Look How Much Money the LEDC Has Squandered Over The Last Six Years

Sickening.

That’s the only way to describe the utter waste of tax dollars called the “Lampasas Economic Development Corporation”. After seeing the latest figures (10/1/19 through 9/30/20), I decided to go over the previous five filings as well. The following totals are the amounts wasted by the LEDC in JUST the last six fiscal years (10/1/14 through 9/30/20):

INTEREST PAYMENTS: $327,173 That is money that goes straight into the pockets of the banks for the privilege of borrowing money to “improve” the ‘goat pasture’ (former councilman Mike White’s words, not mine) known as The Business Park. That is $327,173 in tax dollars that will not be used for parks, streets or swimming pools. It is gone forever. Misti Talbert and TJ Monroe (among others) are directly responsible for this.

LEGAL FEES: $93,237 How the LEDC managed to blow nearly a hundred grand on legal fees for a “business park” that has sat empty for 17 years is beyond my comprehension. Perhaps the idiots who run the LEDC can comprehend it (Talbert, Monroe, etc), but I cannot. Some lawyer out there has a nice new boat, no doubt. Citizens of Lampasas have nothing to show for it.

ADMIN/OVERHEAD: $72,000 The LEDC spend exactly $12,000 per year on administration/overhead. Year in and year out. It appears it is paid to the City – perhaps for consulting their accountants and wasting City time. But I really couldn’t tell you. More money vaporized.

ADVERTISING/PROMOTION: $31,389 The LEDC has somehow spent over $30,000 promoting and advertising their “business park”. What exactly are they advertising and promoting? A goat pasture (Mike White’s words, not mine) with tumbleweeds and cactus all over it? Whatever they spent it on, the ‘business park’ STILL sits empty after 17 years.

TRAVEL: $31,205 The LEDC has blown over $30,000 on “travel” over those six years. While $5,000 per year might not sound like a lot in the grand scheme of things, I have to wonder why it isn’t $0. Where exactly do these dunces need to travel to and why? What was gained by it? Clearly not any tenants for the goat pasture (Mike White’s words, not mine). Anyways, somebody got a lot of nice little useless junkets. The taxpayers got the bill.

FURTHERMORE – all this money is being thrown around with next to ZERO controls or oversight. I have covered repeatedly how Misti Talbert and TJ Monroe essentially oversaw their own activities by holding positions on the LEDC and City council (as MAYORS!) at the same time. It is a very incestuous and inbred group of dummies.

This group ALSO: (1) has no written whistleblower policies, (2) has no written conflict of interest policies and (2) has no written document retention and/or document destruction policy.

Add all that up? You have a small group of insulated, inbred, low-IQ people with next to zero oversight handling millions of tax dollars who are not accountable for their results. The predictable outcome is exactly the one that has been taking place over the last 17 years: millions of dollars wasted and nothing to show for it.

Disband the LEDC. Eliminate the Director of Economic Development position. Let the free market preside.

LEDC Non-Profit Filing Now Available For 2019/2020 Period.

The following numbers are for the fiscal year beginning on Oct 1, 2019 and ending on September 30, 2020. Numbers for the recently-completed year ending September 30, 2021 are not available:

LEDC skimmed exactly $348,835 in sales tax revenue during this period. That is $348,835 that never made its way into City coffers to be used for things like parks, roads, or swimming pools. It is a record amount (breaking last year’s record of $313,229). We are talking about handing nearly $1000 per day (every single day) to these clowns to play with.

$48,677 was spent on paying the interest for all of their borrowing for their business park project. That “goat pasture” (former councilman Mike White’s words, not mine) has sat unfilled for nearly 17 years now. That $48,677 is money that goes straight into the pockets of the banks.

$48,337 was spent on “grants and other assistance to domestic organizations”. No idea what this is – perhaps the “Life Safety Grants” they are giving out? By my count that adds up to only about $26,000 right now. Could also be for Lampasas Higher Education. Will request details.

$57,938 was spent on “contracted services” with no further explanation (I am requesting details). No doubt Pope Eckermann is involved there.

$12,000 was spent on “Admin and overhead” as it is every year. This is essentially a fee to the City for the use of their accountant, etc, as far as I can tell.

$121,979 on “other – program service expense” (Schedule O). I assume this is the cash they handed out during Covid to many undeserving “businesses’ like Wool & Vine. I’m looking into details there also – last I heard they were reimbursed by the Feds for that.

Well, Dog-Gone-It

Just out of curiosity, when our “Economic Development Director” Mandy “Mandy Clause” Walsh hands out free money from her big Santa sack to subsidize new businesses and then they fail mere months later, does the taxpayer get their money back?

Does the much-trumpeted number of “new businesses” actually get reduced as well?

Asking for a friend.

This is not a knock on The Doghouse. An entrepreneur had an idea and he got up there and swung the bat. The restaurant biz is brutal even in the best of time and something like 80% of restaurants fail in the first few years. I would never begrudge a guy for swinging the bat.

I DO begrudge overpaid government tit-milk slurpers like Mandy Walsh throwing tax dollars around for “free” while trying to pick winners and losers and calling it “growth”. Mandy has no idea what the small business owner does because she has never owned a small business.

She sits on her biscuit, never having to risk it.

Recession? Mandy still gets paid (over $100,000 in salary and benefits). Business she threw money at fails and results in a 100% loss on her “investment”? Mandy gets paid. Small business getting fucked by inflation and supply chain issues and goes bankrupt? Mandy Walsh gets paid. Covid wreaking havoc and shutting people down? Mandy still gets paid.

And she gets paid a HELL of a lot more than the small business guy who risked everything – THAT is what is truly nauseating. If she ever owned a small business, she would realize how outrageous her risk-free government Nerf job salary (plus bennies) really is.

Hey, I have an idea! Maybe MANDY should buy the Doghouse! She certainly has the money! She could actually attempt to run a business and hire locals and organically “grow” the economy instead of using the fake growth method she now employs by tossing taxpayer cash at everyone.

How about it, Mandy? Think you could run a hot dog stand – and make more than $100,000 every single year for yourself?

Betcha can’t.

Beta Male In Harker Heights Tomorrow

Fake Mexican and real parasite Robert Francis O’Rourke is visiting Harker Heights tomorrow – you know what THAT means!

Comrade Clayton Tucker (admitted socialist and Chairman of the Lampasas Democrats) is busy, busy, busy today! He’s trimming his chin pubes, cleaning out his man purse, polishing up the Baby Seal Mobile…..

Fact: Chevy Equinox is a chick car.

…picking out his very best fake cowboy hat and practicing his selfie poses so he can get yet another picture with Beta Male O’Rourke.

Little guy with a purse LOVES the big fist!

He figures that if he takes enough pictures with enough useless, scumbag, parasitic politicians that something will rub off on him and he’ll achieve these lofty political heights as well. Unfortunately, that is unlikely when you are 5’7 and need shoulder pads in your clothes.

Beto and Beta male – together again!

I’ve got $100 that says we will see a new Beto/Beta photo together within the next 96 hours. Any takers??

“Cost of Growth” – Summary

In summary, the LEDC is completely useless and has wasted millions of dollars (approximately $333,000 per year skimmed from sales taxes) on “growth” that would have happened anyways. Much of this was wasted on a “business park” that STILL sits empty after 17 years of wheel spinning.

The entire group that makes up the LEDC is an incestuous group overseen by some members of the LEDC board itself (TJ Monroe now and Misti Talbert before her). The LEDC has no written rules about financial conflicts of interest AND his no written rules on document destruction or retention. All of this means it is a fairly simple matter to feather peoples’ nests and waste piles of money without fear of repercussions.

Furthermore, the make-work Nerf job of “Economic Development Director” is another waste of over $105,000 per year. Every business that opened in the last 5 years would have opened anyways and the City would have an extra $500,000 in the coffers.

That roughly $450,000 would be better off kept in the hands of the people who earned it instead of being forcibly extracted for the LEDC to play with.

The crowing of “sales tax receipts are up” is not one of good news if the majority of that is from higher prices (inflation). I know for a FACT a hell of a lot of people drive from Cove to Lampasas to save 15 cents on gas. Gas is up 50% in the last year. That ALONE probably accounts for a pretty big chunk. It doesn’t show growth – it shows citizens are turning over more money than ever to the government.

Further costs that were ignored in the article:

Over $250,000 in gifts from City council to developers.

$120,000 to Halff Associates for a “comprehensive plan”.

Over $130,000 in CASH handed out to businesses at LEDC discretion with no strings attached.

Another $25,000 or so handed out (no strings attached – at LEDC discretion) for “Life Safety Grants” intended to defray costs CAUSED by City ordinances and regulations.

We also leaned that the number of new businesses is lower than currently being crowed about, if you take an honest accounting and list those that also CLOSED during the same period. Nearly all of them would have opened with or without the LEDC wasting tax dollars.

There is ONE thing the LEDC and the City could have done to create jobs – and that was to accept the offer made by Ajinomoto back in 2016. Instead, they said NO. That tells you everything you need to know right there. They had a chance to not only create jobs for FREE, but to actually get handed $300,000 in the process.

Sound too retarded to be true? It’s not:

Mandy Walsh Begs Ajinomoto To Back ‘Business Park’. Ajinomoto Offered City 200 New Jobs AND $300,000 Back In 2016. City Declined!!

They don’t care about jobs. They care about protecting and expanding their little incestuous bureaucratic fiefdom. Simple as that. If they cared about jobs, they would have taken that deal in 2016.

“The Cost of Growth” – Part IV

Finally, we come to the last metric the LEDC brags about to show they are worth the $400,000 per year they skim from the taxpayers: new businesses.

From the Dispatch puff piece: “City Secretary Becky Sims noted 42 new businesses were established in Lampasas between 2018 and 2021. Twenty-four of those were established between 2020 and 2021“

Wow! Sounds impressive! I love new businesses too. I’m not some old curmudgeon who only wants a bunch of fast-food chains here and hates change. I loved it when Lampasas Beer Market opened. Loved it when Cherry on Top opened. Those are private citizens risking their own ass to bring the town something different.

But is that “42 new businesses” accurate? Well, kinda but not really. I got my hands on the list. You can download the list yourself:

New-Businesses-2018-2021Download

The funniest part of this list is that I don’t see “Wool & Vine” on there. LOL. Nor should it be. A hobby lemonade stand that is only open a few days a week and employs nobody doesn’t really count in my book. Maybe the City secretly feels the same.

Then we get to the huge chains: Whataburger, Dominos Pizza, Golden Chik, Burger King, Cefco, etc. Are they nice to have and do they employ people? Yup. Did they come here because we have a “Lampasas Economic Development Corp” and Mandy Walsh to make it happen? Nope. Those companies know exactly when to stick a store into a town based on demographics, traffic patterns, median income, etc. It has ZERO to do with the LEDC or Mandy Walsh and her clipboard.

Many “new businesses” on the list were simply taking the place of something that closed. Mandy and the LEDC like to crow about the NEW business, but never mention all the ones that close: Mamma Jeans, Toupsies, Rutlands, Chinese Buffet, etc, etc.

So if Toupsies closes but Bill’s opens in its place, is that a “new business”? Bella Italia replacing whatever was there before that (I forget)? Moonie’s replacing Gillens? Technically it is a “new” business – but another business closed before it. Net business creation is zero in that case.

Bottom line: new businesses are great – as long as Mandy and the LEDC aren’t subsidizing them with free stuff. All that does is (once again) “fill the pool” by pumping water from the deep end into the shallow end.

Actually, it’s even worse than that. Mandy Walsh takes over 100,000 cups of water out of that pool for herself (salary, retirement benefits, health insurance benefits, travel, conferences, etc) – and the LEDC takes over 300,000 cups of water out too. Just like the feds, they take your money, put some in their pockets, and then decide how to dole out the rest – all the while posturing as heroes and do-gooders with YOUR money!

It would seriously be more efficient to skim those $450,000 tax dollars every year, put every business name in a hat, pull twenty names out randomly and hand them each $22,000. That’s how ridiculous the current system is.

Disband the LEDC. Eliminate the “Economic Director” position. Let people keep their money and let businesses sink or swim in the free market.

“The Cost of Growth” – Part III

You’ll recall, the recent Dispatch article about “The Cost of Growth” in Lampasas fails to mention any of the actual costs at all. This series presents the ACTUAL costs to our “growth”. We already covered the millions in tax dollars the LEDC has skimmed over the last 20 years. We also covered the high cost of our “Director of Economic Development” Nerf position currently held by Mandy Walsh.

We also explained why a 21% increase in sales tax receipts might not be the great news the LEDC seems to think it is. Let’s continue into the article further:

According to the Dispatch article: “In addition, residential development has substantially increased in the past three years with five new residential subdivisions underway, along with numerous infill residential developments throughout the city.”

Again, the article fails to mention any COSTS from these developments – and they are fairly large.

Two of those five developments are Stone Valley and Brodie Estates. In both cases, City council voted to hand out tax dollars (or forfeit fees to City coffers) to subsidize these developments.

Stone Valley saw six-figure help in the form of reimbursements and for waiving electrical hookup fees to each of the 67 houses. The waived electrical hookup fees ALONE cost the City $72,000. TJ Monroe and Chuck Williamson even voted in favor of WAIVING all of the building permit fees for developer Deorald Finney! This is the same City that just AGAIN raised electrical rates on the entire town, after promising in February 2021 that the electric fund was healthy.

Brodie Estates developer S2M2 hired FORMER council member Chris Harrison to lobby for money for a drainage pond in THEIR development. Mayor Misti Talbert and council ended up handing them $185,000 from the taxpayers.

Those two developments ALONE were the recipients of roughly THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS in subsidies. Yet Finley, Mandy and the LEDC proudly point to “all the new subdivisions” as evidence they are doing a fine job at “growing” the economy. Once again, these dolts are pumping water from the deep end to the shallow end of the pool.

But there are MORE costs to these developments!

Turns out, there are now water pressure problems in the “upper pressure plane” – which is a fancy way of saying “near the spot that they just dumped five dozen new houses”. The cost just to study the problem and find a solution will be in the tens of thousands of dollars. If more pumps and bigger lines are needed (almost a certainty), expect a lot more money going out the door.

Maybe instead of GIVING these developers hundreds of thousands of dollars to build more houses, they should CHARGE these developers a decent-sized “impact fee” (perhaps $2,500 per house – or 1% of Deorald’s selling price?) for all of these costs that will now be piling up for the rest of us.

Just a thought.

Part IV coming soon…..

Dispatch Runs LEDC Puff Piece – Part II

We covered a few Lampasas growth basics in Part I. Now let’s dive into the article a bit.

According to The Dispatch: “Mandy Love Walsh…said in an email that sales tax is one sign of economic growth. The City is at a 21% year-to-date increase in sales tax“

I hope this isn’t the number that Mandy and the LEDC hang their hats on as “proof” they are an indispensable group of geniuses we should thank for all new businesses in town. You know what else makes sales tax collections shoot up? Inflation.

If the cost of everything goes up 10% in a year, you are going to collect 10% more sales tax, ceteris paribus. If you sold a million gallons of gas in both years but the price doubled – well, your sales taxes are going to increase quite a bit. This has nothing to do with “growth”.

Many other cities around us are ALSO seeing huge double-digit sales-tax receipt increases (Goldthwaite, San Saba, etc) – and Mandy Walsh doesn’t work in any of those towns. Gee – how did they manage it??

The increase could further be explained by having a moron in the White House printing money out of thin air and handing it out to everyone – which is what we have seen over the last year or more. This is also not “growth” and the bill will come due eventually – as is already happening with supply chain issues, labor shortages and more inflation.

Ergo, the fact that sales tax receipts are up 21% over last year does NOT prove that we grew 21% and it certainly doesn’t prove that any growth was due to the LEDC or Mandy Walsh. All it means is a lot of dummies are smartening up and moving from shitty lib states and big cities and infesting small rural towns – and that the cost of everything is skyrocketing.

The Federal Reserve has printed and the federal government has spent TRILLIONS in fiat currency over the last 18 months. It is an experiment in money printing that is unmatched in all of human history. It is an artificial sugar high and not true organic growth. Lampasas is just another boat being lifted by this tide. It has nothing to do with the LEDC or Mandy Walsh.

Part III coming soon…