October 30, 2007
Endorsement watch: Mayor White and the HISD bond referendum

Matt Stiles notes that Mayor White hasn't taken a position on the HISD bond referendum yet. He prints the following statement from the Mayor:


HISD and other regional school districts do important work. I have seen with my own eyes that many HISD schools need maintenance and repairs.

Bond authorizations allow schools to borrow money to make capital expenditures. Without debt authority, school districts would have to raise taxes in order to pay for needed current improvements without debt. For this reason, I routinely support school bond issues.

I generally support HISD and its Superintendent.

Several weeks ago I requested information about the bond issue on two topics: whether HISD could support a bond issue of this amount without raising the tax rate; and, financial information about the economics of school closures and consolidations.

I am still waiting to receive the requested information from HISD on the second topic.


Very interesting. I have heard through the grapevine that the Mayor has already done his civic duty for this cycle, so it's not a question of whether or not he has made up his mind. Being public about it is a different thing, and like Stiles I'd have to think HISD would have been quick to accommodate him on this request. I don't know what to make of that.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 30, 2007 to Election 2007
Comments

Mayor WHITE says, ...

Bond authorizations allow schools to borrow money to make capital expenditures. Without debt authority, school districts would have to raise taxes in order to pay for needed current improvements without debt. For this reason, I routinely support school bond issues.

This is not generically true. In principle, HISD could build more and better maintain existing schools out of its annual cash flow and without entering into the largely corrupt world of bond-funded capital expenditures.

But, probably all of the "overlapping debt" entities in Harris County now probably have to constantly roll-over existing debt in order to avoid defaults (on revenue bonds) and events that would automatically trigger a tax rise.

So, the actual school maintenance and construction that gets done is less and less and less with each one of these issues.

In any case, the nearly all-white bond-lawyers, civil-engineers, architects, paper-hangers, and land-speculators are the controlling interest in "non-partisan" elections, where the Democratic Party has, in fact, exited any semblence of responsible, two-party government.

Affirmative action, my ass...

Posted by: John Robert BEHRMAN on October 30, 2007 12:32 PM