Kerr County residents can’t afford the bonds that the commissioners have put on the November ballot! The ask is too big, and the timing is terrible. Even Barack Obama said, “you don’t raise taxes in a recession”.
If passed, Propositions A, B and C will add $27.5 million of debt to the county and will result in an increase of around $103/year for the average homeowner. If you live within the Kerrville city limits, this county tax increase will be on top of a 20% increase in the city’s property tax (their tax rate increased by 12.9% so your actual tax increase will depend on how much your home’s appraised value went up). While some of the capital projects should be funded, they have included approximately $19 million for projects that we can either do without, defer or find alternative funding for! For details on what we don’t need go to: https://richpaces.com/county-bond-propositions-breakdown-analysis/
The timing for these bond propositions couldn’t be worse. We are in the middle of a recession with Inflation at a 40 year high. Food and energy prices are dramatically higher. Inflation is effectively a tax increase and hardest on those who can least afford it. People are struggling to get by, yet our commissioners want to increase your taxes!
Consider that construction materials cost at least 25% more than just one year ago. Our supply chain is a mess and there will be delays in delivery of critical path materials. There is also a shortage of the skilled workers necessary for these projects. The resulting project delays will add substantially to overall project costs and any cost overruns will further burden already stretched taxpayers.
I recommend voting against these bond propositions as currently proposed. We just can’t afford this tax increase on top of everything else.
Rick I feel like some of your statements are hypotheses and possibly incorrect, how are other contractors getting their jobs done if we’re short on workers? Contractors in San Antonio seem to be doing just fine and there is a increase in material cost with a slight reduction from 12 months ago and I do not see material cost decreasing much if any . The courthouse is overcrowded and does need expansion, the Ag barn is definitely in need of repair and the dog pound well let’s just say it could be put off in my eyes and that’s my opinion. Anyway thanks for the input I would hope you’d consider reevaluating your statement.
You have made some excellent points and solutions to problems. What did the city/county say about these great ideas?
Karen,
The County has been silent on my comments other than what has been written by a couple members of the CIPC in various letters to the editor of KDT promoting the bond propositions. They seem to think that by “passing the bonds now, it will be 5 times cheaper with 3 times the positive impact than any other option”. I would really like to know what other options they considered. How can it be 5 times cheaper if we just wait 1-2 years (e.g. west Kerr annex) or if we do without ($4.2 million storage facility, $2 million in upgrades to the courthouse grounds, or save $4.75 million on the animal shelter by simply repairing and improving what we have) or if we seek alternative funding for some or all of the cost for the animal shelter or ag barn? We don’t know what future interest rates will be and when/if inflation will ease. I’d also like to know how they justify 3 times the positive impact. What exactly is the positive impact and how do they quantify it? Of course, all of these questions should have been asked by our commissioners before they put the bond propositions on the ballot. I gave my suggestions to Kerrville Pets Alive on how to improve the animal control facilities at a much lower cost back in February. They never came back with any response, other than they wanted a new larger and much better facility. As that bond passed, it now appears that they will get just that.