What Libya will look like, or who will run the country after the dust settles remains unknown. The downfall of a murderous dictator is no doubt beneficial; let’s just hope that the end result is better for Libya and the world than the enemy we knew and understood.
Col. Austin Bay Explains How the Ghaddafi Regime Fell
September 8, 2011
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Posted by frankreilly
Cool Andy Roddick Foundation Event – Vegas on the River
June 10, 2011Join me and other ARF advisory board members john Arthur Martinez, and Fred & Diane Akers on the Vanishing Texas River Cruise on Lake Buchanan for Vegas on the River to benefit the Andy Roddick International Tennis Center in Granite Shoals on Friday, June 24, 5:30 p.m. to 8 pm. See the Roddick Casino Night Flyer for more details. Contact me for tickets, frank@frankreilly.com
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Posted by frankreilly
Mayor’s Update: My Re-Election Decision
March 9, 2011In November, 2005, Granite Shoals voters elected self governance and the city charter by a 3:1 margin, and they did so with the highest turnout recorded in Granite Shoals cit elections. In the almost five and a half years since that election, the city has made remarkable progress in so many way. Much remains to be done, and the city’s fate is once again in the hands of the voters on May 14, when they decide whether to approve the bonds to build the first phase of the city’s sewer system.
Fortunately, when I first ran for Mayor in 2005, my opponent dropped out of the race and endorsed me. This allowed me to focus not on my own election, but on getting the information to the voters so they could make an informed choice about the city’s future in that election to adopt the city charter. Between now and May 14, 2010, I will similarly focus on getting correct information to the voters about the benefits and necessity of the city’s sewer system. This decision by the voters is the most important vote since 2005, and perhaps is even more important to the city’s future. This city council has spent the last 5 and a half years in meeting after meeting, workshops, fact finding tours, and independent study to prepare them for tonight’s historic vote, and it is critical that we share that information with the voters over the next 60 plus days.
That is why I announce today that I will not run in a fourth election to return as Mayor of Granite Shoals. While it has been an honor and pleasure to provide leadership to Granite Shoals, it is now up to the voters to decide whether that vision continues for this city, or whether the city, as it has done far too often in the past, kicks the can down the road. I have faith that the voters, if properly informed as they were in 2005, will make the right choice for Granite Shoals’ future. Granite Shoals is poised to make so much more progress if the voters approve the bonds, as not only is the water quality in Lake LBJ at stake, but also true economic development that will spread the city’s tax burden across the city to new businesses, new homes, and new sales tax revenues. The future of Granite Shoals is in your hands now.
To publicly serve the city in which I grew up has been an awesome experience, and I look forward to remaining involved with the community as a private citizen. Because the service has been so rewarding, I will also keep open the possibility of serving the public again in a different forum.
Since the date that Granite Shoals voters approved the home rule charter by a wide margin and I began to serve, the City of Granite Shoals has made great progress toward becoming a better community for all of us.
In this five and a half year period, the city has accomplished many things in a number of areas including the following:
City Governance
n Hired two first class interim city managers John Gayle and John Hatchel, who both led us through some rocky times and who have placed the city on an excellent foundation for future growth;
n Hired its first permanent city manager, Judy Miller, who brings decades of experience in city management and planning services to the city;
n Performed an employee classification study, modified salaries accordingly, and adopted professionally drawn employment policies and job descriptions tailored to GS’s needs.
n Established a Beautification Advisory Group to advise and assist the city in its beautification efforts. We had over 40 years of neglect in this city, and this group is responsible for close to $100,000 in grant funds that have been used to clean up the city through our city-wide cleanups and other activities. The city’s code enforcement office utilized the cleanup events as an incentive to violators to remove junk from their properties. During the aftermath of the 2007 flood, the city was able to leverage FEMA debris funds to help clean up a number of locations within Granite Shoals. Tons of debris have been removed from Granite Shoals over the past 5 years, and it shows. We have a long ways to go, but the progress is undeniable. The BAG, with the support of the Highland Lakes Master Gardeners, also landscaped the former city hall, which is now the police station, and is landscaping around the new city hall.
n Solved the issues pertaining to the Sherwood Shores Trust Fund, and have obtained the court’s authority to wind up the trust at the end of 2011. Since those issues have been resolved and answered, the city council now has easily 30 minutes more each meeting in which to discuss matters that really affect the city. The accounting and administrative overhead of the trust fund will be eliminated at the end of this year.
n Created a program to allow waterfront residents to purchase, if they so desire, narrow strips of land between the platted lot lines and the 825’ contour normal pool elevation of Lake LBJ; proceeds from this program paid for the large flags and flag poles at Veterans’ Memorial Park, replaced four dilapidated boat ramps, stabilized the lake shore in several parks, purchased playground equipment, picnic tables, trash receptacles and BBQ grills in all of the city’s parks.
n Purchased 131.6 acres of land to use in part for the city’s sewer system, if approved by the voters, large park areas, and renovated the granite building into a city hall that not only will serve the city for generations to come, but will also be a beacon for the city to show its new commitment to progress. That purchase implemented several key pieces in the city’s comprehensive plans: obtain green space and open areas for ball fields as current neighborhood parks are too small; implement a sewer system; replace the existing overcrowded city hall that was built over 30 years ago. People forget that our staff was stuffed into that small space, and that the city frequently had mechanical issues that would soon require significant expenditures.
n A new city hall was estimated to cost $1.2 million to replace what we had and to add space, and a new very basic, bare bones, community center would cost $300,000. The city spent $1.2 million to upgrade the existing building to ADA and other code requirements, and the city more than quadrupled its space, providing also for an upgraded community center.
n 360 Global paid $12 million for the property. Original purchase price was $6.9 million, price ultimately dropped to $3.9 million, which spurred interest in the property by investors, and the city negotiated a price of $3.175 million, and the city later acquired the minerals for $395,000. A recent appraisal of the land and city hall building (excluding the large metal quarry buildings which have hundreds of thousands of dollars of value) placed the investment value at $5,750,000 million, giving the city so far a net increase in value of $1.2 million, not including the metal buildings and driveway improvements. If a sewer system is developed the land will likely double in value.
n Resolved boundary and ETJ issues with the City of Horseshoe Bay.
n Adopted a city seal and flag.
n Implemented a strong ethics ordinance.
n Resolved the legal issues that divided the city from property owners on Beaver Island and WEB Isle, smoothing the road to future ultimate unification of all sides.
Techonology
n Replaced the city’s accounting system, which was utilizing QuickBooks, into a fully integrated accounting system designed for small to medium sized cities, which is providing city management and policy makers with much more relevant, better and more current information, and allows water utility customers to pay their bills online.
n Began the process to put all city ordinances on line so they will be available to the public at all times.
n Created a presence for the city on the Internet’s social media applications, Facebook and Twitter, being the first city in the county to do so.
n Implemented a GIS system to start documenting and better locating our city assets, including water lines and streets.
n Engaged in a test program, at no cost to taxpayers, to archive city council meetings online so that the public can follow the city’s business without having to attend in person.
n Set up city email addresses for all council members, which not only provides a more professional city presence, but also keeps personal email separate from city email.
Utilities
n Replaced miles of water lines with CDBG grants and city revenues. We have many more lines to replace, and those along the areas slated to receive sewer service will be replaced as the city adds in the new lines.
n Completed a state of the art $6.2 million water treatment plant that is expandable to serve the city for generations to come.
n Received over $1 million in grant funds to upgrade water lines, add fire hydrants and to upgrade water treatment plant features.
n Completed a grant-funded sewer study that is the basis for the city’s current phased proposal to provide city-wide sewer service, which is on the ballot in May, 2011.
n Sought a rule change at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to allow, as is allowed for all other water bodies in the state, the return of clean, reclaimed water into the watershed, which would save the city $5 million from the cost of the city’s sewer system.
Transportation
n Encouraged TexDOT to replace the traffic light and reconfigure the intersection at Phillips Ranch Road and 1431 to allow for better traffic flow and to add protected turn signals and crosswalks, as well as to add directional signage along 1431 for major intersections.
n Established a Streets and Water Advisory Group to advise the city staff on coordination and planning for street and water line improvements. When that group started, they determined that the city was responsible for about 77 miles of roads, one-half of which were paved. The city had been paving 1 to 3 miles of road per year. By working with the county and planning the street paving, we have paved the equivalent of 38.7 miles of road in the last five years. We have paved a number of unpaved roads and are working to get all of our dirt roads paved while maintaining our existing paved roads.
n Systematically replaced and placed numerous street name and traffic signs across the city. With funds budgeted this year, we plan to complete the entire city’s current needs.
n Purchased a new heavy duty vibrating roller, a new mowing tractor with hole-digging implements for signage, and a new dump truck to improve efficiency.
Recreation and Economic Development
n Recruited the Andy Roddick Foundation International Tennis Center, to be located at the city’s municipal complex, which will not only bring tennis facilities and programs to Granite Shoals youth and residents at no cost, but will also bring in large tournaments that will contribute millions of dollars to the city’s economy (provided, of course, if the city builds a sewer system that will allow the construction of hotel rooms, restaurants and other service industry infrastructure. The Foundation plans a number of high profile fundraising events to follow last year’s circus event that entertained over 4,000 people and raised thousands of dollars for the tennis complex. These events will have the dual effect of bringing more people into Granite Shoals for the fundraisers, as well as generating revenues to build the tennis center.
n Applied for, thus far, about $600,000 worth of grant funds to start developing the park in the city center, with the opportunity to apply for another $750,000 this year. The city’s equivalent match to these funds will be made by contributing the land and structures that we already own, and will not require an additional city match. Granite Shoals native and Olympic star Leo Manzano has lent his expertise and name toward developing about 2.5 miles of walking, hiking, biking and running trails.
n Twice, with the help of local businesses, the city has saved the private postal contract unit.
n Implemented a hotel-motel tax, which replaced the tax collected by the county, the proceeds of which can be used to for certain tourism and economic development purposes within the city.
n Negotiated development agreements with two major landholders adjacent to the city to protect the city’s interests should those properties ever develop.
n Completed a professionally prepared comprehensive plan with enormous public input, and the city has began implementing that plan with a new subdivision ordinance, and is currently developing a new zoning ordinance, non-point source ordinance, and impact fee ordinance to prepare the city for the growth that is already at our doorstep.
n Annexed areas long considered part of Granite Shoals, but which were not within the city limits, so that the city would be able to provide full services to those areas, including police, fire and code enforcement.
Emergency Management and Public Safety
n Survived and rebuilt after a 500 year flood event in 2007, using local funds and FEMA matches to repair roads and drainage facilities, as well as provided water front residents with a means and place to remove flood debris. Secured grant funds for the city’s debris cleanup match to FEMA, and purchased a brush shredder with grant funds to help manage debris.
n Added two part time paid fire fighters.
n Obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants for the police and fire departments for equipment and gear, including a new brush truck, mobile incident command and dive station.
n Replaced the roof at the police station and retrofitted the structure for better efficiency.
n Provided for 24/7 non-emergency phone service, as well as changed the city’s dispatch to Marble Falls Police Department, which results in increased efficiency.
n Adopted a city sex-offender registration ordinance, which prohibits all sex offenders from residing or locating within 1,000 feet of any place where children gather, which includes public parks, schools and churches.
n Stopped the practice of city taxpayer subsidization of out of city fire calls by implementing an insurance charge back program and contracting with individual cities and subdivisions on a truer cost recovery basis.
n Contracted with Christ-Yoder Animal Shelter/Adoption Center to handle stray dogs and cats and enacted a new animal registration ordinance.
It is a pleasure to serve as your mayor, and as always, I welcome your input, comments and concerns. Feel free to email me at mayor@graniteshoals.org.
If you wish to be removed from these mailings, just let me know, and if you know of others who want to be added to the distribution, please email me.
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Posted by frankreilly
Mayor’s Update: State of the City 2011
February 27, 2011State of the City 2011
After over five years of professional city management, and a clear vision from its city council, the City of Granite Shoals is perfectly poised for excellence. Some have said the city is a diamond in the rough, pointing to its ideal location on Lake LBJ, and located in central Texas, less than an hour’s drive from the booming state capital.
Immediately after the 2005 election, with the charter in hand and an almost 3 to 1 mandate for positive change, the city council got to work. They removed the shackles of old battles and the vestiges of its sometimes colorful past. As a result, the city council and city management no longer have to struggle with the nagging Sherwood Shores Trust issues and the seemingly never ending legal tugs-of-war with the island residents. The city has developed workable solutions to other long-time issues such as encroachments upon city park property, and providing a remedy for lakefront owners who desire to sell their property but cannot do so because a title company or lender insists that they obtain clear title to narrow fill areas. We implemented new accounting procedures and programs and brought in a new auditor, and made a number of changes at city hall to better serve the public.
With the exception of some issues that are indicative of growing pains of a dynamic community, our city council meetings are now relatively boring, as the old clashes between the mayor and city council regarding city management and vision evaporated with the passage of the home rule charter. Now, the council hires a city manager, who implements the council’s vision and policy, rather than having a mayor who sometimes had different visions or policy choices than the council. Just over five years ago that the city often measured a mayor’s term in months, rather than years.
At the same time the city council was working through and resolving the issues that had been districting over the years, the council also went about methodically preparing the city for its bright future. A new comprehensive plan is in place, a new subdivision ordinance has been enacted, an impact fee ordinance that will require developers to pay their own way is in the works, a new town center and recreational complex is taking shape next to the new city hall, and a new drinking water treatment plant has been completed that can serve the city for generations.
These actions were just a start. The key component of the city’s potential for success is for the city to build the sewer system that it should have built 40 years ago when the federal government would have subsidized it. I can only imagine how different this community would be today had our leaders then had the vision and strength of today’s city council. Today, the city, starting with a grant funded study, and culminating with a phased-in plan to serve the entirety of the existing city population of Granite Shoals, has received a commitment for low-interest subsidized financing from the state’s Clean Water Fund that is 1.5 percent below market for the city’s first phase. Voters in Granite Shoals will determine on May 14 whether to authorize the city council to incur the debt and begin the design, permitting, and construction of the first phase that will serve RM 1431 for commercial development and the first 500 housing connections.
The city’s future is now in the hands of the same voters who, five and a half years ago, passed the home rule charter by a 3 to 1 margin. Those voters expressed a desire for a new era in Granite Shoals in which petty political battles would give way to a professionally managed city government that would begin to address the city’s many troublesome issues. I have full confidence that these voters, now with proof positive that their vote in 2005 has generated all they hoped it would, will take the next step that will ensure Granite Shoals’ future as a viable, attractive, sustainable, and very livable city.
Passage of the bonds will pave the way toward true, positive economic growth that will sustain the city, create jobs, and allow Granite Shoals to continue its progress in upgrading its streets and other infrastructure. The new economic development will provide the city with a more diversified property tax base – relieving the waterfront owners from carrying the lion’s share of property tax revenues as the city builds out its interior residential lots, and commercial property begins to develop along 1431. The sewer system will be the engine that drives the new development, and it will not only spread out property taxes amongst more and new property owners, it will allow the city to generate a sales tax base, and hotel-motel taxes.
The vision does not call for large box retailers or industrial development, but instead commercial ventures that will serve a growing Granite Shoals population that can buy its necessary items closer to home, receive their health care services without driving to another community, and provide service, food and lodging establishments for the influx of tourist dollars that the Andy Roddick International Tennis Center and our parks complex will bring to the city. Rather than rely on an industrial or manufacturing economy, this city can build on its base as a tourist destination, and an incredible community to call home.
Now that I have set the scene for the future, here is the state of the city. Even factoring the legal settlement to the island residents, the city now maintains a minimum three month operational reserve fund, which is something it has not always done in the past. We have a new city manager with the knowledge, experience, skills and wisdom to keep the city operating smoothly, efficiently, and progressively. The city has the second largest tax base and the third largest population in Burnet County.
The city has an incredible opportunity with the Andy Roddick Foundation International Tennis Center to bring in millions of outside dollars. The center, along with the proposed walking, hiking and biking trails that Granite Shoals native and Olympic running star Leo Manzano is designing and to which he is lending his name, and the other proposed recreational projects will also offer residents of all ages a great place to relax and have fun. The state of the city is sound, its current foundation is solid, and its future is very bright. If our voters have the same wisdom in May as they had in 2005, there will be no stopping Granite Shoals from becoming the most desirable city in which to live in Central Texas.
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Posted by frankreilly
Mayor’s Update – February 4, 2011
February 4, 2011Mayor’s Update – February 4, 2011
Subscribe to the newsletter by email by sending a note to mayor@graniteshoals.org.
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Posted by frankreilly
We Must Act Now for Granite Shoals Sewer System
November 5, 2010Last week, the Granite Shoals city council voted 7-0 to move forward with borrowing funds to build the first phase of the city’s sewer system. As you know from my prior newsletters, the city has carefully and methodically studied its options for over five years and we have found that phasing the system in with three separate phases is not only the best, but is the only feasible way for the city to build a complete system.
The sewer system must be built to protect Lake LBJ and our groundwater. We have over 2,000 septic systems in Granite Shoals, any many are old and failing. The lack of a sewer system has driven commerce to Marble Falls and Kingsland, where the cost of building restaurants, grocery stores, and the like is far less expensive because they don’t have to build costly large septic systems.
Granite Shoals residents and visitors provide a significant portion of Marble Falls’ $7 million in sales taxes which, if those funds stayed here in the community, could offset our growing property taxes (Granite Shoals’ sales taxes are about $65 thousand a year in comparison). Increased commerce will not only provide additional sales taxes, but will build up property taxes along 1431 and other commercial areas. With the property value growth from a new sewer system, the city can reduce its reliance upon waterfront property owners to fund the majority of the city’s operations.
You may soon hear from some opponents to the sewer system. The opponents say that the wrong people are being served in the first phase and that the city should build the system all at once. Unfortunately, in phasing, some of us will have to wait for future phases to reach us, and the city’s engineers have carefully laid out the phases to keep costs at a minimum.
The first phase will be built closest to the plant, and future phases will expand from there. To show that the city is serious about fully serving the entire city, I will propose a resolution at next week’s city council meeting that formally outlines the city’s phased plan, and which will state that part of the plan includes stubbing out some untapped lines into Phase 2, and closer to Phase 3. Phase 1 and its untapped lines will cover almost all of the city’s eastern shoreline of Lake LBJ, an important step toward providing future service and protecting water quality.
While I too would far prefer the city to build the entire system at once, the cost of putting the entire project in place at one time would require the city to more than triple its tax rates to levels above those charged by the school district. Our residents cannot afford to pay for the entire system at one time, which is why we must phase in the system, and allow growth in the tax base to help pay for later phases. (In my last newsletter, I incorrectly stated that the estimated the cost of all phases was about $40 million; that number is actually about $60 million).
As to cost, the opponents use scare tactics and false assumptions to also say that Granite Shoals cannot afford the system at all (which conflicts with their argument that the city should install the entire system at one time). For the average homeowner, your taxes might have to go up by as much as $0.038 cents per $100 (or $38 per year on a $100,000 home) starting in 2012. People 65 or older will not pay ANY tax increase on their homestead. No one will pay a monthly service fee, estimated to be $35 a month for sewer service, until their home is tied into the system. The city will be paying for that tie in. If we delay this project, these numbers will do nothing but increase.
The opponents are circulating a petition that would require the citizens to vote in May on whether to build a sewer system, which would delay the system by at least a year, even if the voters passed the proposal. If there weren’t significant costs to the city associated with a delay, I would not be speaking out about the petition at all. But before you consider signing a petition to put this project to a vote of the citizens, I encourage you to consider the costs of delaying the project.
A delay will cost the city tremendously in several ways. First, the historic low 3.3 percent interest available to the city on the bonds will almost certainly be higher in a year. Second, construction costs will likely increase in a year’s time as the economy improves. Third, hundreds of thousands of dollars of land and easement rights donated to the city conditioned upon the city diligently moving forward with a sewer plant could be lost. Fourth, we cannot ensure that in a year from now the city will qualify for the state program that currently is providing the city with the opportunity for low interest bonds. And finally, the city now has a chance to control its destiny in timing and the provision of sewer service, and delay will cost us that control.
Finally, please see the attached letter from the Lower Colorado River Authority regarding the water quality benefits of a sanitary sewer system. While the LCRA is clearly not threatening the city in any way, I know that if the city delays or fails to build the project, some state or federal entity – or even a group of environmental activists – could try to force Granite Shoals to build a sewer system to protect the water quality of Lake LBJ, and at that time, the city will no longer control the timing or the terms like we do today.
Timing is critical for Granite Shoals.
We now have a remarkable opportunity while interest rates are at an historic low, construction costs are down, the city has land and easements that have been donated to it conditioned upon the city building a sewer plant now without delay, and we have the chance to do this under our own terms, favorable to
Granite Shoals, and on our own schedule. If we delay this opportunity, we stand to lose all of these things.
Please join me in supporting a sewer system for Granite Shoals, and thanks for your consideration.
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Posted by frankreilly
A Sewer System for Granite Shoals
October 21, 2010Below is a newsletter that I’m sending to Granite Shoals’ water customers to explain the need and proposal for a sewer system for the City of Granite Shoals.
The City of Granite Shoals (GS) proposes to construct a sanitary sewage collection system, wastewater treatment plant, and a disposal system (collectively, City Sewer Service) in three major phases.
The first phase will be funded by a combination of grants and low interest loans totaling about $17 million. The first phase will serve about 500 houses and commercial areas along RM 1431. If the permitting and construction process goes as planned, Phase 1 will start providing service in 2014. Two planned future phases will complete service to the entire city.
Extension of a sanitary sewer system will benefit the city’s environment, public health, and economic development, and will provide long term benefits to our citizens.
Why does GS need City Sewer Service? Why now, and not later?
GS was developed in 1962 by those who sold lots cheaply and quickly, and the developers decided to skip construction of a sewer system. Instead, thousands of septic tanks have been installed. The City’s engineers believe that GS is the largest non-Colonia city in Texas without sewer service. The lack of City Sewer Service has resulted in water quality degradation, a practically non-existent retail service industry, and placed most of the city’s tax burden on waterfront residents.
The provision of City Sewer Service will have the following positive effects for Granite Shoals:
- Improved Environmental & Health Benefits
Proper wastewater treatment and disposal is as important for protecting community health as drinking water treatment, garbage collection, and immunization programs. Untreated or improperly treated wastewater can spread disease and contaminate drinking water sources, including Lake LBJ and our groundwater.
The EPA has found that 30 percent of septic systems are not properly operating, and many more in GS are over 30 years old, and are more likely to malfunction. Even in a perfect environment, improperly operating septic systems are a danger to water quality. However, in GS this effect is significantly increased by our local geology.
As you likely know, our geology is sieve-like granite gravel on top of solid granite bedrock, with a shallow aquifer underlying some of the deeper granite gravel areas. The average depth to the bedrock is 8 feet. The septic fields frequently drain onto the granite, and the effluent naturally drains to the lowest point, which is Lake LBJ.
Not only is the water quality impacted by potential bacteria and virus contamination, but septic systems do not treat to reduce nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Increased nutrients cause algae blooms, which can be dangerous to fish due to oxygen demands, and they also create a strong, objectionable smell and taste of water. We have seen steadily increasing algae blooms in Lake LBJ over the past decades. Increased nitrates are a human health concern.
Some city residents are on water wells, which are often located precariously near septic systems. Significant public health issues arise when untreated sewage reaches water used by or consumed by humans. City Sewer Service will collect the wastewater and centrally treat it to a high standard, and will result in improved and safer water quality in Lake LBJ, its tributaries, and groundwater in the city.
- An Increased Sales & Property Tax Base Will More Equally Distribute Tax Burdens
GS collects about $65,000 per year in sales tax revenues, compared to $7 million for Marble Falls. The reason for GS’ slow commercial activity is the cost of building a septic system for a commercial business. City Sewer Service will bring new commerce to GS, providing more convenience for citizens who will no longer need to travel to Marble Falls or Kingsland to shop or for medical and food needs. The service will also increase sales tax revenues to decease the city’s reliance upon property taxes. The new Andy Roddick Foundation Tennis Center will bring a demand for new hotel units. The new commerce will also increase the city’s property tax base, especially in the commercially zoned areas. The increased commerce will also allow non-residents to contribute to city revenues.
- Lower Construction Costs
A residential septic system can cost $10,000-15,000 or more, and aerobic systems can cost much more. Costs for commercial operations are far higher. Septic systems also require maintenance themselves, including adding agents to encourage bacterial action and periodic pumping. Most septic systems have a 20-year useful life, and should be pumped every two years. A monthly amortization over a septic system’s useful life is at least $50 a month, including maintenance. Also, most new home construction projects now require two lots, so that the septic system can be placed on a separate lot. Lower construction costs will encourage more homebuilding and commercial activity into the city, generating additional sales and property tax revenues, and spreading out the tax burden to more individuals.
- A Better Image for GS and New Economic Development
Cities without sewer systems typically encourage and exhibit sub-standard development. Providing City Sewer Service will send a message to builders, families looking for a place to live, and commercial interests that GS is a viable and sustainable community. Today, that message is missing. Economic development experts agree that quality infrastructure is a key element for attracting development. “There can be no economic development without community development,” states Megan Henderson, an official at the Heart of Texas Council of Governments.
I have had several commercial developers of projects ranging from assisted living facilities, commercial development and housing tell me that they are interested in doing projects in GS, but only after City Sewer Service is online. The school district has adequate land at Highland Lakes Elementary School for a middle school, but will not build one until a sewer system is in place. This supports the statement from Baylor University economics professor Tom Kelly, who says that “investors look to see if you have viable public services.”
- Control Over Sewer Services
If GS does not provide City Sewer Service, developers may build their own system, and GS will lose control of providing wastewater services. Revenues that could be used to benefit of city residents will be siphoned off to non-city uses. For example, Aqua Texas, a subsidiary of a large international company, owns the small plant that serves Beaver Island and Web Isle and charges its customers over $100 per month for sewer services, though the true cost to service these customers is undoubtedly far lower (compare this with the city’s proposed $35 a month rate). The profits go overseas. Cities do not make “profits” but instead utilize revenues from such systems to serve their own population.
Also, third parties, such as the EPA or LCRA may someday seek to protect the water quality of Lake LBJ by forcing GS to provide sewer services under terms that will most definitely not be as favorable as they are with this planned project. As discussed earlier, excessive nutrients are a risk to human health and the environment. The EPA’s latest focus on water quality is on nutrients, whether they are in ground water or surface water. See “Nutrients in the Nation’s Streams and Groundwater 2000-2006.” US EPA (2010). Septic tanks are one of the key sources of nutrients that reach ground and surface water, and increased regulatory attention to septic tanks in the near future is very probable.
- The City Has Negotiated Significant Benefits for the WWTP that Will Not Be Available if GS Puts Off the City Sewer Service
The City negotiated with area ranch owners, who desire to build or sell a major development project, to donate 15 acres to the City on which to construct its treatment plant, and 25 acres on which to irrigate with the effluent. Further, the City has also negotiated with those owners the right to utilize a proposed golf course irrigation land for the sewer effluent, which will give the City enormous growth potential for decades to come. If the City does not commence the process to provide City Sewer Service at this time, the landowners can cancel the gift, and the city will lose those benefits.
Assuming current land values at a conservative $12,500 an acre, that’s a donation of about $500,000 for the land that the city stands to lose if this project is delayed. The city would also lose untold thousands more in lost easement rights, plus hundreds of thousands more if the city does not have the ability to irrigate the proposed golf course.
- Very low interest rate funding is available to the City at this time.
The low-interest loan for this project will be guaranteed by the State of Texas. The certainty of availability of these funds from the State at historically low levels is something that cannot be insured in the future should the project be postponed. The interest rate that the State will charge the City is roughly 3.3 percent. Delaying the project will likely cost GS residents in added interest costs.
What will the system cost the city and homeowners, and how will it affect my tax bill?
The city will pay for the system with long term bonds, which will primarily be repaid by City Sewer System revenues, backed by property taxes. The city will not seek special assessments or similar payments from homeowners.
Phase 1 will be funded with 3.3 percent low interest loans guaranteed by the Texas Water Development Board. The first issue will be about $2.75 million in January, 2011, with a second issue of $12 million in August, 2011. The first phase will also utilize a grant of about $250,000, with a final loan of about $2.1 million to pay for household hook ups and untapped stub extensions into and towards Phases 2 and 3, for a total of about $16.85 million. The bonds will range up to 30 years in their payback to allow future generations, who will also benefit from this project, to help pay for it.
Prior discussions by the city had said that the city was hopeful that no real increase in property taxes would be necessary for the new debt. The city planned to ease into the payments by slowly reducing transfers to city operations from the city’s water fund over the next four years, and also use growth to pay for the new debt payments. The city will continue with those plans, but a new change just required by the U.S. EPA will require the city to draw down the entirety of the debt within a year, rather than over several years as previously would have been allowed. This change will require a small tax increase starting two years from now for which we had not previously planned.
The city plans no tax increase until 2012, at which time a modest increase of about 3.8 cents per $100 may be required to fund the first phase. This increase is based upon very conservative growth assumptions. The city is hopeful, but cannot guarantee, that the bulk, if not all, of future phases and expansions can be paid for with out further increasing taxes by utilizing growth in tax and sewer revenues that the project will bring to the city, as well as developers’ payment of impact fees.
The great news for our seasoned citizens, is that if you are 65 or more in age by 2012, you will not see any tax increase on your homestead for the sewer system. The law freezes your homestead property taxes when you reach 65.
Finally, our engineers have estimated that the monthly operating charges for the system will be $35 a month, payable only after you connect to the system. The city will be funding the average cost of hooking your home into the system, so most homeowners will pay nothing to tie into the system. Some residences may require minor contributions to pay for unusual electrical or plumbing modifications.
What about grants & why does the city propose to issue bonds that will take 30 years to pay?
The city has looked long and far for grants. Major grant funding for GS is not available. Some small grants are available to GS to install collection lines and hook-ups for underprivileged areas of the City. Only a small portion of the first phase will be eligible for grants, but the City will remain vigilant in searching for all grant opportunities in the future. The underprivileged area is located near the new proposed plant, which makes providing Phase 1 service to that area more financially prudent.
Why can’t the City cover the entire city in one project rather than phasing-in the system?
Providing sewer services to an already built-out community of the size of GS is already a monumental task. The cost of sewering the entire city at once would be cost prohibitive, and would require increasing property taxes by significant amounts. The cost of building out the entire system is estimated to be about $40 million, and to fund that debt, the city would have to increase its property tax rate to a level higher than that charged by MFISD, which charges $1.29 per $100 of valuation (GS’ current tax rate is $0.448). GS proposes to build the system in phases to minimize the initial costs of the system, while allowing growth to help pay for later phases as sewer and tax revenues increase with new activity in the City brought about by the new system.
Note that for Phase 1 and Phase 2, that the pipes the city installs will be phased as if the system were fully constructed. While this may result in some initial over-sizing, it will prevent the city from having to come back and put in additional or larger lines at a far greater cost. The plant will be modular, allowing the city to easily increase capacity as growth requires.
Which areas will be served by the first phase?
The City’s early planning proposal for Phase 1 includes all of the property in the city limits along RM 1431, with the intended effect of bringing in more retail and service facilities for the city, increasing property tax assessments on 1431, and increasing the sales tax to more equally distribute the tax burden across the city. Phase 1 is also planned to include some areas in the Churchill, Kingswood, Elm Creek, Prairie Creek areas (where grant funding is possible), and to waterfront areas along E. Briar and E. Castle Shoals, and Clear Cove. In all, about 500 homes will be served in Phase 1. A newly announced proposal will provide some untapped lines to extend into Phase 2 and toward Phase 3 to make serving those later extensions more likely and feasible. Once the untapped lines are installed, people may tap into these lines at their own expense, or they can wait until the future phases when the city will pay for those connections.
When can we expect future phases to be built?
The City proposes to build the entire system in three phases. As property values and sales taxes increase, and expand the City’s capacity to incur additional long term debt, the City will continue adding new service areas. The City’s expectation is that Phase 2, which will cover most of the remainder of the City east of Phillips Ranch Road, will commence in late 2014, and Phase 3, will commence by 2018, and will cover the remaining portions of the city south of RM 1431, primarily West of Phillips Ranch Road, but also east of Elm Creek. Private developers can pay to add areas in the city to the existing system, which would make building those phases faster.
How can the city guarantee that future phases will be built?
By law, the current city council cannot bind future city councils to start future projects. However, as explained earlier, building the entire system in one project would not only be cost prohibitive, it would also be financially irresponsible because doing so takes away the city’s ability to use growth to help pay for future phases while keeping the financial commitment by property owners to a minimum. One certain way to ensure that future phases not be built is for the city to not build Phase 1. Without the first phase, there will be no growth and no new revenues to help build the next phases. Because City Sewer Service is essential to the city’s viability, citizens who are not being served in the first phase will no doubt keep the pressure on future city councils to ensure that the system is completed.
By the way, as to phasing, the plan is open so that new development projects – which will pay for the cost to tie into the system – can come online if the economics make sense to developers, even if they are not located in the first phase. This, along with sending a message that the city is serious about future phases, is why we are proposing to extend some untapped lines outside of Phase 1 into Phase 2 and close to Phase III. The city council will also pass a resolution, concurrent with the bond authorization, which sets forth the city’s intended phasing and timeline set forth above.
Proposed Phasing of Granite Shoals Sewer System
Proposed Phases for GS Sewer System
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Posted by frankreilly
A New Vision for Granite Shoals
March 5, 2010Update: Here’s a link to a (hopefully) more easily readable PDF version of the document at my issuu.com account: http://issuu.com/FrankReilly/docs/gsvision
[You can follow the City of Granite Shoals on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GraniteShoals or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GraniteShoalsTx]
Mayor Frank Reilly wrote about the City of Granite Shoals’ new vision as set forth in its 2010 Comprehensive Plan in the March 4, 2010 edition of the River Cities Tribune. You might need to use the zoom feature in your browser to be able to read it.
A New Vision for Granite Shoals
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Posted by frankreilly
The First Amendment, the Citizens United Case and Public Opinion
February 19, 2010
The Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution
As previously noted, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in the case entitled Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that Congress’ complete restriction of speech by corporations violated the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The First Amendment, as we all know, states in pertinent part that: ”Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press… “.
Note that the First Amendment has no qualifying statements regarding the protection of the freedom of speech. If the framers had so desired they could have limited the free speech guarantee to natural persons. They did not do so. This is so in part because the framers did not want our government to find ways to censure free speech.
While corporations are not natural persons, they are associations comprised of natural persons. The Courts opinion did not to say that Congress could never distinguish between natural persons and corporations or other business entities, or even foreign citizens or business organizations. The Supreme Court was careful to say that its opinion was limited to the absolute ban on corporate speech, and did not apply to limitations against speech by foreign nationals. This is why we saw Justice Samuel Alito mouth “not true” to President Obama’s sweeping rhetoric that the Court’s opinion would “open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections.” That statement is simply not true. The Supreme Court has consistently stated that the freedom of speech is not absolute, and that some restrictions are constitutional if those restrictions are narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling state interest. It said so again in Citizens United.
After a few weeks of hand-wringing by Democrats who have been making the same sweeping allegations as did the President, we now see poll results of whether persons agree with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling. The Washington Post states:
Eight in 10 poll respondents say they oppose the high court’s Jan. 21 decision to allow unfettered corporate political spending, with 65 percent “strongly” opposed. Nearly as many backed congressional action to curb the ruling, with 72 percent in favor of reinstating limits.
The poll actually asked the two following questions:
Changing topics, do you support or oppose the recent ruling by the Supreme Court that says corporations and unions can spend as much money as they want to help political candidates win elections?
Would you support or oppose an effort by Congress to reinstate limits on corporate and union spending on election campaigns?
I can understand why the respondents answered the way they did. The questions are biased, because they assume the Court removed all restrictions or limits on corporate political activity. If the Court had done so, I would have agreed with the questions, and the overwhelming responses given by those polled. But that’s not what the Court said. It said that an absolute ban on corporate speech was unconstitutional. There are no statements in the Court’s opinion that a rational legal scholar would say allows for “unfettered corporate spending.” In addition, the qualifications in both questions (i.e. ”to help political candidates win elections” and “on election campaigns” imply that the Court authorized spending either in coordination with, or directly to, candidates. The Court’s opinion was limited to independent expenditures that were neither coordinated nor made directly to candidates.
The poll biases aside, John Samples writes on the CATO blog that Americans are often at odds with the Constitution. Samples notes that while in the abstract, Americans overwhelmingly support the bill of rights and freedoms guaranteed therein, sizable portions of Americans — in some cases the majority thereof — oppose certain specific constitutionally protected acts of freedom. Those acts could include banning all private ownership of firearms or preventing public school students from wearing shirts that might offend others.
The genius of the Constitution was that it was written to protect minority rights and governmental participation, and not just what the majority might believe. Without the Bill of Rights which guarantees our rights regarding speech, religion, assembly, property ownership, arms ownership, and others, Congress would have the, shall we say, unfettered ability to pass laws desired by the majority that restrict those rights we hold to be so fundamental.
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Posted by frankreilly
One less taxing entity in Austin, RIP NW Austin MUD #1
February 4, 2010Today, the Austin City Council approved an ordinance to abolish the Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 (the “District”). I have served as the District’s general counsel since 2002.
The District has had a rather fascinating ride since its creation in 1987. The Texas Water Commission, a predecessor agency to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, created the District by an order after the original developers negotiated with the City of Austin (the “City”). The District is located within the Austin city limits. This District, like other MUDs, is a financing mechanism that developers use to fund utility infrastructure and require home owners to pay back that cost with their taxes that pay off the long-term tax free bonds that the MUD issues.
When the City and the developers entered into an agreement authorizing the District’s creation, state law required them to allocate the respective taxes charged to District residents by the two taxing entities. So the District and the City charged the District’s residents full tax rates. Usually MUDs that are created inside a city limits pay a lower city tax rate as the MUD performs certain services and of course, has to have a high enough rate to repay the bonds. In the District’s case, those services included operating the 13.7 acre Trailhead Park and managing 400 or so acres of conservation lands set aside for endangered species mitigation for the Canyon Creek development.
In addition to the full taxation, the city negotiated to receive all of the District’s water and sewer lines, and ultimately, Trailhead Park. This full taxation continued unchallenged until some principled and determined residents sought and won positions on the District’s board of directors.
The Districts directors who served during that time period included Bill Ferguson, Don Zimmerman, Karen Temborius, Allen Weiss, Ed Swarthout, George Frederickson, Rob Ratcliff, Russell Hill and Chris Bowers.
The board of directors began putting pressure on city officials, who ultimately acceded to provide a water rate reduction equivalent to one-half of the District’s debt service to District residents in exchange for about 200 acres of the 400 acre District conservation lands. This transaction occurred after the District and some residents filed suit against the City claiming that the 1987 creation agreement illegally failed to allocate the City’s and District’s taxes. While the District was careful to make it clear that this transaction was separate from the lawsuit, clearly it was the lawsuit that brought the City to the table (along with strong and persistent activism from the board and some key residents).
The District lost the first round at the Travis County District Court, but won on appeal at the Austin Court of Appeals after several years of waiting for the opinion. The Texas Supreme Court declined to consider the City’s appeal, and after the City exhausted all rehearing options, the City informed the District in December, 2009 that the City intended to dissolve the District. Cities may dissolve MUDs that are wholly located within their city limits, provided that they assume all liabilities and assets of the MUD.
Had the City just taken that opportunity at the beginning of the litigation, the City could have avoided millions in legal fees. Instead, as a result of the litigation, and follow up litigation filed by District residents against the City to stop the illegal tax collection, the City agreed to pay the legal fees to the District’s lawyers (Greg Coleman of Yetter, Warden & Coleman took the case on a contingency basis, and the District’s residents were never in danger of having to pay those fees), plus an undisclosed amount of fees and expenses incurred by the City in the litigation.
Although they paid decades of unfair taxes, the end result for District residents is favorable. The settlement agreement that Greg Coleman and his team (including Chris Ward and Marc Tabolsky) negotiated requires the City to refund all of the District’s taxes paid by District landowners for 2009. Anticipating the dissolution, the District’s board drew from its operating fund reserves and made significant improvements to Trailhead Park (new sod on the fields, irrigation upgrades, a new play scape, a repaved parking lot, and upgrades to the pavilion) and the trails behind the park. The District also sold its remaining conservation lands to the Canyon Creek Homeowners Association (it was required to sell any assets at fair market value) so that they would remain in local control and not under the thumb of the City. Finally, the board ordered refunds of remaining operating account funds to 2008 taxpayers (as noted above, the City is refunding 2009 taxes).
The District created history in 2009 when it won its case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Northwest Austin MUD No. 1 v. Holder. The case successfully challenged the U.S. Justice Department’s refusal to allow the District to bail out from the requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The District became the first non-county political subdivision in the nation to win independence from the preclearance stigma of Section 5, which requires certain jurisdictions to prove that any proposed change in rules or procedures affecting voting is not discriminatory. Gregory S. Coleman of Yetter, Warden & Coleman of Austin argued the case and also took this case at no cost to the District and its taxpayers. I was honored to be seated with Mr. Coleman and his partner Christian Ward at the counsel’s table during the arguments before the Supreme Court.
So there is now one less taxing entity in Austin, and the property owners in that area are all the better for it. They will, over the next two and a half decades, save over $16 million in property taxes. They have a strong board of directors, dedicated to limited taxation, to thank for that savings.
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Posted by frankreilly
