Dec 13: Run Off Election – Keller City Council Place 5

Attention Keller residents:  The absence of a majority winner in the Nov 8 election to replace Mitch Holmes on the City Council, Place 5, means that voters will go back to the polls on Dec. 13 for a run-off election.  This time, voters will choose between two candidates – John Hoffman and Jackie Black.  In the first election, Hoffman garnered 43% of the votes, and Black 39%.  Mark your calendars, and don’t forget to vote on Dec. 13!

Keller ISD – A Plan comes together ! ! !

A Plan comes together!  by Tim Cannon 

On May 16, the KISD School Board voted 7-0 to call for an election aimed at increasing your property taxes.  The School Board set the date of the election to occur just 5 weeks later, June 18th.  Early voting began on June 6th.

If passed, it would increase the KISD portion of your property taxes over 12%.  KISD’s motto: “Whatever It Takes.”

Voting AGAINST this new tax would force KISD to do what millions of Americans across the country have had to do: live within their means.  KISD has not done everything it can to lower expenses – a review of the latest check registers confirms that. In addition, KISD has a sizable Fund Balance (effectively a savings account built up by your past tax payments). Voting for this tax increase postpones the tough decisions necessary.

The average cost of this new tax for a KISD resident is hundreds of dollars per year.  While that may not be much for some people, others in our community are struggling.  In fact, over 200 homes in Keller ISD enter foreclosure proceedings each month. Realtors are already steering new home buyers away from the KISD area. The Board provides plenty of excuses as to why they have to raise more money, but that won’t sway potential home buyers.

The FACT is that KISD would have had one of the highest tax rates in the DFW metroplex if this increase passed.  Even more worrisome: the school acknowledged that this tax increase was just a short term solution.

Several individual Keller residents affiliated with two different Tea Party groups, The Keller Boiling Point and  the NE Tarrant Tea Party, decided enough is enough. We contacted others for organizational help and direction. Giovani Capriglione gave very graciously of his time and expertise. He set up the Facebook page and a website for coordination in getting out real information. He also organized call lists for phone banks and robo calls. I cannot begin to express how much help he has been in this effort. Also Doug Miller in Keller’s city council runoff gave much assistance.

Lt. Governor Dewhurst says Keller ISD should have the money it needs without raising taxes

The following appeared in the letters to the editor in the Star-Telegram:

Keller school funding

The budget the Legislature passed cuts $15 billion from current spending. However, we actually appropriated over $3 billion more in state funding for public education. What this means for the Keller school district, according to the Texas Education Agency, is a $2.7 million increase in funding for the 2011-12 school year. It’s true, the school district isn’t getting as much as they expected, but only in government is lowering a projected increase called a budget cut. According to Keller ISD, the district also maintains a $52 million reserve — $8 million more than required.

Each district has the discretion to ask voters to raise local school property taxes, and Keller ISD residents should exercise that discretion thoughtfully. We all know tightening the belt is never easy. But even with projected enrollment growth over the next two years, Keller ISD should have the money it needs to keep good teachers in the classroom without raising property taxes.

– David Dewhurst, lieutenant governor, Austin

Free Food for Everyone!!!

Grapevine and Colleyville residents may be a bit surprised to see this program offered by GCISD.  It’s free breakfast and free lunch every day all summer long for anyone under 18!  No identification required. And it’s not just kids either, adults get a discount rate of $1.50 for breakfast and $3.00 for lunch. Just last month we had our taxes raised so the school district could afford astroturf.  So who’s paying for these “free” meals?  The voters should be outraged!  Don’t forget… Federal incentives are still your own tax dollars!

HEADS UP KELLER RESIDENTS!!

Keller ISD wants to raise property taxes by $0.13 and this proposition is currently on the ballot.  This will make Keller tie for having the highest rate in Texas!  Our Keller members believe they are Taxed Enough Already and feel that the school board should work on better spending of the money they already collect… before they give ‘em more!  So they have created a group called KISD Families For Fiscal Responsibility.  For more information on this issue and this group, please go to KISD Families for Fiscal Responsibility or on their facebook page.

Here’s more information from our Keller members:

Concurrent with the Keller City Council and Fort Worth Mayor run-off elections on June 18, voters in the Keller ISD boundaries will also see this Proposition on the ballot to ratify the Board of Trustees approval of a $.13 property tax increase:

Keller Independent School District Special Election

Proposition:   Approving the ad valorem tax rate of $1.67 per $100 valuation in Keller ISD for the current year, a rate that is $0.13 higher per $100 valuation than the school district rollback tax rate.

Keller Elections Tomorrow

Just a reminder that early voting for run-off elections starts Monday, June 6, and ends on Tuesday, June 14.  The actual election day is June 18.

Also, Keller will have a Tax Ratification Election on June 18, the same day as the run-off election. Running for Keller City Council, Place 6, are Doug Miller and Rick Mason. Here is Doug Miller’s Candidate Questionnaire that he filled out for our Candidate Fair. Rick Mason declined to fill one out or to participate in the Fair.  On his blog Doug Miller says this about his opponent:

We do know this, he stands for Public Employee Unions, as he is now being supported by the Fire Department Union PAC.  He has filed a financial report which can be found here, it doesn’t address any PAC money, but I’m sure that will come out later.

I will continue to do what I have done for four months.  Continue to knock on doors, talk to groups of citizens and get my message out here on the blog, through mailers and door hangers.  We will not be outworked.

You can read more about the election in this article:

By Adrian McCandless  Keller Citizen

amccandless@kellercitizen.com

KELLER — Candidates Rick Mason and Doug Miller agree on at least one thing — each think he’s the perfect fit for City Council Place 6, and both hope to be proven right after the June 18 runoff election.

“I think I am the more qualified candidate because the voters should be choosing someone who is best suited to run their $66 million businesses,” said Mason, 51.

Mason, a national sales manager, said he already runs a $50 million business with employees and challenges.

“I have a good education to back me up and I have plenty of applicable experience,” Mason said.

Miller, a former planning and zoning commissioner and a project manager for a construction company, said he has the experience.

“I am the candidate that has the knowledge and the background about what is going on in Keller to help it in the future,” Miller, 45, said.

Survey says… but polls don’t…

A local organization (Citizens for Education) made some phone calls to the top voters in Grapevine and Colleyville on Friday asking how they felt about the GCISD bond proposal.  Here are the questions and the responses.  They do not at all line up with the way people voted, which is unfortunate.  The bond passed with flying colors.  However, it was a significant step toward educating the voters, and next time if effort is made earlier on, we might have more success.

One use for the money borrowed will be to purchase 4,600 computers plus technology upgrades at a cost of 32 million dollars. There are no funds allotted for technical support or maintenance and we will be paying for these computers long after they are obsolete. Do you consider this purchase a necessity to properly educate our children?

For computers   75

Against computers   192

Unsure   25

Another use for the money borrowed will be to purchase artificial turf for the middle schools and sport upgrades at a cost of 10 million dollars. Do you consider these luxury, noneducational expenditures the best use of our education dollars?

For   48

Against   223

Unsure   13

Servicing bonds takes money from the general fund which is used to pay teachers’ salaries.  Were you aware that, by law, bond money cannot be used for teacher’s salaries and that voting NO on the bond will not hurt teachers salaries?

Aware   100

Not Aware   124

Unsure   50

GCISD Bond Proposal – It’s OK to say no!

GCISD Voters and Taxpayers!

There is a $124,000,000 bond proposal on the ballot for the GCISD school district!

Did you know…

This bond is in addition to the GCISD’s annual operating budget of $140,000,000 which is collected from our property taxes?

This bond incurs INTEREST like a mortgage?

That it is illegal to use bond funding to pay teacher salaries – if you oppose the bond proposal, you will NOT be firing teachers?

That the GCISD asks for more money in the form of a bond package (and voters approve it) roughly every five years?

Did you know…

That these types of items (plus MANY, MANY MORE) are included in this bond package:

$5,300,000 – artificial turf for (3) Middle School football fields

$   938,000 –  track renovations for (4) Middle Schools (one of which is a field not used for meets but only for practice)

$   247,000 – canopy and lighting for batting cages at High School

$    192,000 – practice field renovation at Middle School

$     89,000 – expansion of coach’s shower at High School field house

$     38,210 – additional shower for game officials at High School field house

$   424,130 – lockers, concrete benches, and carpet to make space more usable at High School field house.

$     36,852 – replacement of manual paper cutter with programmable paper cutter

$2,040,733 – Replacement and upgrade to analog video network with digital video network

$5,664,018 – Replacement of 4,600 computers over 5 year period to include desktops, laptops and Netbooks

Do these luxury items that our dollars are buying help our children get a better education?

Do these “extras” focus on our teachers and our children?

If your answer is NO, please send a message to our school district that we want more focus on the classroom!

Vote NO on the GCISD Bond Proposal on May 14^th!!

Click here to print a flyer you can share with your neighbors.

Kathleen Thompson is NOT a Conservative!

Grapevine Voters, meet your candidate!  Kathleen Thompson is running for Grapevine City Council.  She is former President of Mid-Cities Democrats.  She is current co-chair of Drinking Liberally (a liberal group opposed to the tea party).  The Sarah Palin picture below is taken from Kathleen’s flickr account (which she hid from public view after we first alerted our members to it).

Kathleen has done a lot of bragging about her community involvement, but she’s never shared the above details about her liberal leadership.  We thought you deserve to know!

Many of Kathleen’s mailers and conversations have centered around how fiscally conservative she is.  Just remember that what’s more important than a candidate’s words is a candidate’s actions.  None of Kathleen’s actions seem to support tea party principles of fiscal responsibility and limited govt.    Be an educated voter!

Time to vote!

It’s time to vote!  Early voting for municipal elections goes from May 2 through  May 10.  During early voting, you can vote at ANY polling location in Tarrant County.  Please click here to find all the information you need to vote, including times, dates, locations, and sample ballots.  Election Day is May 14, at which time you can ONLY vote at your specific polling location.

Click  for a  list of picks from various NETTP leaders.  These are not endorsements from NETTP as an organization, but I asked different individuals in various cities of NE Tarrant if they’d share who they are voting for, and these are those results.