I found a lovely nugget in the LEDC minutes from years ago. It shows you just how much has changed.
Judy Hetherly was a failure as an LEDC board president AND as a mayor, but listen to what she had to say in August 2005 before she became Mayor but while she sat on City council AND the LEDC board.
Back then, the developers of Sunrise Hills went hat-in-hand to City council for some “free” (taxpayer-provided) shit – the kind of “free” shit that Talbert and Monroe routinely hand out now in the name of “growth”:
Aug 15, 2005 minutes: “Mike Talbot informed the Board there was a special council meeting on Friday in reference to a new subdivision. The reason for this special meeting was that the developer of this new subdivision, known as Sunrise Hills, was asking to participate in contributing funds for infrastructure improvements to this new subdivision. Council voted to share in the costs…
“Board member Hetherly wanted to note that she is for growth to Lampasas, but that she voted AGAINST this request because she felt that the developer should pay for these improvements and not the City. She felt that growth should support itself.“
WOW! Sounds like something I would say! For one brief, shining moment, Hetherly was a genius.
This is the truism that escapes Talbert, Monroe, Williamson and all the rest. I have pounded the table on this many, many times.
LEDC Puff Piece in Dispatch Ignores Massive Sums Spent For “Growth”
I even gave the example of the LEDC and council trying to fill a swimming pool by taking water from the shallow end to fill the deep end. It makes no sense. These idiots grab money from one group and hand it out to another. That is not “growth”.
Funny how Talbert used to crow about “growing the tax rolls” when she was handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars to developers to try and buy “growth”. If that strategy worked, the City wouldn’t be borrowing $6.5 million to pay for water/wastewater and other growing pains. If this was REAL, ACTUAL, self-sustaining and organic growth, you wouldn’t be soaking the taxpayer for ever-more money.
Are taxes higher or lower in the big cities like Austin, Dallas and Houston? They are ridiculously high. If subsidizing a ton of people to move to a city actually worked, the taxes would go DOWN over time and the burden to each taxpayer would FALL. But we never see that. Just take a look at your property taxes if you don’t believe me.
This is just more proof that Talbert, Monroe, Kuehne, Williamson and the LEDC have set us on a course for disaster. Your quality of life will decrease and your cost of living will increase. All thanks to these idiots handing out subsidies and trying to pay for fake “growth”.