Georgetown Police Apprehend Murder Suspect

The man accused of kidnapping and then releasing a Georgetown man Monday morning was also wanted in connection with two murders in the Dallas area was captured last evening about 7:30pm.

Police received information the suspect was in an apartment complex near Georgetown High School, which was then locked down, while the police started searching the apartments.

The suspect, who has many aliases, started a fire to try and divert attention while he escaped, but, he was captured by the police with no loss of life or injuries to anyone, including the suspect.

Kudos to the Georgetown police for a job well done.

Rotten eggs to our Federal Government for allowing this illegal alien into the U.S. four times after he was deported three times and U.S. Marshals Marshals say he has currently "no status" to be in the United States.

WOW! Build a Wall Around Austin

The murder rate in Austin is up 115% so far this year over last year according to the Austin Chief of Police. Click on chart to make it larger.

Georgetown needs a strategy to keep this kind of violence out of our peaceful community. Ask Chief Nero what his plans are for keeping violence out of Georgetown.

Your Property Rights Are Being Taken Away by Government

Citizens need to be aware that the Federal government is taking away private property rights piece by piece. Typical are the Bureau of Land Management denying grazing rights to ranchers, asserting Federal ownership of 90,000+ acres of private land along the Red River, Fish and Wildlife Service using endangered species habitat to prevent land development, and the list goes on and on.

The following is typical of the latest industry guidance to property owners that they can face liability if they do not rent property to people who have limited or no english skills. There is a need for affordable housing, which usually means rental property, but who wants to develop or own rental property if the government can tell you whom and under what conditions you must rent your property. 

People with limited English proficiency (LEP) are protected under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) under new guidance announced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Housing providers can face liability for taking adverse actions against an individual because of their limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English.

The guidance reasons that LEP persons are protected because of their close nexus with the protected class of national origin. Approximately 9 percent of the U.S. population is LEP.

The new guidance instructs that housing providers violate the FHA if they intentionally discriminate against a person because of their LEP. For example, it would violate the FHA to selectively refuse to rent to, or to refuse to renew a lease for, persons who speak a certain language, but rent to those who speak another language. The guidance suggests that defenses used in the employment context against LEP discrimination lawsuits, such as the legitimate importance for employers to be able to communicate with their employees, will be inapplicable in the housing context.

Even if unintentional, housing providers may still face liability for LEP discrimination under the "discriminatory effects" or "disparate impact" theory. The U.S. Supreme Court recently recognized disparate impact theory as cognizable under the FHA. The guidance explains that discriminatory effect liability arises when facially neutral policies have an unintentional but nevertheless discriminatory effect on a protected class where the housing provider has no substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest for advancing the policy. For example, a seemingly facially neutral policy of not allowing documents to be translated could violate the FHA under the new guidance.

Informal agency guidance like this does not carry the force of law akin to formal agency rulemaking. Instead, courts are empowered to provide agency guidance and the proportionate amount of deference that the court deems a situation merits, based on a variety of factors. Nevertheless, housing providers should take this new guidance seriously, as it may influence suits brought by plaintiffs or decided by courts. Blanket advertising requirements that all tenants must speak English or restrictions on the languages that residents may speak amongst themselves are heavily susceptible to FHA liability and should be avoided. Under the guidance, justifications for language-related restrictions should strictly relate to essential housing-related matters.

Lenders should also pay close attention to the guidance and any ensuing lawsuits. It states that targeting certain LEP groups who share national origin for housing-related services on unfair terms, such as home loan modifications, likewise constitutes illegal discrimination. Other examples of LEP discrimination under the FHA in the lender context include refusing to allow mortgage documents to be translated, restricting a borrower’s use of an interpreter, or requiring an English speaker to co-sign a mortgage.

This prohibition on LEP discrimination in the housing context is an expansion of HUD's 2007 formal regulations concerning the obligation of programs that receive federal financial assistance to refrain from discriminating against LEP persons. Under those regulations, recipients of federal financial assistance have an obligation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to assist LEP persons with access to federally funded programs. The new HUD guidance, in contrast, interprets LEP discrimination under the FHA, which applies much more broadly to most rental and home sales whether or not federal assistance is involved, as well as lending activity.

City Reviews Process for Affordable Housing

The City Council has given city staff direction to propose a new review/approval process for affordable housing. The first draft of the new process was presented at the last council workshop.

After the approval of the last three projects, Kaia Pointe,Live Oak Apartments, and Merritt Heritage Apartments by both the city and the state for tax credits, it became apparent that many city residents were unhappy with the non-public process. 

The main feature of the revised process is the establishment of deadlines for public meetings describing the proposed projects. At least two public meetings will be held a minimum of three weeks prior to submission to the City Council. Also, property owners within 1/2 mile of the proposed site must be notified.

The process is not yet final and will be presented to the City Council for approval sometime in the future.

Keep in mind that the citizens of Georgetown must also make sure that the City Council stands against Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) to maintain our local sovereignty. Local governments are waking up to the threat that the Federal Government and HUD in particular pose to our local sovereignty. 

Georgetown residents must be vigilant and focused on keeping the City out of AFFH grants. Do not be distracted by emotional pleas for "affordable housing" and do not allow yourself to be sidetracked by less important issues.

Sunday Special from Hillsdale College Imprimis

Imprimis September 2016 • Volume 45, Number 9

In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels wrote that “the history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles.” Today the story of American politics is the story of class struggles. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. We didn’t think we were divided into different classes. Neither did Marx.

America was an exception to Marx’s theory of social progress. By that theory, societies were supposed to move from feudalism to capitalism to communism. But the America of the 1850s, the most capitalist society around, was not turning communist. Marx had an explanation for that. “True enough, the classes already exist,” he wrote of the United States, but they “are in constant flux and reflux, constantly changing their elements and yielding them up to one another.” In other words, when you have economic and social mobility, you don’t go communist.

That is the country in which some imagine we still live, Horatio Alger’s America—a country defined by the promise that whoever you are, you have the same chance as anyone else to rise, with pluck, industry, and talent. But they imagine wrong. The U.S. today lags behind many of its First World rivals in terms of mobility. A class society has inserted itself within the folds of what was once a classless country, and a dominant New Class—as social critic Christopher Lasch called it—has pulled up the ladder of social advancement behind it.

One can measure these things empirically by comparing the correlation between the earnings of fathers and sons. Pew’s Economic Mobility Project ranks Britain at 0.5, which means that if a father earns £100,000 more than the median, his son will earn £50,000 more than the average member of his cohort. That’s pretty aristocratic. On the other end of the scale, the most economically mobile society is Denmark, with a correlation of 0.15. The U.S. is at 0.47, almost as immobile as Britain.

A complacent Republican establishment denies this change has occurred. If they don’t get it, however, American voters do. For the first time, Americans don’t believe their children will be as well off as they have been. They see an economy that’s stalled, one in which jobs are moving offshore. In the first decade of this century, U.S. multinationals shed 2.9 million U.S. jobs while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million. General Electric provides a striking example. Jeffrey Immelt became the company’s CEO in 2001, with a mission to advance stock price. He did this in part by reducing GE’s U.S. workforce by 34,000 jobs. During the same period, the company added 25,000 jobs overseas. Ironically, President Obama chose Immelt to head his Jobs Council.

According to establishment Republicans, none of this can be helped. We are losing middle-class jobs because of the move to a high-tech world that creates jobs for a cognitive elite and destroys them for everyone else. But that doesn’t describe what’s happening. We are losing middle-class jobs, but lower-class jobs are expanding. Automation is changing the way we make cars, but the rich still need their maids and gardeners. Middle-class jobs are also lost as a result of regulatory and environmental barriers, especially in the energy sector. And the skills-based technological change argument is entirely implausible: countries that beat us hands down on mobility are just as technologically advanced. Folks in Denmark aren’t exactly living in the Stone Age.

This is why voters across the spectrum began to demand radical change. What did the Republican elite offer in response? At a time of maximal crisis they have been content with minimal goals, like Mitt Romney’s 59-point plan in 2012. How many Americans remember even one of those points? What we remember instead is Romney’s remark about 47 percent of Americans being takers. That was Romney’s way of recognizing the class divide—and in the election, Americans took notice and paid him back with interest.

Since 2012, establishment Republicans have continued to be less than concerned for the plight of ordinary Americans. Sure, they want economic growth, but it doesn’t seem to matter into whose pockets the money flows. There are even the “conservative” pundits who offer the pious hope that drug-addicted Trump supporters will hurry up and die. That’s one way to ameliorate the class struggle, but it doesn’t exactly endear anyone to the establishment.

The southern writer Flannery O’Connor once attended a dinner party in New York given for her and liberal intellectual Mary McCarthy. At one point the issue of Catholicism came up, and McCarthy offered the opinion that the Eucharist is “just a symbol,” albeit “a pretty one.” O’Connor, a pious Catholic, bristled: “Well, if it’s just a symbol, to Hell with it.” Likewise, the principles held up as sacrosanct by establishment Republicans might be logically unassailable, derived like theorems from a set of axioms based on a pure theory of natural rights. But if I don’t see them making people better off, I say to Hell with them. And so do the voters this year. What the establishment Republicans should ask themselves is Anton Chigurh’s question in No Country for Old Men: If you followed your principles, and your principles brought you to this, what good are your principles?

 ***

Had Marx been asked what would happen to America if it ever became economically immobile, we know what his answer would be: Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. And also Donald Trump. The anger expressed by the voters in 2016—their support for candidates from far outside the traditional political class—has little parallel in American history. We are accustomed to protest movements on the Left, but the wholesale repudiation of the establishment on the Right is something new. All that was solid has melted into air, and what has taken its place is a kind of rightwing Marxism, scornful of Washington power brokers and sneering pundits and repelled by America’s immobile, class-ridden society.

Establishment Republicans came up with the “right-wing Marxist” label when House Speaker John Boehner was deposed, and labels stick when they have the ring of truth. So it is with the right-wing Marxist. He is rightwing because he seeks to return to an America of economic mobility. He has seen how broken education and immigration systems, the decline of the rule of law, and the rise of a supercharged regulatory state serve as barriers to economic improvement. And he is a Marxist to the extent that he sees our current politics as the politics of class struggle, with an insurgent middle class that seeks to surmount the barriers to mobility erected by an aristocratic New Class. In his passion, he is also a revolutionary. He has little time for a Republican elite that smirks at his heroes—heroes who communicate through their brashness and rudeness the fact that our country is in a crisis. To his more polite critics, the right-wing Marxist says: We are not so nice as you!

The right-wing Marxist notes that establishment Republicans who decry crony capitalism are often surrounded by lobbyists and funded by the Chamber of Commerce. He is unpersuaded when they argue that government subsidies are needed for their friends. He does not believe that the federal bailouts of the 2008-2012 TARP program and the Federal Reserve’s zero-interest and quantitative easing policies were justified. He sees that they doubled the size of public debt over an eight-year period, and that our experiment in consumer protection for billionaires took the oxygen out of the economy and produced a jobless Wall Street recovery.

The right-wing Marxist’s vision of the good society is not so very different from that of the JFK-era liberal; it is a vision of a society where all have the opportunity to rise, where people are judged by the content of their character, and where class distinctions are a thing of the past. But for the right-wing Marxist, the best way to reach the goal of a good society is through free markets, open competition, and the removal of wasteful government barriers.

***

Readers of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose will have encountered the word palimpsest, used to describe a manuscript in which one text has been written over another, and in which traces of the original remain. So it is with Canada, a country that beats the U.S. hands down on economic mobility. Canada has the reputation of being more liberal than the U.S., but in reality it is more conservative because its liberal policies are written over a page of deep conservatism.

Whereas the U.S. comes in at a highly immobile 0.47 on the Pew mobility scale, Canada is at 0.19, very close to Denmark’s 0.15. What is further remarkable about Canada is that the difference is mostly at the top and bottom of the distribution. Between the tenth and 90th deciles there isn’t much difference between the two countries. The difference is in the bottom and top ten percent, where the poorest parents raise the poorest kids and the richest parents raise the richest kids.

For parents in the top U.S. decile, 46 percent of their kids will end up in the top two deciles and only 2 percent in the bottom decile. The members of the top decile comprise a New Class of lawyers, academics, trust-fund babies, and media types—a group that wields undue influence in both political parties and dominates our culture. These are the people who said yes, there is an immigration crisis—but it’s caused by our failure to give illegals a pathway to citizenship!

There’s a top ten percent in Canada, of course, but its children are far more likely to descend into the middle or lower classes. There’s also a bottom ten percent, but its children are far more likely to rise to the top. The country of opportunity, the country we’ve imagined ourselves to be, isn’t dead—it moved to Canada, a country that ranks higher than the U.S. on measures of economic freedom. Yes, Canada has its much-vaunted Medicare system, but cross-border differences in health care don’t explain the mobility levels. And when you add it all up, America has a more generous welfare system than Canada or just about anywhere else. To explain Canada’s higher mobility levels, one has to turn to differences in education systems, immigration laws, regulatory burdens, the rule of law, and corruption—on all of which counts, Canada is a more conservative country.

America’s K-12 public schools perform poorly, relative to the rest of the First World. Its universities are great fun for the kids, but many students emerge on graduation no better educated than when they arrived. What should be an elevator to the upper class is stalled on the ground floor. One study has concluded that if American public school students were magically raised to Canadian levels, the economic gain would amount to a 20 percent annual pay increase for the average American worker.

The U.S. has a two-tiered educational system: a superb set of schools and colleges for the upper classes and a mediocre set for everyone else. The best of our colleges are the best anywhere, but the average Canadian school is better than the average American one. At both the K-12 and college levels, Canadian schools have adhered more closely to a traditional, conservative set of offerings. For K-12, a principal reason for the difference is the greater competition offered in Canada, with its publicly-supported church-affiliated schools. With barriers like America’s Blaine Amendments—state laws preventing public funding of religious schools—lower-class students in the U.S. must enjoy the dubious blessing of a public school education.

What about immigration? Canada doesn’t have a problem with illegal aliens—it deports them. As for the legal intake, Canadian policies have a strong bias towards admitting immigrants who will confer a benefit on Canadian citizens. Even in absolute numbers, Canada admits more immigrants under economic categories than the U.S., where most legal immigrants qualify instead under family preference categories. As a result, on average, immigrants to the U.S. are less educated than U.S. natives, and unlike in Canada, second- and third-generation U.S. immigrants earn less than their native-born counterparts. In short, the U.S. immigration system imports inequality and immobility. If immigration isn’t an issue in Canada, that’s because it’s a system Trump voters would love.

For those at the bottom of the social and economic ladder who seek to rise, nothing is more important than the rule of law, property rights, and the sanctity of contract provided by a mature and efficient legal system. The alternative—in place today in America—is a network of elites whose personal bonds supply the trust that is needed before deals can be done and promises relied on. With its more traditional legal system, Canada better respects the sanctity of contract and is less likely to weaken property rights with an American-style civil justice system which at times resembles a slot machine of judicially-sanctioned theft. Americans are great at talking about the rule of law, but in reality we don’t have much standing to do so.

Then there’s corruption. As ranked by Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, America is considerably more corrupt than most of the rest of the First World. With our K Street lobbyists and our donor class, we’ve spawned the greatest concentration of money and influence ever. And corruption costs. In a regression model, the average family’s earnings would increase from $55,000 to $60,000 were we to ascend to Canada’s level of non-corruption, and to $68,000 if we moved to Denmark’s level.

In a corrupt country, trust is a rare commodity. That’s America today. Only 19 percent of Americans say they trust the government most of the time, down from 73 percent in 1958 according to the Pew Research Center. Sadly, that is a rational response to the way things are. America is a different country today, and a much nastier one. For politically engaged Republicans, the figure is six percent. That in a nutshell explains the Trump phenomenon and the disintegration of the Republican establishment. If the people don’t trust the government, tinkering with entitlement reform is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

American legal institutions are consistently more liberal than those in Canada, and they are biased towards a privileged class of insiders who are better educated and wealthier than the average American. That’s why America has become an aristocracy.

By contrast, Canadian legal institutions aren’t slanted to an aristocracy. The paradox is that Canadians employ conservative, free market means to achieve the liberal end of economic mobility. And that points to America’s way back: acknowledge that the promise of America has diminished, then emulate Canada.

Frank Buckley

Author, The Way Back: Restoring the Promise of America

TMRS Investment Returns Update

The Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) just released their latest investment returns.

It can be observed that over the last year the return has been 1.8% and over the last 5 years the return is 5.6%.  Returns over both time periods are a far cry from the assumed return of 6.75%.

The element that has been providing the greatest return is real estate. It is problematical as to how long that will last. 

Beating the Pension Horse Again

Pension funds cannot meet their future obligations without significant changes in their operating philosophies. The latest example of investment shortfalls is Harvard University as reported in the Wall Street Journal.

"Harvard University’s endowment delivered its worst investment performance since 2009, and its interim chief warned in an annual report that “returns could be muted for some time to come.”

The 2% loss for fiscal 2016 fell short of the university’s goals and contributed to a $1.9 billion drop in the value of the world’s wealthiest endowment. Harvard Management Company, as the endowment is formally known, now manages $35.7 billion. It provides more than one-third of the university’s operating budget."

Notice that the Harvard investment pool is only about 50% larger than the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) investment fund. And, "the smartest investment managers in the world" cannot meet their own investment goals.

Harvard’s losses for the year ending June 30 reinforce the challenges facing all college endowments as they wrestle with volatile global markets and a sustained period of low interest rates around the world. College and university endowments tracked by Cambridge Associates posted net returns of -2.7% for the year June 30. The S&P 500 gained 3.25% during the same period, according to FactSet.

“With a backdrop of slowing growth and rich valuations, endowment returns could be muted for some time to come,” Harvard Management interim chief executive Robert Ettlsaid in the endowment’s annual report released Thursday.

Harvard Management CEO expects returns "to be muted for some time to come."  That means that when calculating your pension obligations, an assumed return of 6.75% is not appropriate, which is what TMRS uses.

TMRS admitted in their 2015 CAFR that their investment returns also did not meet their goals. Here are the returns they reported for 2015.

"TMRS: 0.34% return for the year (6% in 2014)
3-yr annualized = 5.3%
5-yr annualized = 5.6% 

10-yr annualized = 5.4%"

Why are they still assuming a 6.75% annual return?

TMRS would not have had a positive return of 0.34% except for the fact that employers and employees contributed $1.1B in 2015.

It is time for Georgetown city council to get more involved with TMRS to assure future pension obligations can be honored.

Williams Drive and I-35 Transportation Projects

Georgetown and TxDot are embarking are embarking on studies and preliminary design efforts to improve traffic flow down Williams Drive and off and onto I-35 and Austin Avenue.

The first effort focusses on Williams Drive westward from I-35. The City of Georgetown and CAMPO are partnering on the Williams Drive Study. The study will develop a plan of action that will incorporate safety, efficient traffic movement, safe accommodations of all modes, and future economic growth of Williams Drive between Austin Avenue and Jim Hogg Road. 

The first open house public meeting is Oct 6 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the Georgetown Health Foundation Community Rooms, 2423 Williams Drive. 

The second effort was described at the last city council workshop and the complete presentation is available at Mobility 35 Williams Drive.

The principle feature is construction of a Diverging Diamond Interchange similar to the one at I-35 and 1431. Here is a engineering drawing:

The expected cost is $55M, but, the funding has not yet been finalized. Planning documents indicate construction bids will be solicited in 2018 or 2019 with construction completed in 2020 or 2021.

More detail can be found at my35.org

A second more bothersome element are the plans to improve traffic flow along 60 to 70 miles of I-35 by constructing toll lanes. This is a really bad idea and is antithetical to Texas values. The new lanes would be paid for by tax dollars, then people would be charged again to use the lanes they had already paid for.

There are other ways to improve traffic flow without charging tolls which just increases the TxDot bureaucracy to collect and manage the tolls.

For example, controlled access on-ramps during high traffic periods are successfully used around the country as are limiting one lane to carpools, busses, and motorcycles.

There are legislators in the Texas legislature that are proposing to eliminate toll roads in Texas, especially those that do not have any bond debt.

Contact your state senator and representative to let them know that we do not need more toll roads in Texas, especially on our interstate highways.

Interesting Housing Market Analysis

"In a note on Thursday, John Burns Real Estate Consulting broke down the five stages of the housing-market cycle, including where it sees some major cities in each phase." Business Insider

Notice that Austin is in the Exuberance stage which likely includes surrounding communities like Georgetown.

In fact, Georgetown has reported that the surge in sales tax receipts this year comes principally from building supplies sales.

Potential Terrorists in Texas?

"In a letter Wednesday to the director of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, Texas said that it would exit the refugee program by Sept. 30 unless Washington meets its demand that national security officials “ensure refugees do not pose a security threat.”

Texas manages about $96 million in federal funds for services provided to refugees, who are resettled there with the assistance of nonprofits, such as the International Rescue Committee and a handful of faith-affiliated agencies.

If Texas cedes this administrative role, the U.S. government likely will partner with a resettlement agency that would disburse the money." WSJ

"Texas, which received more than 7,000 refugees in the past year, has been at the forefront of states seeking to halt resettlement. A federal court ruled in June that Texas couldn't prevent the federal government from sending Syrians there."

How many refugees have been resettled in Georgetown?  Is anyone keeping records? Are we at increased risk for a terror attack because our local, state and federal governments are not performing their basic function of protecting their citizens?

This is a serious problem that our government needs to be paying attention to and if refugees cannot be vetted to assure there are no terrorists among them, then we the people need to reject settling them in our community.

Get involved! Let your elected representations know your position. 

Proposed Speed Limit Change in Sun City

It is proposed that the speed limit on Pedernales Falls Drive between Cool Springs Way and Rocky Hollow Creek Drive and Rocky Hollow Creek Drive between Pedernales Falls Drive and County Road 245, be raised to 35 mph. 

A traffic study has been conducted to justify the increase in speeds and an ordinance is on the City Council agenda for Tuesday, September 28 to change the speed limits.

The traffic study indicated that the speed could safely be raised to 40 mph on Rocky Hollow Creek, but then, golf carts would be precluded from driving on the road.

Georgetown Contract for Medical Director

A contract with DR RYAN RAMSEY AS Medical Director for the Fire/Medical department is on the City Council consent calendar for the next council meeting on Tuesday, September, 26 2016.

The services provided by Dr. Ramsey are exempt from the competitive bidding requirements pursuant to §252.022(4), Texas Local Government Code.

The Dr will be paid $7,000/month for 70 hours/month. That folks is a cool $100 per hour. His expenses for continuing education, travel and work related costs will be paid by the city. This seems like a pretty spiffy salary for part-time work that has no night or week-end requirements. It is unclear as to whether health and retirement benefits are included.

It appears that the state legislature needs to change Texas law that allows this class of contracts to be exempt from competitive bidding. I guess one gets these kinds of jobs by knowing someone in the City.  Wait, isn't that the definition of "crony capitalism"?

It is interesting to note that the only requirements for the job is to hold a valid Texas medical license and state and federal licenses to prescribe all controlled drugs. There is nothing about emergency medicine experience, experience in establishing processes and procedures for fire personnel to administer medical treatment and experience in developing and teaching training for the fire/medical staff.

Stand Against Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing

When Castle Rock, CO recently refused to apply for a HUD grant, the recipients of the money were upset. But, Castle Rock had done their homework. Their response to the grantees should be read by every public official who ever considers accepting a federal grant.

Relevant excerpts from the letter that Castle Rock sent to recipients of HUD money follows:

“If we continue to accept the HUD grants, we will be forced to prepare detailed taxpayer-financed studies of our schools, retail, housing, and other community aspects to HUD who will decide if our neighborhoods are “furthering fair housing.” That means that even though our town has never been found in violation of the anti-discrimination housing rules that have been law for over 50 years, HUD on a whim could force us to build low-income, government subsidized housing into our neighborhoods if HUD decides we aren’t racially balanced enough.”

“As a Town Council, we will resist all federal attempt to destroy our local sovereignty, be it from HUD, the EPA, or any other government agency. Council will always defend our resident’s right to make their own local decisions without federal interference. While I appreciate the many good works that are represented by your (the grant applicants’) programs, accepting onerous federal grant requirements, which harm our community, cannot be the price to pay for federal monies.”

One example: according to HUD, if your family home sits on a quarter-acre property, your neighborhood is potentially discriminatory. It would be much less racist if a high-rise low-income apartment building went up next door, never mind local zoning regulations.

More local governments are waking up to the threat that the Federal Government and HUD in particular pose to our local sovereignty. 

Georgetown residents must be vigilant and focused on keeping the City out of these grants. Do not be distracted by emotional pleas for "affordable housing" and do not allow yourself to be sidetracked by less important issues.

Stay informed and let your council members know your position and that we must maintain our local sovereignty.

City Increasing Spending on Public Transportation

At the last City Council workshop, the Council reviewed the proposed public transportation plan.

The city staff has initially focused on a fixed route bus plan, but, the council had previously asked if vouchers could meet the demand for disabled persons using a ride sharing service like Uber or Lyft. The staff said it looked very promising, but, further information and analysis would be required before they would make a recommendation.

They were directed to proceed with information gathering and analysis.

With respect to the fixed bus route, two council persons were opposed on the grounds that the city lacked sufficient population or population density to make fixed bus routes feasible.  The other four council members and the mayor were in favor of proceeding to sign a contract with Capital Metro to provide the bus service.

Therefore, the city staff is proceeding with implementing the plan.  It will cost $542,540 in FY-17 with Georgetown supplying $277,157 and the remainder coming from the Federal Transportation Administration.  That will provide ten months of Capital Area Rural Transportation (CART) service, which is supplied on demand, and two months of fixed route bus service.  Here are the proposed routes:

No one has seemingly asked the following question.  Why is it the responsibility of the City (Taxpayers) to provide some people transportation, but, not others?  Who gets to decide who gets subsidized transportation and who does not and what is the criteria?  City Council?

This seems like another wealth transfer mechanism to take money from the many (Georgetown taxpayers), for the benefit of the few (bus riders).  Once this system is entrenched, it will grow in size and cost and will not be able to be terminated, even though new technologies make it obsolete and costly to operate.  Automous automobiles will be available on demand within the next five to seven years according to many prognosticators.

At least some of the council members acknowledged that this is a subsidized service that will never pay for itself through fares.

Pension Reform Thoughts

Even though the pension fund that Georgetown participates in is currently deemed by "experts" to be in good shape, that is because they assume a 6.75% annual return on their investments. This of course is delusionary in the current and expected investment environment.  Many investment advisors expect the zero interest rates, or even negative interest rates to persist for an indefinite period.

One way that the Texas Municipal Retirement System(TMRS) could increase their returns would be to terminate the money managers and invest only in low cost index funds. Here are the investment categories and target asset allocations used by TMRS.  Investment managers are employed for all asset classes and were paid $37M in 2015.  The bottom four categories, real estate, real return, absolute return, and private equity typically charge higher management fees because they claim to provide superior returns.  The claim of higher returns for these investments have recently come into question in the financial industry.

TMRS spent $58M in 2015 on investment expenses and administrative staff. It is estimated between $30M and $50M in expense could be eliminated annually using the index approach.

Georgetown and the TMRS need to use realistic assumptions on investment returns so that a realistic assessment of the retirement fund health can be determined.

In addition, eliminating the money managers needs to be considered.

The final solution for Georgetown and its taxpayers would be to transition to a "defined contribution" retirement system which is prevalent in the private sector.  This would minimize the risk to the City and it's taxpayers.

Get involved, talk with your city council members.

Toll Road Ripoffs

It was just disclosed that several toll roads in Texas are debt free and tolls are no longer required to service debt.  Instead, TxDot is using tolls to try and modify driver behavior.  What a crock!! (TURF)

A Senate Transportation Committee meeting was held on Wednesday, September 14, 2016 in which considerable information on toll roads was disclosed.

Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Executive Director James Bass laid out the numbers of how much it would cost to retire tolls on roads built with state funds. Let me say that again, toll roads that were built with state money. That means gasoline taxes and other state funds were used to build the road, but Texas drivers are being charged again, through tolls, to use it — a double tax scheme.

Senator Bob Hall echoed her frustration and pursued it further, “There are numerous toll roads that have no debt on them, and they’re still being tolled.”

Camino Columbia in Laredo, Cesar Chavez in El Paso, SH 130 (the state-operated northern 49 miles from Georgetown to Mustang Ridge) and SH 45 in the Austin area, the Katy Freeway managed toll lanes and the entire Metro High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes in Houston, parts of the Grand Parkway around Houston (segments 1-2A), the DFW connector, and the I-30 managed toll lanes (in fact most all of the managed toll lanes) in Dallas all have no debt and should have the tolls come down immediately. Every one of those lanes was built with state and federal funds, no debt is owed, and yet officials charge tolls simply to profit off of congestion and as a means to manipulate people and traffic.

Hall keyed in on Bass’ statement that several of the toll managed lane projects in Dallas-Ft. Worth had no debt and charged tolls to ‘control traffic through pricing.’ That’s a staggering admission for a highway department run by a conservative governor who prides himself on lowering taxes and taking on government overreach.

Hall insisted TxDOT drop such a punitive approach that seeks to control people, punish and discriminate against the poor, and use something that’s cheaper to implement and doesn’t cost the driver anything, like today’s technologically advanced ramp metering.

Notice that SH 130 (the state-operated northern 49 miles from Georgetown to Mustang Ridge) and SH 45 both require tolls and yet are debt free.

It is time to let your state legislators know that this is unacceptable and those tolls need to be eliminated ASAP!

Get involved, it's your money!

More SunEdison News!

The Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee sent letters to seven foreign and domestic companies involved in solar energy requesting information relating to tax credits and financing.WSJ

SunEdison is one of the seven companies and they declined to comment on the letter or their response.

Congressional investigators are examining the use of tax incentives for solar-power companies, third-party financing and how the companies determine the value of the credits.

At issue is a Treasury Department policy that gives solar firms a 30% investment tax credit on the cost of acquiring a system. The tax credit provides a dollar-for-dollar reduction in income taxes otherwise owed by a taxpayer; the companies could also opt to get a grant instead of a credit.

Since companies like SunEdison do not generate taxable income to apply the tax credit to, they typically transfer the credits to investors or end users. There is great uncertainty about how solar installations are valued and this is critical to the creation of the tax credits as they are 30% of this value to first order.

Another issue is the Government does not have a tracking mechanism to track which companies have received tax credits and if they have used them or transferred them to others. Since these credits can exist for a very long time, companies could use the same credits more than once and the Government would have no way of knowing.

Questions abound with respect to the credits allowed to SunEdison. Have they received/created any credits? Have they been transferred to their subsidiary Buckthorn-Westex? Has Buckthorn-Westex been sold with credits with the approval of the bankruptcy court?

It's time for the City to tell the citizen/taxpayers what is going on as it affects each and everyone of us.

Pension Crash Ahead?

Harvard Study Shows Wilco Median Income Down

As part of their latest economic study, Harvard calculated the change in median income in Williamson County between 1999 and 2014.Harvard 2016 Econ Review

The distinctive shape of Williamson County is evident in the graphic map and the key indicates the compound annual growth rate(CAGR) of the real median income for the county is between -2.6% and -0.8% over the fifteen year period.

This is consistent with the earlier post on declining weekly wages and is an indication that Georgetown's City Council should be very cautious spending taxpayer's money. 

Rabid Bats Found Downtown Georgetown

Two bats found on the north side of downtown Georgetown last week have tested positive for rabies, city officials said Thursday.

The bats, which were collected Sept. 7 and Friday, were sent to the Department of State Health Services lab in Austin, where positive rabies virus results were indicated this week, the city said in a news release. It said officials do not believe any people were exposed to rabies from the bats, but that it is important to protect pets by making sure they have a current rabies vaccination.

“Not all sick bats have rabies and not all rabid bats appear sick,” said Kelly Thyssen, animal control officer with the Georgetown Police Department. “If you find a bat, especially if it is inside your home, in an area that a child has access to, in a room with a sleeping person, or if your pet potentially had contact with it, please call us.”

To report a bat or other animal that you believe may have rabies, call the 24-hour number for the Georgetown police at (512) 930-3510.

The Georgetown Animal Shelter at 110 W.L. Walden Drive is hosting a low-cost vaccine clinic Sept. 24. Contact the shelter at (512) 930-3592 to make an appointment.Austin Statesman

Williamson County Weekly Wages Decline 7.8%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yesterday that average weekly wages for the nation decreased to $1,043, a 0.5 percent decrease, during the year ending in the first quarter of 2016. Among the 344 largest counties, 167 had over-the-year decreases in average weekly wages. BLS

Average weekly wages in Williamson County for the first quarter of 2016 were $1,009. This represents a -7.8% decline compared to the first quarter of 2105.

Show Me the Money

In the City of Georgetown FY16 Budget, sales tax revenue was projected to be $14.3M and the City expenditures were established based on that number.

It is now reported that the expected sales tax revenue for FY16 is $22.9M.  That is a difference of $8.6M!

Where is that money going?  Is this a "slush fund" for the City Council to spend on pet projects without public acknowledgement?

We certainly haven't seen a reduction in city taxes.  

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Another Non-Elected Transportation Agency

WOW! Who knew that there is another non-elected, state chartered transportation organization with cognizance over Central Texas.

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) is an independent government agency created in 2003 to improve the transportation system in Travis and Williamson Counties in Texas. Their mission is to implement innovative, multi-modal transportation solutions that reduce congestion and create transportation choices that enhance quality of life and economic vitality.

The Mobility Authority is overseen by a seven-member Board of Directors.[1] The Governor appoints the Chairman, and the Travis and Williamson Counties Commissioners Courts each appoint three members to serve on the Board.

It appears this board is heavily populated by lawyers and land developers.CTRMA

The Mobility Authority was created and operates under the Texas Transportation Code Chapter 370 and is authorized under state law to implement a wide range of transportation systems including roadways, airports, seaports and transit services. The Mobility Authority is authorized to issue revenue bonds to fund projects and can use user fees and/or taxes to fund operations and repay bonds.

How about that?  They have authority to issue bonds, levy fees and taxes and establish toll roads!  We can thank this organization for the tolls on Hwy 183A and MoPac.

Their current endeavor is a $743 million 183 South Expressway project in Austin that will widen U.S. 183 between U.S. 290 and SH 71 into a Texas-sized 12-lane superhighway.

Add the CTRMA to the list of non-elected transportation organizations that operate in Williamson County and affect Georgetown... LoneStar Rail District, U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), Capital Metro, and Capital Area Rural Transportation System (CARTS).

Isn't it wonderful to have another non-elected transportation organization with a $72M budget helping us solve our traffic problems using bicycle lanes, green energy concepts, car pooling assistance, phone apps and roadside assistance!

Wilco EMS Among the Best in the Nation

The Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services standards, a nationwide rating agency of peers, announced that Wilco EMS met their accreditation standards. Williamson County EMS Director Kenny Schnell said only nine EMS providers (including Williamson County) in Texas — out of 782 total — have CAAS accreditation. Nationwide, only 176 out of about 16,000 have met those standards. This means the Wilco EMS is among the top 1% emergency service providers in the U.S.

During its regular weekly meeting Tuesday morning, the Commissioners Court recognized EMS senior leadership and staff who have met Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services standards. Wilco EMS Accreditation

Recall that in November 2014 at the Texas Department of State Health Services’ annual Emergency Medical Services conference in Fort Worth, Williamson County EMS received two of the top awards. Schnell was named Administrator of the Year and Dr. Jeff Jarvis was honored as Medical Director of the Year.

Who is Georgetown's EMS medical director?  What are his qualifications?  Does anyone know?

So Georgetown has traded one of the best EMS organizations in the U.S. for a new startup that has cost taxpayers significant dollars that is not recognized as being among the "best".

Has your City Council been good stewards of your money and safety by providing the "best" EMS available? You decide!

Texas Sales Tax Revenues Down

Texas Sales Tax Revenues Down (Texas Comptroller)

Hegar said today that state sales tax revenue in August was $2.5 billion, down 2.6 percent compared to August 2015.

“The decline in state sales tax revenue was led by reduced collections from the oil and natural gas-related sectors, but collections from the retail trade and information sectors also were down compared to a year ago,” Hegar said. “Increases continued to be seen from construction and restaurants.”

Georgetown continues to realize increasing sales tax revenue, but, it cannot continue if the state sales tax revenues continue to decline.

Your Tax Dollars in Action

The Georgetown City Council will meet on Friday, September 9, 2016 at 11:30 AM at the Westside Service Center, 5501 Williams Dr., Georgetown, Texas.  This is the facility that the City has spent more than $4.M building and furnishing.  It includes 11,000 sf of air conditioned space and several vehicle service bays. Since City Council meetings are open to the public, drop by to view how your tax dollars are being spent.

Tough Times for Savers and Pension funds

Thoughts from the Frontline is a free weekly economic e-letter by best-selling author and renowned financial expert, John Mauldin who is based in Dallas.  He recaps the Federal Reserve’s recent Jackson Hole, Wyoming, retreat.

"Jackson Hole revealed things that did not make it into the reporting of the event by the mainstream media. Turns out, the academic and philosophical underpinnings were laid down there for a radical expansion of the Federal Reserve’s toolbox. I guess you could call that creative, but I wouldn’t call it helpful, because the unthinkable policy that I have been warning about since last May – yes, we’re talking negative rates – was not only discussed at Jackson Hole, it was discussed in a positive, even slavishly approving, manner. I am going to share with you my sense of what happened at Jackson Hole and what it really means. I trust that by the end of this letter you will better understand just how bankrupt – and disastrous – what passes for sound economic thinking among the world’s central bankers actually is.

Negative interest rates were a principal topic.  "So we’re in a world where they seem to work", so says Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer

Let’s read that sentence again: “… the idea is, the lower the interest rate the better it is for investors.” They are sacrificing mom-and-pop middle America, the hard workers who have played by the rules and retired and saved and now want to live out their lives enjoying their grandkids and a little well-deserved relaxation, and they find they can’t do that because the Federal Reserve thinks that protecting Wall Street and wealthy investors and bankers is more important.

If you ask other Fed decision makers outright whether they support this remarkable view of Dr. Fischer’s, they would of course cough, mumble, and then launch into a jargon-laden digression, since Fischer’s little “trade-off” is so obviously politically incorrect. But the reality is that protecting investors at the expense of savers is precisely what Fed policy aims to do; and here Fischer, in an astonishing moment of candor, has come right out and admitted it. How in the name of all that is holy and just can you think that the public’s savings have to be sacrificed on the altar of equity prices?

I should point out that we’re not just talking about middle-class America, Europe, and Japan. The [multiple expletives deleted] central bankers are jackhammering to smithereens the very foundation of our retirement system. They are making it impossible for pension funds and insurance companies to meet their targets and to provide their services without massive contributions that will have to come from taxes and skyrocketing insurance rates that will have to be paid mostly by the middle class."

Although the Fed believes low interest rates are good for "equities", the recent performance of pension funds do not support that notion. 

Notice the comment that pension funds will not meet their obligations in the current interest rate environment without massive infusions of cash from the taxpayer.  Pension funds are not achieving the necessary investment returns from either equities or bonds.  It is time for Georgetown to get ahead of this issue before it becomes a crisis!