March 9, 2006
Follow
the Cash
By
Jack D. McNamara
All across Texas the voters trooped to the polls this week
as we do in
even numbered years. We vote in primary elections for those Republican
and Democratic representatives who will be on the ballot eight months
hence in the general election.
Each year this makes less and less sense. Challengers have too little
time to become known and these days issues are so volatile that what
most concerns us in March is not likely to be a burning issue by
November. Thus the primary which was intended to enhance voter choice
merely enhances the protection of incumbents.
This 2006 election year many voters we talked to said they would not
vote in the primaries because they wanted to be able to sign petitions
for the Independent gubernatorial candidacies of either Carole
Strayhorn (who is ordinarily a Republican) or Kinky Friedman (who is
ordinarily a novelist and a musician).
These oddities probably mean that Texas voters are dissatisfied with
the political establishment of Republicans who have dominated the state
for the past twenty years. Unless the Democrats can more effectively
represent that dissatisfaction before November, however, it probably
means the Republicans will continue their domination of Texas offices.
Oh well, someone has to decide what bills to pay. Dissatisfaction with
our state political leadership coincides nicely with the increasing
astonishment with our national political leadership. Call it
piñata politics — we dislike politicians and their policies so
we rhetorically bash them and then we dislike them more because they
are so often bashable.
Nevertheless we predict that the partisan primaries will produce some
men and women willing to take the various offices after another
election in November.
At the local level, however, we need more immediate decisions. So in
May we elect representatives to the non-partisan cities, school
districts and hospital districts in a one time, winner-take-all
election. It is an historical oddity that these local governmental
entities are increasing and proliferating in America. At one time,
particularly in remote rural areas like this, all the local governance
was done by the county.
During the past century, reform movements everywhere across America
often left behind new forms of local government long after the reforms
were absorbed by the major parties. The result is a hodgepodge of laws
and procedures which every citizen aspiring to political office will
encounter should he or she be elected.
Alpine was formerly Murphyville, a town that grew around a watering
stop on the railroad which reached here in 1882. The city was chartered
by a petition drawn up in 1919, a time of great trouble on the border.
In 1993 the city again changed its form of government by adopting a
“Home Rule” charter in a referendum.
No other city in the Big Bend has taken such action. Some
of our cities remain unincorporated — Marathon, for example. In Jeff
Davis County the oldest community, Ft. Davis, has no city government.
Presidio is large enough to become a Home Rule city but is not.
According to a newspaper column in the former Alpine weekly
Desert-Mountain Times, Presidio once disincorporated itself.
One general observation about our Big Bend cities is that all use
water. Sometimes the water is provided by a private business but in the
larger cities of Alpine, Marfa and Presidio, the city is in the water
supply business. In Alpine, a generous gift of the Musquiz water field
in 1972 from Herbert Kokernot, Jr. has provided most of our water
needs. Currently water sales provide more than $1 million revenue when
sold to Alpine citizens each year.
This is a sweet deal. So sweet that many citizens and officials take it
for granted. Add some sales tax, some property tax and the city easily
takes in about $5 million annually.
Alpine’s water supplies are also a great incentive for bureaucratic
entrepreneurs. Someone always has a newer and bigger idea for using
those water supplies to make money through “growth” and “development.”
Over the past several years such schemes have come regularly into the
politics of the city. From the neighborhoods, however, there also comes
pushback. It is outrageous that the city’s credit and assets have been
used for private business purposes.
Since May 2003 a succession of elected city council representatives
have questioned the city’s finances. Both of the past two city managers
have left principally because the city council questioned the
sweetheart dealing of the bureaucrats and the entrepreneurs.
In the most recent several weeks council members Avinash Rangra, Anna
Monclova and Bob Brewer raised numerous questions concerning the past
year’s audit with city auditor Shaw Skinner. Monday night most of the
issues were resolved and the council accepted the audit.
The city of Alpine spends more than we take in. But we balance the
budget by using “net assets” such as our water supplies. Last year we
“transferred assets” in order to balance the budget. The assets are
paper values expressed in millions of dollars but the over-expenditures
are real cash which was spent.
“These financials don’t paint a pretty picture but it’s what happened
here last year” Skinner said Monday.
All the figures are not in but it appears the city of
Alpine may have come close to a balanced budget last year. For most
citizens there is some consolation in a consistent $5 million cash in
and out over the recent years. The cash in and cash out doesn’t quite
balance. But Alpine has millions of dollars worth of “assets” on paper
which offset any deficit. Apparently that is acceptable to accountants,
bankers and lawyers.
This is going to be a dry year. That means Alpine will sell more water
if city hall hasn’t completely destroyed the water distribution system.
More water sold equals more cash coming in.
We exist therefore in the ultimate political irony. Common sense tells
us to conserve water in a desert. Yet our desires for the public
amenities of parks, streets, civic centers, airports, etc. require us
to pump more water and sell it.
As Pogo says, we have met the enemy and he is us. •
(Also
published by the Big Bend Sentinel of Marfa, Texas March 9, 2006.)
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