaggerate the effect of greenhouse gases” and “ignore the fact that enriching the atmosphere with CO2 is beneficial.” For instance, even though climate alarmists characterize CO2 as environmentally-damaging, the coalition pointed out that the gas is “not a pollutant.”
Carbon dioxide is “essential” to all life on earth and is “favorable” for nature. Extra CO2 results in the growth of global plant biomass while also boosting the yields of crops worldwide.
CLINTEL also dismissed the narrative of global warming being linked to increased natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, and droughts, stressing that there is “no statistical evidence” to support these claims.
“There is no climate emergency. Therefore, there is no cause for panic and alarm. We strongly oppose the harmful and unrealistic net-zero CO2 policy proposed for 2050. Go for adaptation instead of mitigation; adaptation works whatever the causes are,” it said.
“To believe the outcome of a climate model is to believe what the model makers have put in. This is precisely the problem of today’s climate discussion to which climate models are central. Climate science has degenerated into a discussion based on beliefs, not on sound self-critical science. Should not we free ourselves from the naive belief in immature climate models?”
Climate Models and Sunlight Reflection
Among the CLINTEL signatories are two Nobel laureates—physicists John Francis Clauser from the United States and Ivan Giaever, a Norwegian-American.
Mr. Clauser has made a significant addition to climate models to dismiss the narrative of global warming: the visible light reflected by cumulus clouds which, on average, cover half of the earth.
Young demonstrators hold placards as they attend a climate change protest opposite the Houses of Parliament in central London on Feb. 15, 2019. (Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
Current climate models vastly underestimate this aspect of cumulus cloud reflection, which plays a key role in regulating the earth’s temperature. Mr. Clauser previously told President Joe Biden that he disagreed with his climate policies.
In May, Mr. Clauser was elected to the board of directors at the CO2 Coalition, a group focusing on the beneficial contributions of carbon dioxide in the environment.
“The popular narrative about climate change reflects a dangerous corruption of science that threatens the world’s economy and the well-being of billions of people,” Mr. Clauser said in a May 5 statement.
“Misguided climate science has metastasized into massive shock-journalistic pseudoscience. In turn, the pseudoscience has become a scapegoat for a wide variety of other unrelated ills.”
“It has been promoted and extended by similarly misguided business marketing agents, politicians, journalists, government agencies, and environmentalists. In my opinion, there is no real climate crisis.”
False Doomsday Predictions, a Presidential Issue
CLINTEL’s declaration against the climate change narrative counters propaganda spread by climate alarmists who have long predicted doomsday scenarios triggered by global warming—none of which have ever come true.
In 1970, some climate scientists predicted that the earth would move into a new ice age by the 21st century. Pollution expert James Lodge predicted that “air pollution may obliterate the sun and cause a new ice age in the first third of the new century,” according to The Boston Globe.
Participants hold placards as they take part in a demonstration demanding the government take immediate action against climate change in Sydney, Australia, on Jan. 10, 2020. (Mohammed Farooq/AFP via Getty Images)
In May 1982, Mostafa Tolba, then-executive director of the United Nations environmental program, said that if the world did not change course, it would face an “environmental catastrophe which will witness devastation as complete, as irreversible, as any nuclear holocaust” by 2000.
In June 2008, James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Sciences, said that within five to 10 years, the Arctic would have no ice left in the summer.
As climate alarmists continue to spread propaganda about global warming, the topic has become an issue in the 2024 presidential race, with multiple candidates openly dismissing it.
In a July 13 post on X, Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that climate change “is being used to control us through fear.”
“Freedom and free markets are a much better way to stop pollution. Polluters make themselves rich by making the public pay for the damage they do,” he said.
“The reality is, the anti-carbon agenda is the wet blanket on our economy. And so the reality is, more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change,” he said.
High Temperatures, Biden’s Appliance Crackdown
Climate activists have insisted that global warming is responsible for the soaring temperatures across the United States, even claiming that temperatures are hitting record highs.
In a recent interview with The Epoch Times, John Christy, a climatologist and professor of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, dismissed the narrative of record high temperatures.
“Regionally, the West has seen its largest number of hot summer records in the past 100 years, but the Ohio Valley and Upper Midwest are experiencing their fewest,” he said.
“For the conterminous U.S. as a whole, the last 10 years have produced only an average number of records. The 1930s are still champs.”
Climate change policies have been used to justify sweeping lifestyle changes across the United States by the Energy Department, like restricting home appliances, and sometimes, even outright banning them.
In June, the Energy Department proposed rules that would require ceiling fans to become more energy efficient, a development that could lead to manufacturers having to shell out $86.6 million per year in “increased equipment costs.”
In February, the DOE proposed energy efficiency rules targeting gas stoves that would affect half of all new models of such stoves sold in the United States while making most of the existing ones noncompliant.
In July, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission proposed a policy that would remove nearly all existing portable gas generators from the market.
The Biden administration has already implemented a ban on incandescent light bulbs, which came into effect on Aug. 1.
