I’ve been spending the last hour or so trying to get to sleep. You see I have to drive to Austin early in the morning to spend the day with my granddaughter. Not that I don’t want to drive to Austin early in the morning to spend the day with my granddaughter. Truth be told, I’m really looking forward to doing just that. I just wish I could get to sleep so I’ll have a more alert day with my granddaughter.
What’s keeping me awake is visions of a lawyer. Not any lawyer, mind you, but that scoundrel Steven C. Metcalfe and specifically these words he spoke before the Kyle City Council last night:
"Once a homeowner has bought his house and that homestead is in place, the assessment is set. It never changes. If it’s $1,000 per month, it’s going to be $1,000 a month going forward."
Let that sink in and roll around your cranium a little bit. Then consider this: Suppose some homeowner-gouging developer comes in wishing to plunk a 200-home subdivision somewhere in Kyle and gets a Kyle-type PID for the subdivision. And let’s say its one of those Metcalfe-type $1,000-a-month-assessment boondoggles. Figure it up, 200 homes, $1,000 a month, over the 30-year-life of the PID.
That’s $72 million into the pockets of the developer. That’s right $72 million, minus the interest on the bonds. There is no one on this climate-changing planet that can tell me that’s a fair deal. It’s not. Certainly, it’s a lucrative deal for the developer, but fair it isn’t. No way. No how.
For the sake of the argument, let’s just say it’s half that. It’s still a $36 million windfall for the developer. You really think he’s going to put in $36 million worth of additional "improvements" into this subdivision? Give me a break.
Just something to keep me awake at night.
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