Officer Hoskins-Brown Promotion Photo

The Wilco Sun posted a photo of Officer Hoskins-Brown being promoted to sergeant in the Georgetown police department. Unfortunately, they neglected to mention that the city had spent more than $200,000 trying to remove officer Hoskins-Brown in prior years.

Georgetown Population Growth Rate

The estimates for the population over time in Georgetown are quite variable. Most estimates start with the official census numbers that were tabluated in 2010. However, the estimates from different sources for 2016 often vary by several thousand. There are other indirect measures of population growth that are quite accurate. For instance the growth rate in water connections and electrical hookups within the city. Consider the following charts:

This chart is based on census bureau estimates of population. This shows a growth rate of 5.83% annually.

The number of electrical hookup within the city have grown at a rate of 4.42% annually.

The number of water connections have grown at an annual rate of 4.5%. This excludes the additional hookup resulting from the Chisholm Trail acquisition that ocurred in 2015.

Thus, we see that the growth rate of the Georgetown population has grown at a rate of 4.42% to 5.83% annually over the last 5 years. There is no definitive answer as to which rate is correct, but, it seems logical that the water and electrical hookups offer a better current estimate of the growth of Georgetown.

Using the hookup rate of growth of 4.5% makes the budget growth over the same 5 years of 12.8% even more problematic. What is the justification for the City Council allowing the budget to grow 2.8 times as fast as the population? Taxpayers would like to know the answer.

More on Cat Coming to Town

From the Austin Stateman

"The Georgetown City Council approved an agreement Tuesday to provide up to $1.5 million in sales tax rebates to bring a tractor and heavy equipment dealer to town.

Holt Cat has agreed to spend $20 million to build a 60,000-square-foot facility and improvements at 2101 Airport Road by the end of 2018. The City Council has promised to give the company sales tax rebates each year for five years for a total of up to $1.5 million.

The company must make at least $27.5 million in taxable sales per year for the first five years it operates to receive the incentive. It is expected over 10 years to create 129 jobs with an average salary of $48,500 and generate $13 million for the city in taxes and utility revenue.

Holt Cat has more than 30 locations in Texas and is the the authorized dealer for Caterpillar heavy equipment and engines.

Georgetown City Manager David Morgan said the city moved quickly to bring Holt Cat to town with a multidisciplinary team that put together the incentive agreement in three months.

“This a huge investment for Georgetown, not only from a tax base perspective but also in bringing quality jobs to our community,” he said.

The council also approved a $185,000 grant to the company from the Georgetown Economic Development Corporation to hook up to the city’s sewer lines when they are extended to the property.

Tony Shedrock, the vice president of general operations for Holt Cat, told the council Tuesday that the Georgetown facility was the largest store the company has planned to build in 30 years."

Update Ms Hoskins-Brown

The Wilco Sun reported July 16, 2016 that Georgetown agreed to reinstate officer Hoskins-Brown to the Georgetown police force while paying all litigation costs and back pay.

"According to the settlement reached and signed July 14, the city will pay her $42,624.03 in back pay to compensate the difference between her interim earnings and what her salary would have been. The city will pay$9,358.72 into her retirement system, and pay $12,023.19 for vacation hours and unused personal leave. Combined with the previous lawyer fees and $280 in additional lawyer fees, the city owes Ms. Hoskins-Brown a grand sum of $108,985.94."

The city should be grateful that officer Hoskins-Brown did not seek punitive damages for the emotional distress and disruption to her life over the past three years that this unjustified termination has caused.  To the casual observer it would seem that officer Hoskins-Brown did suffer unwarranted stress and angst.  

Through April 1, 2016, the city paid outside counsel $82,136.63 to litigate this case.  Since additional court actions occurred after that date, additional litigation costs were incurred but are unknown at this time.  The city also declined to identify the cost in city staff time that has been devoted to this case over the last three years.

In any event, this case has cost the city well over $200,000  in one form or another.  It is time to move on and learn from this experience so that it not repeated in the future. 

Update: Officer Hoskins-Brown was promoted from Patrol Officer to Sergeant last night by City Council according to the City Managers office.  Good for Sergeant Hoskins-Brown for persevering in pursuit of a career in law enforcement with the City of Georgetown.

Holt Caterpillar Coming to Georgetown

Councilman Steve Fought announced in his newsletter that Holt Caterpillar is opening a retail dealership and maintenance facility on 75 acres ajacent to the airport.  Here is the entire announcement.

"Economic Development: HOLT®Caterpillar 

Items "W", "X", and "Y" on the City Council's agenda for 24 January deal in economic development and Holt Caterpillar's decision to open a retail dealership and maintenance facility in Georgetown.  The Council reviewed this proposal in November of 2016 and directed the City Staff to proceed with negotiations.  The final proposal has been reviewed and recommended for approval by the Georgetown Economic Development Corporation (GEDCO).  

This is a success story. HOLT Caterpillar is the authorized Caterpillar heavy equipment and engine dealer for 118 counties in South, Central, North and East Texas. HOLT sells, services and rents CAT equipment, engines and generators for construction, mining, industrial, petroleum and agricultural applications. They also sell Caterpillar used equipment worldwide and fabricate their own line of custom engineered products.  

One of the factors in this decision was Holt's commitment to using renewable energy.  As expressed on their web site, their goal is that:  "All new HOLT CAT facilities will have buildings that meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) or comparable green building standards."

They further state:

"The HOLT CAT® Environmental Philosophy is to provide solutions that protect people, preserve the planet and enable economic growth. We are providing work environments, products, services and solutions that make efficient use of the world's natural and sustainable resources and reduce unnecessary impacts on people and the environment, while integrating sustainability into our core businesses and helping our customers do the same.

We are leveraging resources to:

▪Promote and protect individual safety and well-being;

▪Provide employment, education and training;

▪Minimize the use of energy, materials, water and land;

▪Maximize recycling;

▪Minimize emissions; and

▪Optimize the use of renewable resources."

My purpose in restating Holt's corporate objectives is to emphasize the importance of Georgetown's decision to go for 100% renewable energy.  Not only was that decision prudent in terms of providing pricing stability and reducing regulatory risk, the spillover effect of attracting firms such as Holt needs to be appreciated.

Holt's decision to open a facility in Georgetown is codified in two agreements, the text of each is attached to Items "X and "Y".  The major aspects of these agreements are expectations that:

-- Holt will purchase approximately 75 acres of land (shown in hatched red on the linked drawing) and will construct a minimum of 60,000 square feet of commercial development on the land for the retail sale of heavy equipment.

-- Holt will invest approximately Twenty Million Dollars ($20,000,000) in land, infrastructure, real property improvements, and business personal property at the premises.

In return the City will:

-- Expedite the completion of the Airport Road Expansion.

-- Expedite the completion of the sewer extension.

-- Provide a sales tax reimbursement not to exceed $1.5 Million over the 5-year life of the development agreement, based on an expectation of $27.5 Million in annual sales during that period.

This development will obviously bring jobs to Georgetown.  So, in addition to being part of the Council's recent direction to shift the tax base more toward commercial/retail and away from residential, this also coincides with the long-standing objective of attracting employment opportunities to our town.

Congratulations are in order to the City Staff and to Holt, for their success in this project.  I look forward to having this fine employer in our community." 

Georgetown Budget Growth

It is getting close to the time that Georgetown begins formulating it's budget for FY 17-18. Do you know the rate the budget has been increasing in recent years? Let us take a look.

WOW! Look at that. The budget has been increasing at a rate of 12.8% annually over the past 5 years. We hear from city officials that these huge budget increases are required because of the population increases. Let us look at the population increases over the last 5 years.

Georgetown's population is growing at an annual rate of 5.83%. So if population is growing at a 5.83% rate, why is the budget growing at 12.8% annually? Good Question!

But to be completely fair, the rate of inflation should also be considered. Over the last 5 years inflation has averaged 1.36% per year.

Thus one could reasonably expect that the budget would increase with the population and inflation. Adding those two numbers together, it would be expected the budget would grow at an annual rate of 7.19% to accommodate population growth and inflation.

Why is the city growing the budget at a 12.8% annual rate? A common response is "the city has to get ahead of the growth". Maybe 1 or 2 years, but 5 plus years? This has been going on for a long time!

It is time to ask your city council person why this excessive budget growth goes on year after year. Council/Mayor elections are coming in May. This would be a good question to ask the candidates.

It is time for the city to focus on its core responsibilities of roads, parks, libraries, utilities and public safety and increase their budgets commensurate with population growth and inflation. Other funding should be reduced or at least held constant. 

Potential for Change in Georgetown Governance

Two council seats and the mayor are up for election in May. Councilman Brainard has opted not to run for reelection in District 2. District 2 covers the southwest part of town, west of I35. Valerie Nicholson has indicated she plans to run for the District 2 position.

The District 6 position, currently held by Rachael Jonrowe, is also open for the May election. No candidates have yet been identified. District 6 is north of downtown, east of I35.

The mayoral position is also available to be filled in May. The mayor position is filled by voters in all of Georgetown, whereas, the council positions are only voted upon by voters in the respective districts.

The following is from the city's website.

A general election will be held May 6, 2017 for the positions of Mayor, Councilmember District 2 and Councilmember District 6.  The Mayor and Council Members serve terms of three years.  The Mayor is elected at large and the Council Members are elected from single-member districts.

Candidate packets may be picked up at City Hall beginning January 2, 2017.   The first day for filing an application for a place on the ballot is January 18, 2017 and the last day to file for a place on the ballot is February 17, 2017.   Applications for a place on the ballot are filed with the City Secretary at City Hall, 113 E. 8th Street, Georgetown, Texas.  A drawing for the order of names on the ballot will be held at City Hall on February 23, 2017 at 4:00 PM.

Watch Out for Fake News

A recent letter to the editor of the WilcoSun touted a website called ObamaCareFacts as a definitive source of information about Obamacare. A little searching shows that the website is a shill for Obamacare and that their income comes from marketing firms that connect people to insurance companies.

ObamaCareFacts is an internet marketing firm with no particular expertise in healthcare or insurance. It appears most, or all, their revenue comes from Health Network Group, LLC, another marketing firm that only connects consumers with health insurers that focus on Obamacare policies.

Tom DeMichele: Head Author and Content Strategist for (dog) Media Solutions project’s including ObamaCareFacts.com. (All content on this site is written by Tom DeMichele except when otherwise noted). DeMichele also runs another website called factmyth where he states Reagan never said “Government is the problem”. That is easily shown to be false by looking at Reagan’s 1st inaugural address where he did say “Government is the problem”.

ObamaCareFacts reports roughly 20 million Americans have been covered under the ACA’s coverage provisions between Medicaid, the Marketplace, and children staying on their parents plan since 2010.

The Obama administration claims 20 million more Americans today have health care due to Obamacare. The reality is that when you look at the actual net gains over the past two years since the program was fully implemented, the number is 14 million, and of that, 11.8 million (84 percent) were people given the “gift” of Medicaid.

This number, 20 million has been completely discredited by the Heritage Foundation (http://dailysignal.com/2017/01/13/why-obamacares-20-million-number-is-fake/).

Therefore, DeMichele and ObamaCareFacts has no credibility!

Beware false news both in print and on the internet!

County Treasurer Moves to County Auditor

The district judges of Williamson County are proud to announce the appointment of Jerri L. Jones as the new County Auditor for Williamson County.

Ms. Jones has more than 20 years of financial experience including payroll, budgeting, accounting, and analyzing cost data for major military organizations.  Ms. Jones served honorably in the United States Marine Corps for 20 years as a Finance Officer achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  During Ms. Jones’ tenure with the Corps, she gained valuable experience in accounting, auditing, payroll, quality assurance, and financial management working her way up to Comptroller of 1^stMarine Aircraft Wing, Okinawa, Japan.  In her capacity as Comptroller, Lt Col Jones managed a $350 million Navy budget and a $150 million Marine Corps budget in support of air and ground units in the Pacific.

 In the Corps and in private life, Ms. Jones has exhibited her talents as a systems expert. Following military service Ms. Jones was a mid-level manager in manufacturing for Solectron, Texas.  Later, Ms. Jones became the Executive Director of the non-profit Williamson County Children’s Advocacy Center.  While Director, she managed contract negotiations and construction accounting of the Advocacy Center facility built on Inner Loop Road in Georgetown. 

Currently, Ms. Jones serves as County Treasurer and manages the county's revenue and investments. Soon after taking office, Ms. Jones led the extensive effort to select a new financial institution for the county’s banking needs. The project included banking reviews, account analysis and successful conversion of the county's extensive departmental accounts.  Additionally, under Ms. Jones’ leadership, the Treasurer’s office has reduced redundancies, increased efficiency and expanded the county’s investment activity.

County auditors work to help ensure that all aspects of county finances are properly accounted for and safeguarded.  Leadership, independence and strong ethics are essential for the County Auditor to perform her duties.  The District Judges of Williamson County believe that Ms. Jones’ overall experience, leadership qualities, and proven track record make her the right choice to move Williamson County forward in the coming years.  Ms. Jones is expected to assume her new duties as County Auditor no later than March 1, 2017.Wilco

Government Sector Lobbying is Widespread

Taxpayer-funded lobbying is government-to-government lobbying. Counties, cities, school districts, public facilities and government employee associations frequently use public funds to influence legislation and appropriations. Public funds are spent to lobby for agendas not subject to direct approval by voters and often against the best interest of the citizens.

Often public funds are used to directly hire lobbyists while other times government employees directly lobby legislators on behalf of their government employer.

Georgetown pays a membership fee to the Texas Municipal League which is basically a lobbying organization for cities. Its budget is not open to public scrutinty. 

The following is a list of Texas government sector lobbying associations by type:

City and municipal

• Texas Municipal League

County

• Texas Association of Counties
• Texas Conference of Urban Counties
• Texas Association of County Officials
• Texas Association of County Auditors

School

• Texas School Alliance
• Texas Association of Community Schools
• Texas Association of School Business Officials
• Texas Association of Secondary School Principals
• Texas Association of School Boards
• Texas Association of School Administrators
• Texas Association of School Personnel Administrators
• South Texas Association of Schools

Other

• Building Officials Association of Texas
• Government Finance Officers Association of Texas
• Texas Fire Chiefs Association
• Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association
• Texas Police Chiefs Association
• Texas Public Works Association
• Texas City Attorneys Association

City Council Approves Rezoning for Oil Pumping Station

The City Council approved a zoning request to allow construction of an oil pipeline pumping station on Rabbit Hill next to I-35. There is a pending lawsuit that is aimed at stopping the construction of the pumping station. The pipeline has yet to be constructed, so we will likely see additional contriversy about this in the future. Austin Statesman

Tax-Funded Lobbying

There are others around the state that have noticed that tax payers are paying for lobbbists to lobby the state legislature against the best interest of the tax payer. Government Funded Lobbying

"Local government entities across the state spend millions of taxpayer dollars every legislative session hiring lobbyists – unbeknownst to the taxpayers footing the bill – to advocate for and against reforms in the legislature. While some municipalities bury the contracts for such services deep within some nebulous online archive, some don’t even go that far, meaning that taxpayers for many local governments across the state have no idea what kind of policy positions they are forced to fund advocacy efforts for – or how much of their money is spent on these efforts."

Let the sun shine on these activities so that citizens can stop these activities.

Georgetown Man Featured in Wall Street Journal

Rancher John Yearwood kneeling near a cave entrance on his property where Bone Cave harvestmen may live in Georgetown, Texas, in December. PHOTO: ANDY SHARP/AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

By 

TAWNELL D. HOBBS

Jan. 5, 2017 1:30 p.m. ET

A tiny spider-like creature that lives in caves on his property is causing a giant headache for Texas rancher John Yearwood.

The Bone Cave harvestman, a blind arachnid found in Central Texas, has been on the U.S. endangered species list since 1988.

But Mr. Yearwood wants the harvestman—which resembles a spider but technically is more of a cousin sometimes called a daddy longlegs—removed from protected status. He said its discovery on his land hinders the use of at least 35 acres north of Austin that has been in his family since 1871.

“It’s the government telling me that I, at my own expense, have to have a preserve for everyone in America,” Mr. Yearwood said. “I pay taxes on the land every year. And there’s no way I can sell it—nobody will buy it.”

Federal law prohibits modifications or degradation of habitats of endangered species that could impact their breeding, feeding or sheltering, except under federal permit. Those permits are mostly available for conservation and scientific purposes. Harming or harassing the species, physically or through noise or light is also prohibited.

Mr. Yearwood said he hasn’t been given a list of activities not to do, but is reluctant to do anything with the land in Williamson County.

He and other property owners have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees endangered species rules, to delist the harvestman, saying it isn’t endangered and is unnecessarily restricting use of their property. Mr. Yearwood’s suit also contends that the federal government is exceeding its authority by regulating “noneconomic activity.”

Last month, the state of Texas threw support behind Mr. Yearwood in a friend-of-court brief filed in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas, calling the situation a “clear overreach in the use of federal power.”

The rancher’s dilemma is a peculiar example of broader tensions in the West over federal oversight of land. In this case, the conflict confronts federal rules for privately owned land.

But the same frustration fueled the armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge on public land that resulted in the death of a protester at the hands of law enforcement, and it continues to play out in numerous courtrooms and land spats across the region.

The wildlife service didn’t respond to the allegations by Mr. Yearwood, but said last month that it is evaluating the status of the spider “to inform future conservation and recovery efforts.”

The Center for Biological Diversity, a national group focused on the protection of endangered species, has joined other conservation groups in a request to intervene in the court case to support keeping the harvestman as endangered. The conservation groups said the harvestman, which has a scientific name of Texella reyesi—is “incredibly rare” and threatened primarily by development and road construction.

Mr. Yearwood, 71 years old, said three harvestman caves were found on his property about 12 years ago during a highway expansion project. The caves disappear underground from small openings on a mostly flat area of his property. He said that he’s never seen one of the “bugs,” which are pale orange and up to 0.11 inches long.

He calls his 865-acres of farmland “Heartbreak Acres” because of the grief he said that he’s gotten from government officials over the years. He runs a commercial cattle operation and allows community groups to camp free on the property. But he said he keeps farming and camping activity away from the harvestman caves for fear of running afoul of federal rules.

There were 168 confirmed harvestman caves in 2009, according to the wildlife service. Williamson County has 11 harvestman habitat preserves, an area that can include many caves, on almost 900 acres, officials there recently said.

The wildlife service denied a petition in June 2015 by Mr. Yearwood and others to delist the harvestman, saying substantial information wasn’t provided to warrant the change.

In response, a coalition of property owners led by the American Stewards of Liberty, a Texas-based private-property rights group, filed lawsuit in December 2015. Mr. Yearwood and Williamson County received approval by the court to intervene as plaintiffs.

In November, the wildlife service acknowledged in court record that a disc of information submitted with the original petition was misplaced and not used in the 2015 decision. The court has granted the agency’s request for a new review to be submitted by March 31, 2017, and to stay the court proceedings until then. The plaintiffs were against a stay, saying the issue supports their belief that the agency erred in evaluating the petition.

In the end, Mr. Yearwood hopes the court will decide in his favor.

“We’re not saying that there are no bugs in the hole,” he said. “What we’re saying is that the Bone Cave harvestman is not in danger because it’s in every cave and non-cave around.”

WSJ

No Answers on Why City Electric Company Lost $6M

The $6M loss by the city owned electric company is finally getting some visibility in the community. It was a front page feature, above the fold, on yesterdays WilcoSun newspaper.

Still there is no explanation as to why the utility was purchasing electricity from/thru ERCOT in advance. Georgetown citizens have been told repeatedly that the city has contracted for wind generated electricity at a fixed price and that the wind farm generates more electricity than the city currently requires. Why was the city buying/hedging in the market? Since the electricity cannot be stored, it has to be used/sold and that was the source of the $6M loss.

There are many unanswered question surrounding the management and operation of the city's electric company. The secrecy surrounding the utility company is a breeding ground for corruption and fraud. Only transparency about all the operations can show the citizens of Georgetown that the management and operation is clean, cost effective and efficient. Let the sun shine!

Does Georgetown Suffer from Ambulance Waste?

Ambulance waste occurs when the ambulance is dispatched to transport a person that is not truly in an emergency situation. That potentially makes the ambulance unavailable for a true emergency. We have anecdotal evidence that sometimes there is an extended wait for an ambulance here in Georgetown because the closest one is not available. In fact that is the very reason that Councilman Fought gave to support establishing the Georgetown Emergency Medical Service. When his wife needed an ambulance, the closest one was not available and it took about 23 minutes for the next closest ambulance to arrive.

An emergency room physician examines the problem: Ambulance Waste
For an extended description of the problem of ambulance waste and potential solutions, read the article at the link.

It seems a first step is for Georgetown EMS to track those transports that are life saving emergencies versus the non-life threatening events. Only then can it be determined if this is an issue in Georgetown.

Texas Pension Funds Health

James Quintero, the Director of the Center for Local Governance at the Texas Public Policy Foundation was interviewed by Lawrence Person' Blog on the subject of the health of Texas public pension funds. It is an excellent summary and points out that the under funding issues are mainly in the large cities that use defined benefit plans.

 Asked whether other large pensions in Texas were as bad off as the Dallas Police and Fire Pension, Quinterro said simply, "If you’re a taxpayer or property owner in one of Texas’ major cities, I’d be concerned."

Georgetown uses a cash balance plan, TMRS, that is generally much more fiscally sound than the defined benefit plans. The TMRS plan still suffers from overoptimistic investment returns. TMRS assumes a 6.75% annual return, whereas they have actually achieved about 5.6% annual returns over the past five years. This results in a larger unfunded liability than reported that taxpayers are on the hook to pay.