Elect Yantis Green

Archive for September, 2010

The San Angelo Standard Times published an article, “Hickory Boondoggle” last Thursday, September 23, 2010.  In that opinion piece, author Allie Devereaux attacked the City of San Angelo and the Tom Green Co. Water Control & Improvement District No. 1 for policies and efforts concerning local water use, supplies, and future plans.  For the next week, I met with City officials, discussed the article, and worked hard on a letter in response because the article attacked the WCID, which I have managed for the last seven years.  City officials and WCID officials agreed both entities would respond to the article with letters representing our positions.  San Angelo City Manager Harold Dominuez would write the City’s letter, and as his counterpart, I would write the letter for the WCID.  On Wednesday afternoon, September 29th, one day before the letters were to be published, San Angelo Standard Times Editoral Page editor Jack Cowan called me and said he could not publish the WCID’s letter with my name on it because I am a candidate for Tom Green County Commissioner and it is the current policy of the paper that they will not publish opinion letters from candidates.  Now, I could understand that if the letter was about a political subject specifically addressing an issue in the campaign.  This is not.  Standard Times Editor Tim Archuleta and Editorial Page Editor Jack Cowan decided they didn’t want my name on this non-campaign related letter.  Period.  After a few anxious phone calls, the board of directors of the WCID agreed to allow their names to be attached to the letter.  It was our belief that the letter and the timing was too important not to publish it along with the City’s letter.  For seven years, I’ve been fighting for the rights of the family farmers in the WCID and they count on me (and pay me) to handle these kinds of situations.  That’s my job as District Manager.  Similarly, it is Harold Dominguez’s job to handle these kinds of situations for the City of San Angelo.  I believe the Standard Times is wrong in this situation.  I’ve represented the family farmers in the WCID at the federal level in Washington, D.C. and Denver, Colorado, and at the Texas Legislature in Austin, and in countless local and regional meetings throughout West Texas.  My name is familar to people in the water business, and I believe the newspaper lessens the credibility of the article and hurts the family farmers in the WCID by refusing to use my name.  This is a unique circumstance that doesn’t fit with the Standard Time’s policy.

Local governments in Texas are funded primarily with revenue generated from property tax.  Every year, Cities, Counties, School Districts and Special Districts set a tax rate and adopt a budget based upon property values set by tax appraisal districts, projected revenues and mandated and discrectionary services.  In Tom Green County,  approximately 9 out of 10 property taxpayers live inside the city limits of San Angelo. 

In fiscal year 2011, property owners in Tom Green County will pay 49.3% of their property tax to the San Angelo ISD; 31% to the city of San Angelo, and just 19.7% to Tom Green County.   That means for every $100 you pay in property tax, $49.30 goes to the SAISD, $31.00 goes to the City of San Angelo, and only $19.70 goes to Tom Green County. 

That means:

$49.30 out of $100 will go to public education including pay raises for educators;

$31.00 out of $100 will go to municipal functions including, infrastructure, water, police, fire, ambulance, public venues, economic development, and discretionary expenditures in San Angelo;

and

$19.70 out of $100 is left for the criminal justice system (including the Sheriff’s department, the jail, the Justice of the Peace Courts, the County Courts-at-Law, the District Courts, the Community Supervision and Corrections Department, and official records including the County & District Clerks), road & bridge maintenance, elections,  tax assessor-collections, and the County library.   

That’s $49.30 for schools, $30.00 for the city, and $19.70 for the County. 

I’m committed to keeping your County property tax rate as low as possible while providing core services and meeting mandates from the state and federal government.