CardinalBacker

It’s very similar. You have the preacher saying that he needs a new $54 million jet. Now, he knows better than anybody what he needs to spread the word. He just needs his parishioners to dig a little deeper and anybody that doesn’t must be greedy and selfish. On the other hand you have NISD saying that they need $156 million (@$230 million payout) worth of new facilities. Now, they know better than anybody what they need to do their jobs. They just need the taxpayers to dig a little deeper and anybody that doesn’t must be greedy and selfish. It’s exactly the same. Stupid high price tags under the guise of doing good. Anybody dissenting must be flawed... in NISD’s case, just not care about kids and investing in the future.

I do not... and I’m too lazy to do the research. Enlighten me.

I’ll compare the NISD bond situation like this one. [Hidden Content] Not the same, obviously, but similar. You have a preposterous proposition made by someone who should obviously knows their own needs, right? Shame on anybody who isn’t willing to dig deep and do more for the greater good. I mean, NISD taxpayers are still paying for the last bond issue but gonna be tearing down buildings whose repairs are still not yet paid for.... And it’s not like they’ve outgrown anything.

Coldspring is a good example to counter the guys who say that athletic talent is substantially more important than coaching.

They’re just trying to score another round of Texans tickets.

How does their familiarity with the facilities make them the authority on whether or not I can continue to pay my taxes? Its like taking the advice of the guy who changes your oil regarding whether or not you should buy a new Cadillac. Youre getting an opinion... and that’s about it.

I hear what you’re saying. I’m not saying it isn’t valuable... but the general public doesn’t place as much value on it as people who are closely associated with it. I’ll put it like this... if only educators and their families were allowed to vote, the approval would in all fairness be nearly 100% if the total bond amount was 6 billion dollars. So it’s pretty safe to say that you can ignore the arguments of anyone associated with the educational system. We already know that it’s a hard “yes” from them. And I can also admit that if an opportunity came up for me to get a new office space, but everybody else had to pay for it, I’d be in favor, too. If the general public cared about education, only the poorest of the poor would attend public schools. We’d all spend huge sums to get our kids into the best private schools available ... but few do. Public school systems were founded because teachers were starving when paid what they were actually worth to he public.

I like it when “selfishness” and “greed” are used to describe people who oppose the largest bond issue per capita in SETX History. Isn’t it a little “selfish” or “greedy” to vote for a tax increase for all of your neighbors? Those are prettty harsh accusations to level just because somebody else’s opinion is that there are obviously less expensive alternatives. The sad truth is that the educational system greatly overestimates its own value in the community. I’ll bet that less than 5% of the public can name the NISD Super or more than two board members. People don’t care about the school system, with the exception of high school sports. We’re all here posting and reading... can somebody direct me to a similar site where people show support for academics? Lol. Really... I just Lol’d. The sad truth is that if you are closely attached to the education system (because you or family work there) you’ll think that new facilities and pay raises for all are totally justified. And if you don’t you aren’t so closely affiliated, you think that maybe teacher should go out and find a full time job if they want a salary that compares to actual full time jobs. And be thankful that they have ac at their 182 day a year job. Nederland isn’t Magnolia... they aren’t a Outgrowing their facilities. There’s no reason (other than envy) to undertake a project of this magnitude. The problem is taxes are too high. If you own a house in Lumberton, you pay property taxes to 4 entities. LISD, Hardin County, your emergency services district, and Lumberton MUD. If you live in Nederland, you pay taxes to seven entities... you’re adding in city of Nederland, DD7, and the Sabine Neches Navigation District. And the crazy thing is that Lumberton can afford turf! People up there aren’t being taxed to death like they are in Jeffco.... and that’s why people relocate up there. I have a friend (former Indianette whose Dad was an assistant principal at PNG high (third generation Indian) who has been living in DFW. They’re moving back to SETX this summer and they aren’t even looking at PNG as a landing spot. She’s been in Keller and her property taxes have gone up by $3k/year in the 7 years they’ve lived there. High taxes are a growth killer. I live the way that taxes go up year in and year out... but according to the Yes people, we can expect our taxes to peak in 2020 and drop after that... who knew that all we had to do was borrow up a bunch of money and our trend of increasing tax bills would reverse? It’s amazing !

THIS..... the two schools with the nicest facilities and biggest expenditures in the area didn’t make the list. It invalidated every single argument that the “yes” people can make. Period. Other than “the schools are really old” I guess. I’ll bet there are more families threatening to move because (or even FORCED to move) because of the higher tax bills.

“Only $30 per month” lol.

And some people believe that all of the world's problems can be fixed with other peoples' money. Nothing is stopping you or anybody else from driving down to the admin building and scratching a personal check for however much you believe you can afford. The funny thing is that if you really felt so "charitable" "benevolent" and "giving" you'd at least be willing to forego your homestead exemption. But you won't.

Actually, they'd say "My truck cost me $38,000." So if you all want to say "$156 million + interest" I'm okay with that, too.

I’ll be honest.... I’ve never once heard anybody say “Jeez, my taxes went up by $80/month!” Every single person has said “my taxes went up by almost a thousand dollars last year!” But I understand that’s how people try to sell an unsupportable proposition. For example...Oil is sold by the barrel. All discussions of production and pricing are given by, you guessed it, the barrel. But let somebody spill some oil in the ship channel and suddenly they’re on the news saying “Big Oil spilled FIFTY-FIVE HUNDRED GALLONS of oil into our waterway” instead of “the spill was limited to 100 barrels.” It’s all about influencing people. No, that’s incorrect. You won’t have to pay double the total tax amount, but homeowners who are escrowed will pay double the increase in year two. Youre escrow is calculated so that you have enough on hand to pay your insurance when it’s due and enough on hand to pay your taxes when they’re due. If you have an unexpected increase in your taxes, they will be paid, but your escrow will be re-calculated to recoup the excess that was just paid AND to assure that an adequate amount will be on hand when the taxes are due next year. Lets say that your taxes have been running $2400/year... so all this year (2019) you’re putting $200/month into your escrow account. Now the tax bill comes around in November of 2019 and your tax bill is now $3000.... the taxes are still paid on time by utilizing the excess in escrow (which could be your cushion or it just comes out of what is being accumulated for your insurance renewal. But the lender will absolutely recalculate to recover the shortfall caused by the unexpectedly higher tax bill. They will all consider your new higher tax liability and collect for that, too. So for 2020 you’d be paying into escrow enough to cover your new $3000 tax bill, plus $600 to recover the 2019 tax shortfall, or $3600. Which works out to $300 per month as opposed to the $200 per you were depositing pre-tax increase. Of course it should straighten up after a year or two and settle into your new $3000 school tax bill.

I agree with you. The problem isn’t a question of whether or not improvements are needed. But just because changes are needed is no excuse to “go for broke.” The pro-bond camp keeps trying to paint opposition to this MONSTROUS bond issue as being anti-change and anti-kid. The truth is that Nederland has passed bonds in the past. It’s not impossible. But this level of borrowing and spending is just insane for a town with stagnant growth.

You’re right.... if I don’t buy that new King Ranch F350 this year, it’ll probably be more expensive to buy in five or ten years. Except I really don’t need a King Ranch F350. Sometimes a cloth interior in a half ton is just right. I’d be curious as to what would happen if they were to roll out few bond packages instead of an “all or nothing” approach.

The whole argument is ingenious at best. We keep hearing “it’s only $30 a month.” Who talks about taxes in terms of monthly expenses? It’s always annual. Most people would instead say “my freakin’ school taxes went up by $400 this year!” Same thing, just a little more relevant. If you own a $250k house and your taxes are escrowed by your lender, you’re a lot more likely to say “my house note went up by $150 a month!” in year two. Your lender has no way to know that your tax bill we be increasing, so the first year that the higher taxes are due, there will be a shortfall in your escrow account of however much your taxes went up. The next year you’ll be putting 2x the additional tax amount into escrow so that you can replenish AND pay the higher rate in full by 12/31. $30 a month is the exact same as saying “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan” regarding health insurance in 2010. And instead of going down, health insurance rates have skyrocketed. These “it’s only $400/year” pardon me.... “it’s only $30/month” people wont have much to say when the actual costs are much higher than than promised.

I haven’t seen or heard anything to convince me otherwise

Let’s start by winning a few games first, okay?

Sure... Are you about to advocate for bringing prayer back into schools? Or are you just going to say that as a Christian I should be willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES if somebody else can benefit from it? Because honestly, the 10% I pay in tithes covers my bases.

It’s this plain. The bond will be 200+ Million dollars (principal and interest) taken from the local taxpayers over the term that the debt is repaid. That money will be sent off to wherever the lenders are located. In return, a small portion of that initial $156 million base will stay in the local economy based on lunches, gasoline, and whatever teeny-tiny fraction of materials are purchased locally... in the year or two that construction actually occurs. In the event that a few of the construction workers actually do live in Nederland, those temporary salaries would actually stay in Ned, too. Lol. That’s the worst news ever. If NISD is locked into monstrous debt service AND taxes revenues are capped, the only solution left to stay on budget is to slash services!!!!! Cut teaching positions, bus service, extracurriculars, etc.... because this new legislation would limit the amount of revenues available. How come nobody is mentioning the 40 year timeframe to repay this debt? Our taxes have multiplied many,many times over in the last 40 years....

It's not that simple. Most people agree that something needs to be done. What is proposed is by far the most expensive bond issue per capita in the history of SETX.... which is saying a lot, considering that PAISD spends more per student than any other district in the state. Very few people are opposed to doing anything at all. But opposition to this monstrous burden doesn't mean that a person is opposed to progess. Just because I believe in Christmas doesn't mean I have to give my kid Ferrari on 12/25. And refusing to buy that Ferrari doesn't mean that I don't believe in celebrating the birth of my Lord and Savior, either. The sad fact is that a lot of people in positions of power (elected and otherwise) see how beneficial these bond issues can be personally.... like for the folks in BISD. If you really think that contractors, designers, ELECTRICIANS, etc, didn't send cash back to the the folks that made that bond issue occur, you're painfully sheltered. The sad thing is people who are over here honking about wanting the bond who aren't even gonna get a slice of that pie like the others will, lol.

Do you expect the workers to be in town spending money for the entire time that the debt is being repaid? No offense, but when you pay a man $150/day for his wages and he buys lunch at Bobby's, he's leaving about $3 worth of profit behind before he heads back to wherever he lives.

No offense, but one day I'll hear "It'll ONLY cost you $30/month" which is then followed by "nobody really knows what it will cost based on the interest rates at the times at which the bonds are actually issued." $30 a month is a woeful guess that is intentionally lower than the cost to the typical taxpayer. It's practically a lie. The typical home in Nederland is worth substantially more than that... so we'll just use $200,000 and assume a $100/month or $1200 year for the taxes on your home... because as we all know, the homestead exemption is a static amount. Your exemption saves you the same $$ amount no matter how much your home is worth. You actually pay more tax on the 2nd $100k than you do on the first $100k. There's no dispute there. If you are fortunate(?) enough to have more than just your homestead, the taxes on your "other" (hopefully revenue creating) properties will go up to. The good news is that you can pass those increased taxes onto your tenants or customers.... Which brings me to my next point. Every business that operates inside the NISD will see their tax burden increased. They WILL NOT just bear the additional costs... they WILL pass them onto their consumers. Every gas station, grocery store, shop, restaurant, etc... will be passing their new tax burden onto the public as well. The sad thing is that places operate on a profit basis.. If their taxes go up by 2%, not only will they have to recoup the taxes, they're going up even higher than the tax amount because they HAVE to if their net profit is going to stay static. If the cost of doing business goes up, the profit taking will have to increase to maintain the margins that investors are expecting. So not only will the average Bulldog pay his own higher property taxes, he'll also be paying those increased taxes for all of the local businesses they shop with, and even paying higher prices above and beyond what the tax liabilty for those businesses will be in order to add profit to the business owners. I'm not gonna spout off some LIE like "It'll only cost $30 month....." I'm going to guess that the typical Nederlander will be paying somewhere between 150-200 month if the bond is passed. You know, $1800-2400 of net dollars that the taxpayer won't get to use for themselves each year. The loose calculations say that $156 mill is the sticker... with interest over time the actual costs are anticipated to cost in the neighborhood of $225 million. But I get it... it works a lot better to say "$30/month"

Yeah... It's probably not the worst deal for the state if you consider what it would cost to prosecute him in what would likely be a probation-level conviction. He would undoubtedly have a fine legal team and tie up limited state resources in a token prosecution. Better for all to just let him surrender his bond ($10k) and have the record sealed. But he really should have kept his mouth shut and moved on quietly. Standing out front and proclaiming innocence (while demanding that the records remain sealed) is a good way to get some other entity excited about prosecuting him.... And he'd better move. Those Chicago cops will have serious issue with Jessie's Mullet from now own. That dude will get hammered everytime he leaves his driveway.

Big shoes to fill....