Apples to oranges

Howard Koontz, the city’s recently appointed director of planning, went before the City Council Tuesday evening in an effort to claim the city’s development fees are, contrary to complaints the city has allegedly been receiving, actually lower than those in other communities. And he proved his point. They do appear to be lower than the cities he compared Kyle to. The problem is his data is unsupportable.

In order to make a valid comparison you must compare Kyle to comparable cities, not just other communities in the neighborhood. And there are plenty of other cities right here in the state of Texas that can be viewed as comparable. Here’s just a partial list: Terrell, Donna, Gatesville, Uvalde, Brenham, Mercedes, Mount Pleasant, Sulphur Springs, Hereford, Cibolo, Taylor, Humble, Portland, Highland Village, Seagoville, West University Place, Hutto, Dumas, Forney, Jacksonville, LaMarque, Katy, Rio Grande City, Henderson, Hewitt, Levelland, Canyon, Borger, Live Oak, Addison, Port Neches. That’s 31 communities that are far more comparable to Kyle than any Koontz used. (How he finds that Kyle and Austin are comparable in any way other than geographical is almost laughable.)

Pick 15 cities from the above list — any 15 — and make your comparisons. I’m not suggesting the results would turn out differently. I am just saying they would be valid.