The FY 2020 Budget Vote - Some Clarifications

I got the newspaper this morning and noticed on the front page of the Waxahachie Daily Light, there  was a story called "'I feel like we have raised the bar': Waxahachie City Council approves proposed tax rate, budget".  While I'm not debating whether or not the bar has been raised, the amount in which this new budget spends, has been raised from previous years.

I would like the opportunity to straighten out a few items.  The article discusses our first responders and the antiquated infrastructure.

1) I was the only council member who openly fought to ADD to the Fire Department's budget (which we did get added).  Not only that, but by cutting the tax rate, I would NOT have lowered the Fire Department or Police Department's budgets by even a penny.

2) Waxahachie has a lot of antiquated infrastructure, that's very true.  There is a lot of money being spent on that as well.  The majority of the capital improvement projects that were referenced in the article are being funded by bonds. Bonds that don’t require voter approval. Almost all streets are done with these bonds (aka - debt) and in addition, most of that antiquated infrastructure is included with those, along with upgrades to the Waste Water Treatment Plant.

3) I fully agree with the rest of Council that the updated infrastructure is necessary, but lowering the tax rate by trimming the general fund budget, wouldn't have impacted those items. We do, however, have to pay a debt service fund for all the debt we have accrued and that is primarily backed by our property taxes.  So, the more debt that we have, the harder it is to lower a total tax rate.


4) If you hear that I'm anti-police, anti-fire department, anti-this, anti-that.... please just get in touch with me and you'll see that I'm not.  I have a great deal of respect for our first responders and the City of Waxahachie.  I also have a great deal of respect for the residents of Waxahachie and when I see an opportunity to save them money, I think it's the right thing to do and that is why I voted against the FY 2020 budget and tax rate.

5) Was I against the entire budget?  Of course not!  But there were items on there that I just couldn't go along with because I felt too strongly that it was wasteful or could've been funded in an alternative way.  The budget is predicated on a specific tax rate.  At the direction of Council (except for myself), it was based on a 0.68 tax rate.  I would like to see the budget predicated on the effective tax rate for that year and start there.  That makes the most sense to me for how one would arrive at a reasonable tax rate, take the residents' concerns into account AND make sure that we have what we need to sustain our current quality of life.

I hope that this clears up any misconceptions that folks might have about me.  I am not anti-everything by any means.  There just are some things that I can't go along with because it just doesn't feel right in my core.  I made a promise to myself and to voters that I would only get involved in politics (which I begrudgingly admit this is), if I can stay true to myself.  I don't like the fact that it ruffles feathers, but I have to be able to live with my decisions at the end of the day.  I hope that folks will understand where I'm coming from and if there's any misunderstandings or anything feels 'off', just ask me.  I'm an open book and happy to talk with folks about why I've voted a certain way.

I hope everyone has a great week ahead!  Hopefully the beginning of fall will bring with it some cooler temperatures!

Take care,
Melissa
molson@waxahachie.com