Hello Friends!
With the City Council election just around the corner, I wanted to share with you my stance on a few issues. You might have read the Q & As in the local papers, but there have been questions that I've been asked that have NOT been published. I wanted to draw from each of those groups and highlight two questions with very thorough answers that reflect who I am and what I bring to this position.
First of all, a little bit about me. I am a Christian, wife to a Marine Corps veteran, stay-at-home mom and current member of the Waxahachie City Council, Place 3. I am a native Texan and our family has lived in Waxahachie for almost 8 years now, although I've wanted to live here for years before that. The quaint charm of the town and historical homes drew us in and Global High School sealed the deal for us. Even though my husband's job is located in Carrollton, he was and still is willing to do the commute so that our family can live in Waxahachie. As far as my education, I have an Associate in Arts degree through the Cornerstone Honors Program at Tarrant County Junior College (now called Tarrant County College).
Let's get into the Q & A:
1) What are your top 3 concerns for the city and your ideas on addressing them?
A) Trust:
I believe the number one concern facing Waxahachie is trust. There is a lack of trust in our city government. This is something we can greatly improve on by increased transparency and communication. Having been in this position for a few years now, I have made the observation that the perceived lack of transparency seems hard for the city staff to recognize at times because they know the operations of city government like the back of their hands. Things they deem routine, might be seen as major issues for residents. So, it isn’t necessarily that the city is trying to hide anything, but they just don’t always see things the same way as residents do. Here are some ways we can address this:
Pushing our Waxahachie 101 program online, in addition to in-person, to make it accessible to citizens anytime instead of the once-a-month meeting usually held during normal business hours. This program would educate people on how the city works.
I have pushed for all city meetings and briefings conducted in City Hall to be live-streamed since before I was elected in May of 2018. Live-streaming is another way to enhance our transparency and trust with residents. We should stream more city meetings or at least add the Council and Planning & Zoning Commission briefing sessions to our streaming lineup. Residents should be able to see and hear what happens in the city meetings and briefings, even when they can't physically attend the meeting in person. Live-streaming is a very low cost option that would allow for this and would go far in establishing trust amongst citizens with city government by showing the discussion behind decisions that are made.
In addition to streaming meetings, we need to put out more information on the city's website. Here's a great example of what we should add. We have a huge two-day Council retreat scheduled for April 25 & 26. I requested some of the information on Friday and was told that none would be distributed before Monday. How are residents able to review this material and give their questions to Council for us to ask after staff have made their presentations? How are council members able to formulate questions to ask during the retreat? We are given a TON of information during these two days and it's a whole lot to digest all at once. We are told that these meetings are the time and place to ask questions, but how can we come up with reasonably intelligent questions if we aren't even given any information until we are there? As a resident myself, I want my City Council to be as knowledgeable as possible regarding city issues. This can't happen when information is delayed. We also need to post a DETAILED draft budget on the city website well ahead of the public hearings for the tax rate and budget so that residents have the opportunity to review this information before the hearings and come prepared with their questions. The more eyes on documents before major decisions like this are made, the better, in my opinion.
Communication is huge and is a factor in establishing trust between people. That’s why I have my weekly blog that highlights items in city meetings for the following week. Folks want to know what is happening so I try to make an easy way to push that information out and also make myself available so that they can contact me any time. Our citizens make this city what it is. Without them, there wouldn’t be a Waxahachie, so it is of the utmost importance for them to know that their elected officials are there for them, trustworthy and want to hear their input.
Talking about public input, the city should really start issuing GO (General Obligation bonds) which require voter approval through an election. I understand that we have a lot of elections and the last thing I'd want to contribute to is voter apathy, but I feel really strongly about this one. Bond debt is backed by property taxes so I think it is only right that residents have a vote in that decision. Going back to January 1, 2000 (although it is likely much farther back than that), the city has ONLY opted to issue CO bonds (Certificate of Obligation bonds) instead of GO bonds. There has not been one election for adding this city debt since at LEAST 01-01-2000. That's hard to believe!
B) Growth:
It is no surprise to anyone that Waxahachie is growing by leaps and bounds. Just about everywhere you look, you’ll find dirt moving and development coming in. Decision-makers need to keep in mind that we are now in a position to be more selective when approving developments and to consider the effect on current residents during that process. That being said, “growth” is a multi-faceted issue. I think the increased traffic created by an influx of new residents and the need for more/improved infrastructure are the two biggest factors when trying to manage this growth.
In regards to traffic, we all know 77 is a mess. It ranks among the top concerns I hear from residents. The city is actively trying to persuade new businesses to build in other areas of the city, but based largely on computer models, these businesses want that traffic count that comes along with being on 77. We need to continue pushing alternative sites for development off of 77 to try to alleviate some of the traffic there.
Another way we can mitigate traffic issues is by doing different development patterns. In the past, we have done large housing-only developments which force residents to travel to places like 77 to get groceries, etc. We can begin building more mixed residential areas that create small grocery stores and other services that residents frequently need, closer to home. This development pattern encourages walking or driving only short distances to get to the businesses residents go to most often.
The city needs to continue to foster the ongoing relationship with TXDoT to expand some roads/bridges that will help increased traffic flow. One example is the Broadhead bridge over 287. The city is working with TXDoT to see about getting that bridge widened, along with widening Farley Street from the police station to the bridge. If you've tried to exit 287 to Broadhead from 4:30pm - 6:30pm on a weeknight, you know that the backup is getting to be ridiculous. Please rest assured that we are working on it.
Infrastructure is critical in a growing city. Everyone is aware that water and wastewater infrastructure is a must. It is easy to take for granted that clean water comes from our faucets and our toilets flush, but there is a lot of engineering and people behind the scenes that make this happen. We need to make sure that we keep this infrastructure capable of handling the rising population.
C) Taxes:
I have been a voice for lowering taxes in Waxahachie since before being elected in 2018. We have already been able to lower our tax rate from 0.68 to 0.66 during my time on Council. We have done this without negatively affecting the quality of services provided to the residents, nor have we had to lay off city employees or first responders, as many suggested would happen when I first suggested we decrease our tax rate.
Not only have we maintained our city services and staff, we recently voted to give them all a 5% COLA. In addition to that, we have increased our staff, first responders, and made many enhancements around the city including our parks. We have continued to work on catching up with repairing and replacing roads as well - all with lowering the tax rate.
I mention this because it shows that: 1) I’m not trying to put the city in any type of financial peril by lowering the tax rate 2) The doom-and-gloom scenarios presented by some when a tax rate decrease is mentioned, just isn’t true.
There has been discussion in the community about adopting the NNR or No-New-Revenue tax rate. I would love for the city to adopt the NNR; however, we must take a comprehensive look at the situation before doing so. One metric I like to review to evaluate the proposed tax rate is the proposed tax rate vs. the NNR for the same year. For example, last year the proposed tax rate was 0.66, but the NNR was 0.62588. There was a lot of room to lower the tax rate at least some. Another thing I look at is the voter-approval rate. The voter-approval rate is the rate at which a municipality would have to hold a mandatory election for the voters to approve any rate above it. Last year, that rate was 0.66050. Therefore, the proposed tax rate last year (which was the same rate as the previous year) was 0.0005 below a mandatory election. That means that the 0.66 proposed rate which was adopted last year was almost the highest tax rate Waxahachie could’ve imposed without an election for taxpayer approval. Given the totality of this information, I voted against it.
I think the best approach would be for staff to create a budget based on the NNR (which I requested after last year’s budget was approved), present it to Council, and then we could add in essentials if needed, instead of starting out with a higher tax rate (or the current tax rate which is usually higher than the NNR) and trying to figure out where to cut items.
Some say if we cut the tax rate even 1 penny, then that’s a loss of $400k for the city, but it only equates to about $20/year for residents. My response to that is: 1) It can’t be a loss to the city when it isn’t the city’s money to begin with. It belongs to all the businesses and residents in Waxahachie and the city should only be taking what is absolutely necessary. 2) Sometimes the amount that a tax rate decrease would save homeowners would not be much to many; however, I challenge that the compounding effect of this is great. We have many residents on a fixed income. What started out as $20/year, is $100 after 5 years. 3) Many residents are being taxed out of their homes and no, the city is not the largest portion of that tax bill; however, the city tax rate is the only tax rate that the City Council has authority over and it’s up to us to do what we can for residents.
Educating residents on how property taxes work is also very important. For example, I just opened up my 2022 Notice of Appraised Value from the Ellis County Appraisal District. Wowsers! Our taxable value went up the maximum amount allowed by law - 10%. There are a few key things to keep in mind about the appraisal district and the taxes you pay:
1. ECAD only sets appraisals. They do NOT set tax rates. You have the ability to protest your appraisals to try and get them lowered and those instructions are included in the letter you received with your valuation.
2. Your taxing entities such as WISD, the City of Waxahachie and Ellis County are responsible for how much you pay in taxes every year. DO NOT allow politicians to say anything otherwise. Each taxing entity is given a certified appraisal roll from the appraisal district BEFORE setting a tax rate. This is done intentionally so that taxing entities have the no-new-revenue rate (NNR) and other important numbers from which to make informed decisions on the appropriate tax rate to set for their jurisdiction. This tax rate is then multiplied by your taxable value (NOT assessed value) and the answer is divided by 100 to give you the amount of taxes you will pay to that entity for that year.
3. Due to the math formula given above, in the face of rising appraisals, if the tax rate stays the same, you are almost guaranteed to pay more taxes that year. Please keep this in mind when officials say “We kept your tax rate the same.” More than likely, you are still paying more in taxes to that entity if appraisals have gone up.
4. This is a “fun” fact. The Board of Directors for appraisal districts in Texas, is actually elected by the taxing entities (ie. City Council, School Board, Commissioner's Court, etc.). This Board of Directors is then charged with hiring the Chief Appraiser of the district. If this is going to be changed, it will have to be done at the state level because this procedure is established in the Property Tax Code. Here’s a link if you’d like to read it: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.6.htm?fbclid=IwAR3UBiy6mextW9F11f9elvn2PSJ3YUxVMDqe_2Z0Pw0d9J7X4DNhN9bbbQ4
2) Why are you the best candidate for this position?
· I have proven to keep the best interests of the residents in mind when making decisions as a Council member and am approachable, honest and have a heart for helping others.
· I have the experience and knowledge, having done additional, voluntary education to obtain my CMO, Certified Municipal Official designation, in order to better serve residents. This certification requires 72+ hours of continuing education, including one hour of training in both the Texas Open Meetings Act and the Public Information Act.
· I have updated residents with a weekly online newsletter so they can see the upcoming week’s meetings, including all the agendas listed in one place. I also highlight certain items I feel residents will be most interested in and are of highest importance.
· I am accessible and responsive to citizens, providing multiple means of communication and try to respond quickly when people reach out.
· I represent all residents of Waxahachie, regardless of how long someone has lived here. I firmly believe that residents who have lived here 50 years, 5 years or 5 days all deserve to be treated with respect and listened to with respect to their concerns.
· I question things and feel this is an asset. I don’t just want to continue doing things because that’s “the way they’ve always been done”, but truly seek to find the best way of doing things that will benefit the citizens and city alike. Please don’t get me wrong, if the way we’ve always done something IS the best way, then by all means don’t change it; but, I think it’s important to at least assess current practices.
There has been a lot of information provided here, but I hope it helps you get a better understanding of who I am and some of the things that I feel pretty strongly about. If you have any questions at all, please always feel free to reach out. If there are topics that I haven't covered that you are curious about, please let me know. This week is going to be crazy busy with the retreat, other city meetings and the election going on, so email or text would definitely be the best ways to reach me. I'll provide that contact information at the bottom.
There is also going to be a candidate forum on the evening of Monday, April 25, 2022 at the Performing Arts Center at Coleman Junior High starting at 7:00 PM. There is a link to this event on Facebook for those who are on that platform here: https://fb.me/e/1Q8ctBVcD For those not on Facebook, there is a YouTube link to watch the live-stream Monday night here: https://youtu.be/IWOQ5k4USLQ
It's also important for me to provide you with information on where and when you can vote in the City Council race. There are other items on the ballot too such as proposed Constitutional Amendments, so I'll be sure to provide a link where you can see all of that. Early voting starts Monday, April 25th!! Dates, times and locations provided in the third link below.
1) Generic Sample Ballot for all of Ellis County: http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/15848/220507_SampleBalGeneric_Ellis?bidId=
2) Individual Sample Ballots: https://www.co.ellis.tx.us/702/Individual-Sample-Ballots
3) Early Voting Location Dates & Times: http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/15825/EV-Locations-2022_May-7th?bidId=
4) Election Day Vote Centers: http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/15824/ED-Locations-2022_May-7th?bidId=
I hope to see y'all at the forum and/or polls!
Take care,
Melissa Olson, CMO
Waxahachie City Council, Place 3
Email (Election/Campaign-related): olsonfortexas@gmail.com
Email (City business - Nothing campaign-related please): molson@waxahachie.com
Cell (Talk/Text): 817-507-5162
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