The LEDC website has been revamped and updated at great expense recently. So it is sad to see so much misinformation on there. ‘Misinformation’ is my kind way of saying “blatant lies”. For instance:
Now, that may be true for some of the employees at City Hall like Finley and Dwight Schrute and Mandy Walsh, but for people who work in the real world….no way.
I know that’s bullshit just by looking at it, but I went and did the research anyways.
Looks more like $42,000 to me. So did they pay $120,000 to Halff Associates for a study that doesn’t even have the right demographic information? Anything is possible with this group.
Well, a little bit closer but still not there! I think the citizens AND prospective businesses would be far better served if the LEDC stopped telling fibs for a year or two and were more honest about their situation.
I’d make a small wager that Finley promised him a quick raise after 6 months or so. Even money says we see Mr Ward get a bump in salary before the year is out. Any takers??
“And my middle name is Kurt! NOT Fart!”
Well, it wasn’t really a “raise”, per se, according to Assistant TO THE City Manager Ryan Dwight Ward. I had an email discussion about this when I asked him if he had gotten the 3% raise as well – even though he is ALREADY paid far more ($110,000 before COLA raise) than the average ACM ($86,000 according to Salary.com) AND he has only been on the job here for 6 months.
He refused to answer the question, but said a COLA (cost of living adjustment) is not a raise.
Yeah. OK. Semantics, semantics. Bottom line is your already-bloated paycheck is now 3% higher than it was when you started here 180 days ago. Call it whatever you want. The taxpayer pays more no matter what you call it.
In fact ALL of the “overpaid” positions identified in Dwight’s salary study ALSO got the 3% COLA raise last month. Including library director (11.2% higher), parks director (7.3% higher) and police chief (7.9% higher). You’d think that positions already identified as “overpaid” by Dwight would not need an ADDITIONAL 3% raise. But that’s not how it works, see. Only UNDERPAID positions are increased. Nobody is ever decreased due to a “salary” study. Ever.
Which sure feels like cheating to me. But what do I know?
So to recap:
Dwight starts here in January of 2022 as assistant to the City manager and his starting salary was $110,000 – which is about $25,000 HIGHER than a typical ACM salary, according to salary.com
Dwight does a “salary study” in May and uses cities near here that are a lot richer than we are and overpay their City employees even worse – like Marble Falls and Fredericksburg. His own ‘study’ identifies several positions that are “overpaid” by between 7% and 11%. He does this to prep us all for salary boosts in the coming fiscal year 2022/2023.
City council, Finley and Dwight all ignore this fact and give EVERYONE (except Finley, who got a 15% raise in 2020 during pandemic) a 3% raise COLA. INCLUDING those positions already identified as “overpaid” relative to nearby cities.
But this 3% is not a “raise” – it is a Cost of Living Adjustment, Dwight tells me. So it doesn’t really count.
Every 1% raise to City payroll translates into $70,000 out the door (according to Finley himself), whatever you call it. Old City payroll was approximately $7,000,000 for 110 employees ($63,636 per employee). It is now $7,210,000 ($65,545 per employee).
Benefits to City workers (never mentioned by Dwight OR Finley) are now closing in on $3 million per year, since 40% of $7.2 million is $2.8 million. That is an average of $25,400 in benefits per employee.
Total salary and benefits PER EMPLOYEE now around $90,000. This is BEFORE budget negotiations have even started for FY 2022/2023. There will be more to come. They are already talking about another raise COLA on Jan 1, 2023.
Since the pay increase is a percentage, the Big Wigs at the top who are ALREADY ‘overpaid’ (like Dwight or Mandy) see a MUCH bigger raise ($3,300 or $2,300) than the poor schlub working out in the heat fixing water lines and power lines (more like $1,200).
Oh, and Dwight has been on the job for a mere 6 months before the COLAraise was given to him. He knew exactly what he was getting paid when he took the job AND there were THIRTY other applicants for the ATTCM position – so it was CLEARLY already a generous offer. Yet he gets to sip the COLA like everyone else!! Must be sweet.
In addition to the 3% COLA raises, there were also “targeted market adjustments” (NOT raises either, according to Dwight!!) to other positions (adjusted upwards, of course) but none of them were spoken of, so it’s all very secretive. I have no idea who got even more than the 3% COLA raise – but some people definitely did. Hopefully the poor schlubs at the bottom who sweat for a living instead of the Nerf jobbers changing printer cartridges and doing salary studies.
All of this will not stop Finley from angling for even MORE pay increases during budget negotiations over the next two months. Because a COLA is NOT a raise, remember???
Nolanville Texas is a small town like ours. Their population is about 6,000 compared to Lampasas at about 7,200.
You’d never know this from salary comparisons between City employees, however.
Our new Assistant TO THE City Manager Ryan “Dwight Schrute” Ward took it upon himself to do a “salary comparison” a few months ago so he could justify increases for our City workers. He cleverly looked at places like Marble Falls and Fredericksburg (where there is a LOT more money sloshing around) to make his comparisons.
But he didn’t bother to look at places like Nolanville, that would have wrecked his “we are all underpaid” nonsense argument. Let’s take a look!
Lampasas police chief – $96,798 (includes 3% COLA raise given last month)
We pay 50% more! Chief Cummings has had a pretty good year – between his promotion and his recent COLA raise, he got a 12% pay increase since January 1st (from $86,500 up to $96,798). But don’t think that will stop Finley from suggesting he get more! Ryan Ward’s own “salary study” said our police chief position was “overpaid” (his words, not mine) by 7.9%!
Lampasas Economic Director –$78,000 (includes 3% COLA raise given last month)
AGAIN, we are 50% higher.
None of this even looks at the generous benefits Lampasas hands out like 2 for 1 matching for retirement. For every $7,000 Ryan “Dwight Schrute” Ward puts away for retirement, the City throws $14,000 in tax dollars into his account for him! That is why the combined number JUST FOR BENEFITS by themselves for Finley and Dwight Schrute are over $90,000!!
City council has a chance right now to rein in the spending as they prepare next year’s budget. Will they do the right thing?
I don’t know how I missed this one…from just 60 days ago [see page 85]:
“Workforce Solutions of Central Texas is partnering with the Lampasas Economic Development Corporation for the annual Lampasas Hiring Event.“
Hundreds of jobs need to be filled in Lampasas County. In May 2022, there were nearly 230 job postings in the county. Many of the jobs that are open pay well, according to Charlie Ayres Director of Industry and Education Partnerships at WSCT”
“These jobs hada median advertised salary of $20.00 an hour with 20% of the postings being above $30.00 an hourAyres said”
There is no shortage of jobs to be had. Quite the opposite. So I’m wondering exactly what Misti Talbert and Mandy Walsh and the rest of the LEDC think they are going to accomplish by blowing another $2.7 million (most recent Phase III) on their sandbox. Remember: this entire debacle was conceived and started TWENTY YEARS AGO. What may have been true then is not necessarily true now.
Businesses cannot even find enough workers NOW – how is any new business in the Business Pork (which will be heavily subsidized and also in direct competition with existing businesses in town) supposed to find workers in that environment?
I think Christmas is coming early this year. Watching yet another of the LEDC’s “business prospects” take a shit on their heads is just too perfect. God must really love me to shower me with so many gifts.
At first, the Trousdales feared they might have to leave Lampasas to find a large-enough building within their time constraints. But with the help of the city and the Lampasas Economic Development Corp., the couple found a developer who had land.
Well, I was quite skeptical two weeks ago of a 10,000 square foot facility being built “in a few weeks”. I was also surprised they “found land” since LEDC Misti Talbert has told us many times that her Business Pork is “the only game in town” right now and there is simply no other land to be had! She repeated that lie in February when she was begging for the $971,000 in city Covid money.
Best of all, they’d show that mean old Lampasshole he’s been wrong all these years!!
But that all blew up in their faces VERY publicly tonight on the LCBN Facebook page:
Ouch. That’s like when Jan Levinson gave David Wallace a big promotion on the TV show “The Office” and Wallace promptly told her he was quitting for a better job offer from Staples or Office Max or something. Complete and total kick in the nuts and huge douchebag move.
I was wondering who the “developer” was and where the “land” was. Trousdale let slip here that it was “by the fire station” so I can make a pretty good guess: the big warehouse that Mike Irvin just bought where Greenskeepers used to be, maybe? That is a HUGE building and more than enough for PhoLicious, so something else must have happened behind the scenes to scuttle this “deal”.
At the last City council meeting, Mandy and the LEDC went asking for a LOT more money (and got it, of course!).
Oh sure, there was a small question or two about massive increases in spending of 66% or 108% or 300% for certain categories – but that was just part of the rubber stamping process.
During her time at the podium trying to explain all the new spending, she made sure to tell us that sales tax receipts were really, really strong, so don’t worry about the money coming in. Except for that little 8% ‘dip’ in July just a couple weeks ago – which I commented on at the time (see front page).
But according to Mandy, that was nothing to worry about…because those numbers are for JUNE spending and she’s certain the very next month will see a jump because next month’s numbers”reflects July and Spring Ho and people coming in town, I think we’ll see another increase there…” [1:27:00 mark]
I’m not sure how to break this to Mandy, but those numbers are YoY (year-over-year) comparisons – NOT MoM (month-over-month) . So when we see the July 2022 sales tax numbers in a couple weeks, it will show a comparison to July 2021. You may be shocked to learn this, but we ALSO had Spring Ho in July 2021 – so you will be comparing a Spring Ho month to another Spring Ho month. There should be very little change, save for the effects of inflation.
I hate to tell her but whatever money is spent in bars and restaurants during Spring Ho is spit in the ocean compared to what is spent on, say, gasoline ($50 million annually) or car dealerships (about $7 million) or building materials and lumberyards (about $12 million).
Also, everyone but the Brandon Administration is well aware we are now in a recession. Spending tends to decrease in a recession. I would not be surprised to see the July sales tax numbers (released in a couple weeks) show yet another ‘dip’ from a year earlier.
The assumption that sales tax receipts will grow forever and ever is a risky assumption to make. I guess we’ll know in about 16 days!
That headline is starting to remind me of the teachers union and politicians favorite line: “It’s for the children”. It’s the bullshit they fall back on to waste mountains of money and if you ask any questions about the details, you are an asshole who hates children.
Well, I don’t hate children but I DO hate the Business Pork. So I will continue to point out uncomfortable truths about that disaster of a project.
One City council member actually pushed back a little on the LEDC’s request for tens of thousands more dollars to waste next year. Zac Morris actually asked our Economic “Director” about one of her line items [go to 1:28:00 mark]:
Zac: “With the travel and training, I see that that goes up, what, $4,000 this year in the request?”
[Note: last year it was $6,000 and they now want $10,000 – a 66% increase]
Mandy Walsh: “Correct. Yes…we increased it to $10,000…I’m assuming we’ll probably do more travel [unintelligible] to make sure with the Business Park and meeting people face to face as part of recruitment efforts.”
Randy “Speedbump” Clark: “Are you still getting calls?” [about possible tenants who want to move into the Business Pork]
Mandy: “I am…especially now that there’s movement out there” – Mandy then proceeds to list zero businesses she has “gotten calls” from about moving into the Business Pork. Mandy is well trained in The Lie That Keeps on Giving and she uses it once again here with Randy.
So, to summarize the current state of the LEDC budget and Business Pork Project:
(2) They ALSO want $4,000 more for “Travel and Training” so they can go out and “meet people face to face as part of recruitment efforts” for the Business Pork. This is despite the fact that the LEDC and Mandy have told us many, many, many times that they have “serious prospects” already. Clearly they don’t.
Bottom line: these people STILL have no idea what they are doing but are willing to waste millions more thrashing around like a blind squirrel hoping to find a nut.
Here is a list of just a FEW of the failed promises we’ve heard in the last 18 years from the LEDC about ‘prospects’:
A $20 million medical center (2004)
A “second tier supplier to the new Toyota plant in San Antonio” (2004)
LAMCO (2017)
AWI (2017)
The development of the Santa Fe Depot property – where the guy strung Mandy and the LEDC along for most of 2019. LOL.
A “recreational insurance and lending company out of Austin that would EACH bring 15-25 high-wage positions to Lampasas” (2018)
Craft brewing company (2018 and many other times)
“A prospect from Bastrop” (2018)
Mike Irvin’s 5,000 sq ft Steel Fabrication Shop in the “Business Park” (2018)
A “prospect out of Abilene” interested in relocating their business to Lampasas but they “can’t give out details yet” (2018).
The City seems to be very proud of themselves that they have a “solid” budget with a $250,000 ‘surplus’. Don’t forget, however, that the Feds literally dropped almost $2 million in their laps for “Covid” and that, thanks to inflation (especially gas prices, of which a LOT is sold within the City) sales tax receipts ballooned and handed them another couple hundred thousand bucks they didn’t expect.
[Fun fact: in 2017, gasoline sales accounted for $26.3 MILLION dollars in Lampasas (see page 37)- they are very likely double that now]
I wouldn’t expect any of those gifts to repeat next year, but they are already salivating on blowing that $250k on raises for everyone with a pulse.
One place they DIDN’T balance the budget was the water/wastewater fund – which had a $367,000 hole blown in it. This is thanks to all the upgrades we now need for all the new “rooftops” that were added to the City, as Finley likes to put it.
You can thank former mayor Misti Talbert for the first part of the problem: she threw hundreds of thousands of dollars at developers to subsidize their homebuilding – which I have covered HERE, HERE , HERE and HERE. Without all that free money, those homes would have never been built and we wouldn’t need to upgrade and expand the water and sewer systems, right?
Or maybe they WOULD have been built anyways and you just pissed away several hundred thousand dollars for nothing.
I’d argue that they WOULD have been built anyways and the City would still have those hundreds of thousands of dollars they wasted on subsidies – which would then plug the current $367,000 hole in the water budget.
Instead of handing OUT money, the City should have been taking IN several thousand dollars per home in ‘impact fees’ to pay for future upgrades….but they are not that smart.
But there’s more!
When MAYOR Talbert was all done mucking things up by handing out piles of money to homebuilders as head of City council, she took off her MAYOR hat and then put on her LEDC PRESIDENT HAT to muck things up over there for a while!
Talbert: [24 minute mark] “It has come to my attention that the City is blessed with a significant amount of money in the American recovery funds to the tune of 1.978 million dollars, I believe….and the water/wastewater portionof this project will run $971,000 and the funds can be used for this project...I’m quite certain there’s not another project you can put these funds into that….are gonna bring you the potential ROI that this project is gonna bring you…“
Yes, Talbert grabbed almost a million bucks from the City for the LEDC Business Pork project – a project that has taken almost 20 years and $7 million dollars and produced zero tangible benefits.
She actually managed to drain the City coffers TWICE holding a different title each time!
The final irony? Talbert pilfered that $971,000 for WATER/WASTEWATER in the Business Pork! She grabbed money that COULD have been used to help out the CITY water fund (and thus all of you who pay a water bill every month) and is instead using it to AGAIN put ‘pipes in the ground’ in a “Business Park” that has had no tenants for almost TWENTY YEARS!
Like a tick on the ass of the City of Lampasas, the Lampasas Economic Dunces Club just gets fatter and fatter every year gorging on taxpayer blood.
It’s time to haggle over the 2022/2023 budget and the LEDC is not being shy about asking for a LOT more money.
For example:
They are requesting $12,500 for “promotion and advertising”! This is a 66% increase over last year’s $7,500.
What do they need to advertise? Well, that they have a giant sandbox over there on 183 south called The Business Park. But guess what? They have ALREADY spent close to FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS in “advertising” since 2012! What did that get them? Nothing – the “business pork” has sat empty for close to 20 years now!
They will also see a massive increase in interest payments to the banks for all the money they have borrowed for the ill-fated Business Pork. Last year they flushed $40,795 down the toilet. This year, they will blow $87,370 in interest payments – an increase of 114%. That number will remain at $87,370 for years and years to come.
Oh – and the principal payments going forward will be $117,000 (page 102)
As you can see, the LEDC is REALLY tightening their belts during these hard times,
Last budget cycle, Economic Development “Director” Mandy Walsh got a fat 6.2% raise (from $71,448 to $75,842 – see page 96). What will it be this year? I would not be surprised to see it cross the $80,000 mark before all is said and done. That’s not including the roughly $25,000 in extra pay, retirement benefits and insurance benefits she will also see.
Being an “Economic Director” sure is lucrative!!
Mandy also wantsa 66% increasein her Gallivanting Fund “travel and training” fund – from $6,000 to $10,000. This is the money spent for her to gallivant from one useless convention to another. Stuff like the Texas Municipal League Conference, TEDC Annual Conference, TEDC Legislative Conference, and a whole alphabet soup of inanity – which I have listed before.
Other massive increases:
“Business expenses”: a 100% increase from $2,500 to $5,000
“Professional services”: a 108% increase from $6,000 to $12,500
“Computer software and equip”: a 300% increase from $250 to $1,000
“Building & Grounds Maintenance” – from $0 to $2,500
What are we up to now…about $70,000 in additional expenses next year BEFORE Finley gets done throwing a raise in there too?
Amazing. Remember – belt tightening is for the suckers who pay taxes, NOT for City government. Not ever.
“During the regular session, the council voted to proceed with the design and construction of the park, with a cost not to exceed $400,000 and timeline of 90 days for the start of construction.
“‘If it doesn’t happen within 90 days, we should reconsider,’ Councilman Zachary Morris said in his motion”
So back on June 13th, SPA Skateparks agreed to begin construction within 90 days. But guess what? Assistant City Manager Ryan Ward stood up there before City council on Monday night (7/25) and basically said “Ummm…that’s not going to happen – SPA was awarded another contract and will be starting that one first, so we go to the back of the line”
Again, I am shocked! So will council “reconsider”? Of course not. They will bend over and take it, because every council bluff with a contractor is an empty bluff. Always. They know this.
I’ll admit, it WAS fun watching Ward try to dance around and not admit outright that SPA Skateparks just spit in his eye (go to 2:30 mark) and told him to get lost until next year. Good thing we pay him $110,000 per year to run things and take charge and push back on this screw job and maybe demand a price concession for breaking the agreement.
Oh wait. He did none of those things. He bent over and said “OK”.
Even Cathy “Porkchop” Kuehne complained a little bit about it (go to 4:30 mark):
“So they’re waiting to do us….until the beginning of the year…because they got a different bid? A different package? But they were here and they’re the ones that agreed that it wouldn’t be a problem to do the 90 days…I don’t think we should be blown off because they got a different bid.”
Highly-paid ACM Ward: “I’m not sure exactly what happened on their end other than they were awarded another contract and they started that one”
Yes Porkchop, that is EXACTLY what he said. What are you going to do about it?
Nothing.
In the end, they do what they always do: bend over and take it. They did that with the City Hall elevator. They did it with Azbell Electronics and the A/V system. They do it all the time – because it’s not THEIR money. It’s yours.
I guess the good news is that since it’s going to be another 6 months, the price will go DOWN since diesel went down 10%, right? I mean, Chris Harrison just told us last month that the huge increase in cost was because “diesel”, didn’t he? Doesn’t it work the other way too?
Just kidding. We know ACM Ward isn’t smart enough to get a concession like that. The high price will be locked in but they’ll start building whenever the hell they feel like it, right? Yep – that’s about it.
