Tag: Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce

How much benefit-bang for your tax dollars are you actually getting?

Do you – like the Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce – ever wonder just how much is the actual benefit from taxes? For each of the previous eight years, budgets for the City of Paris, Texas, have increased, just as they have in most communities.                               

Ultimately, clear evidence on how much money should be spent, and on what, remains elusive. And how much time can you afford to waste trying to wade through two or three hundred boring pages of government PDF filled with obscure acronyms and confusing charts?

Budgets are complicated—they take many twists and turns—and plenty of info is buried under different boxes and buckets.

The City of Paris budget grew at a compounded 3% annually rate for each of the previous 3-years. Now, it jumps to 4.28%, as Administrative costs for two non-needed assistant city managers and a public information officer, plus support personnel, must be covered. And there is a planned $128 million ($259,201,276 million w/interest) over-priced wastewater treatment plant that will be an excuse to increase the budget for years to come.

But if a city’s budget is growing as its population is decreasing, shouldn’t some benefits from spending need questioning​?

Most Texas’ communities have gained population, but the Paris population dropped from the 2000 high of 25,898 down to 24,476 in 2020, according to the U. S. Census.

This in a period when Texas gained 4.3 million new residents, the largest population increase of all 50-states: 20,851,820 (2000) to 29,145,505 (2024), a 22.8% gain. The state budget in the same time period, however, went from $99 billion (increased teacher’s pay $3,000 annually and promised a $1.7 billion tax cut) to $221 billion – a 223% increase. (The 2024-25 budget increased to $321.3 billion.)

Paris’ population numbers were saved by the 1.3% increase in Lamar County growth – from 49,822 in 2010 to 50,484 in 2020.

Unfortunately, 18.2-percent of in-city Paris families live in poverty today – and the percentage is growing; thanks to government.

Making matters worse, those living in Paris, age 65-and over, have increased from 16.7% in 2010 to 19.2%.

How much actual benefit do they get in taxes?

Politicians – governments – cheat. Legislation is written so that legislative members can say they reduced taxes, while increasing taxes. Texas cities are limited to a 3% annual property tax increase, politicians claim. They lie and they know that they are lying. So, how much actual benefit to they get in taxes?

Their laws allow governmental units to create several budgets: an Original, an Amended and an Actual Budget.

Then, there is the General Fund—the main pot which includes police, public works, etc.—an Enterprise Funds (items that function like a business, such as water and sewer fees, but are part of the local government. Some of these can get confusing because some are owned by government but managed by another party, like trash pick-up and disposal).

There is a Capital fund, where you have to watch out for things like debt, which often hides in all sorts of places. And pay attention to “inter-fund transfers”— where money is moved from one bucket to another.

Generally, Paris brags about the inflation-increases in retail sales or another point added to the Hotel Occupancy Tax, and other items, which are not counted as a “property” tax, but adds to government spending.

Our city government, like most governments, spends too much on amenities, which means we’re not all benefiting from taxes as much as we should . . .

“Experts” in government know that “As citizens often lack experience in the public sector and finance, citizens tend to have difficulty understanding how government works.”

Ronald Reagan knew: “Government is not your friend…”

But people in government know those not in government are stupid. THEY know what’s best for us!

Government is the nation’s largest employer. How do you think those 22-million employees vote? Taxes pay their salaries, as well as retirement, health costs, and other perks. Are their decisions based on your interests or “self-interest”?

Do you really think that the law-makers, who create laws that are not in the best interest of those they were elected to serve, don’t know what they’re doing?

We’re not getting our money’s worth when it comes to taxes; however, when it comes to global socialism, we’re getting what we pay for . . .

 

return to Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce

 

                           Links:

                                   You Don’t Stiff Your Customers

                                  “Figures don’t lie, but liars can figure”

                                   Plans, Snowflakes and Compromise

 

FOUR EXISTING FACTS in Paris, Texas:

One, a planned Internet-delivery service doesn’t need a government franchise

Two, every government door welcomes a monopoly or conglomerates making significant campaign contributions

Three, government takes care of government

Four, the Paris Texas Chamber a few years ago reported that the City of Paris had approximately $600,000 on hand from an Internet-fee, and wanted to spend the money on a public cable-sponsored channel and a public information officer. (Public meaning government.) The Paris Texas Chamber flatly stated that these were two terrible ideas.

We, now, repeat it.

(Note: Basically, the fee [1% of annual receipts] was authorized by the state [as a buy-off of local city control over local franchising] in exchange for the state taking control of all licensing of or permission for [franchising] telecommunication firms to do business in Texas.)

A government idea is like a flea on a dog: Its not turning the dog loose.

The last city manager of Paris, Texas – who left with more then what he had when he applied for the job and the city has less – sold a majority of the city council members some really dumb ideas: Including hiring two assistant city managers (to do what he asked to be hired to do), when Paris was losing in-city population; getting rid of employees by switching trash pickup to a private firm; refusing restoration of three or four key  downtown historical buildings (to show how smart he was); to employing a “Public Information Officer” – who probably is a nice guy who means well. But Paris doesn’t need someone selling more government.

Now, the City of Paris has over $865,200 in the cable-fee account, which can only be spent on equipment. And as it is a government rule, the equipment is communications-related stuff. 

As we repeatedly note, government takes care of government.

So, outside the basic four existing facts, legislators – the state cupcakes and the dangerous socialists getting rich in Nutland, D. C – come up with “public information channels” – which franchised cable providers must make available to local communities when requested.

These are actually PEG (Public, Educational and Government) Channels. They use the ‘fee” (tax money) collected by “forced compliance” from the cable subscribers, to sell local yokels more government. Examples being: pleas for what every department of government sees as needed; a 24-hour bulletin board offering various content about glorious things; professionally produced ‘free videos’ – some of which costs millions of tax-dollars to make – about services, future projects, and wonderful ‘progressive’ individuals; commercials and editorials about the magnificent things local, state and national governmental units are doing; professionally filmed canned debates about how to destroy the constitution or best serve some ‘special’ deserving group; snake oil sermons on how grateful us poor creatures who are not members of government must be to a benevolent government that provides us everything; and lots of science-fiction on the wonderful world of Paris, Texas.

As we recommended years ago, the funds should be used to create a wireless internet network with no-costs access within the city limits. Use the funds for a worthwhile purpose. The state claims that a local community cannot do it, but it can be done – and is being done. A community may not have the state’s permission to charge for access, but that, too, is being done. 

Regardless of any four existing facts, all the gravy doesn’t belong to the big cities or to the 8 cable Internet providers in Texas.

Paris needs to be creating opportunities for all citizens, not promoting more government, which needs limiting.

And it would be a home run for the downtown area.

 

return to     Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce

 

                                                                                                        links:  Private-Public Partnerships

                                                                                                                         The Objective Reality

                                                                                                                                Snake Oil

                                                                                                                              Incentivizing

(with an apology to Woody Herman)

Most all personal “interpretations” are subjective, not objective.

The Goosey-Gander directive is ignored by most marketing people and politicians. They make decisions based on the false belief that they know what people want and / or will do. But they do not abide by “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” Their personal interpretations are subjective, not objective.

The Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce believes that individuals determine what they like, want or will do. It’s why they drive marketing people and politicians crazy, which, in most cases, is no big deal; it being a very short drive.

Like other laws, city codes and ordinances are needed, but only if they can be carried out on a fair, equal, and objective basis.  But when open to “personal interpretation” they will never be fair or equal or objective.

And there’s very little that is fair or equal about what Paris does, nor how it does it. 

We zone areas, and then permit exemptions – for a good supporter or one who has a little influence. (Its only politics, you know . . .)

We create ordinances for the beautification and improvement of Paris, but don’t enforce them – or only “selectively” enforce them (favorite weeds can last for years undisturbed and some of the numerous substandard buildings (some owned by slum-landlords) can feed termites for decades).

The city restricts what you can do with or to your property but not what the city can do with or to theirs (try making the right turn off Bonham Street onto 7th Street SW, or compare city street paving standards verses those for private developers).

The Historical District requires “restoration” of buildings … mere “improvements” are not allowed. Then say that “restoration” can include central heat and air, concrete driveways, double-and-tripled glazed windows, electric opening garage-doors, various kinds of weather-proofing, insulation, musical doorbells, burglar alarms, and a hosts of other digital things and improvements that did not exist when most of those buildings in the district were constructed,

And the list goes on . . . 

Only 43,000 air conditioning systems were in national use in 1947.

The first residential unit was installed in 1914 and needed a room of its own: it was seven feet high, six feet wide and 20 feet long. One of these early units carried a price tag of $10,000 to $50,000, which translates to $120,000 to $600,000 at today’s rate of exchange.

Too many times, we’re killing improvement.

Trying to meet “restoration” requirements, instead of improvement, the Lamar County Courthouse’s recurring windows and/or roof leaks costs taxpayers a truck load of bushel baskets full of money.

The City of Paris spent nearly an estimated $500,000 on trying to restore the Grand Theater a decade ago, according to reports (or the money reported ear-marked for that purpose was diverted to some other use). Now, it seems some folks have lost their ever-loving minds and want to spend an additional $4-million or so on “restoring” it – while ignoring the fact that when the Grand was originally constructed it didn’t have air conditioning . . .

Logic seems to be missing: Restoring it to what point in time? The 1930s? 1940S? Or to original status? Air conditioning didn’t get into wide use until after WWII.

    Four million dollars would go a long way to clean-up, fix-up, and paint-up Paris.

We create Reinvestment Zones for areas that do not come close to being eligible; give cash and tax abatement as incentives. Some to those who do not quality for incentives; cash to subsidize those who need subsidizing the least; and we make up the rules as we go along. And if a rule or regulation is in our way, we ignore it or change it.

And, no: The Paris Chamber doesn’t want to hear excuses about “tough situations” or excuses about “difficult choices” or excuses about “walking a tightrope” and excuses about “exceptions” to a code or ordinance.

We want to hear what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

Anything else is wrong.