Windcrest Citizen Blog: October 2015

Monday, October 26, 2015

Taxes are NOT lower! Mayor Baxter Lies

Many Windcrest residents received their tax bill recently. Check it out. Your taxes went UP , although Mayor Baxter claims he and council reduced your taxes by 2%. That's just a darn right lie folks.

Council lowered the Tax Rate. Your taxes went up because Bexar County increased the assessed value of your home. That's a fact.

Windcrest will received MORE property taxes this year than last. That would NOT happend if your Taxes were lowered.

2013 Tax Rate was: 0.4152310 (The .07 Interest and Sinking Fund was paid off this year. That
was for Road 7 years ago)
2014 Tax Rate was: 0.3409000 (Lower because the Interest & Sinking Fund was Paid off.)
2015 Tax Rate is: 0.3341000

Each year Bexar County sends out two figures for municipalities to consider.

Effective Rate: The rate at which the City will receive the same $$ as last year. Automatically decreases as the home values increase.
Rollback Rate: The Maximum rate a City can increase their tax rate without issuing bonds.

During the budget process Cities must determine what Tax Rate they will assess. There is NO figure automatically assigned. Cities determine what they want to spend and assess a Tax Rate that will support that budget. If property value increase as they did in 2015, Cities can assess a lower Rate and still get MORE money that the previous year. That's what Windcrest did for 2016 budget. The Council assess a 0.3341000 Tax Rate which Netted the City more $$ that was netted in 2015.

Your TAXES were NOT lowered by 2%, that's a LIE. Your Tax Rate for 2016 is lower than in 2015, but you actually pay MORE $$, so your taxes were NOT Lowered!

The 2016 Tax Rate is a little lower than the 2015 rate, but you pay more taxes. True, the Tax Rate is NOT as High as allowed by law, but the Net $ income is More for 2016 than in 2015.

The economy has picked up and businesses are having a great year. More businesses creates more Sales Taxe for Windcrest.

Between the Sales Tax increasing and the increased assessed home values, Windcrest is stitting pretty.

So WHY the LIES? It's what magicians and attorneys do, they create Misdirection to take your eyes (and mind) off what the other hand is doing.

In 2009 the WEDC forcasted budget which comes from 1/4 of 1 percent of the City sales tax was $300,000. The 2016 WEDC budget is $487,000. That's a hefty increase and all WEDC can find to spend money is Trips to Las Vegas for half a dozen folks, including the Mayor and Council persons.

Remember the Misdirection? Our streets are terrible is one example. Last year during Phase 1, there was street repair on Hickory Hollow and a couple of other streets. Phase two was suppose to start last year, but was held off because of the Christmas season and visitors to Windcrest should not have to deal with construction. Guess what? Nothing was done in all of 2015, and now Christmas season is hear again so construction will be delayed once again.

Now if you don't spend 1 Million on street repairs in 2015, where is the money? The flyer say the city has over 2 million in the rainy day fund.. well Yea, I hope so, but what about the streets?

It's time for a change, Stop the LIES. Elect real people to the council, get rid of the McFall and Gretz Poster Cut outs.

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Windcrest City Charter Changed without a Vote?

Did the Mayor and Council change the City Charter without a citizens vote? From what I read lately in the news it sure seems they have.

An ex city council person wrote in the Oct 21, 2015 North East Herald, letter to the editor and listed several issues where the current city council are now following the City Charter, but rather have enacted their own form of government. They have changed our City Charter mandated Council-City Manager form of governments to a new Mayor-City Manager without a Vote!!

Read the article for your self. Better yet, view many of the council video's and see for yourself. Mayor Baxter with his 4 "life-sized poster cutouts," have by statements and actions changed the City Charter, all by themselves. Below is are two articles from the Herald.

Vote for a Change at city hall. We need Archuleta, Vandenbert and Wright to replace those life-sized poster up there now.

All three of these candidates are trustworthy and are committed to following the City Charter!

Friday, October 23, 2015

Ordinances DO NOT Apply to Me!!

City Council members again playing the "Privileged Status" once again. Windcrest city parks are closed from 9pm to 6am.

The Windcrest Police informed a candidate that "NO one is allowed into the Parks until 6am. The first day of early voting there were tents, chairs, vehicles etc set up well before 5:30am. When the candidate inquired to the Police, the answer from the Chief of Police was, "let them do whatever they want."

OK, so the City Council members running for Re-Election arrive early and select a choice spots to set up campaign tents. Next, these same City Council members running for re-election park their cars in the other spot normally used for the opposing candidates. Very childish behavior for sitting council members besides breaking the law of entering the park before 6am.

The prime vehicle blocking access to area normally used by candidates belongs to none other than this fella:

This is a look alike of the cardboad cut out mentioned in The Herald this week.

Ordinances are in place to maintain law and order. Evidently the Chief of Police and City Council members and mayor running for re-election feel those Ordinances DO NOT apply to them!

Like the lady in this weeks Herald said, don't vote for those THREE on the Black signs.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

It's Time for a Change!

I was surprised recently to learn that some residents don't follow the local news all that closely. I read where a resident was informed that council meetings were on video that she could watch. The reply was, "you mean the meetings are online?"
So some may think this is old news, but being it's election time and early voting has began I figured this might reach those that missed it the first time around. Mayor Baxter apologized for the language, but never mentions the threats being made and the half truths he stated in the audio.
Besides, the first time around the audio was so full of "Bleeps" it was hard to follow the conversation. Well, this is a link to the uncut, unedited recording. I must warn you, the language is foul.
This the Mayor of Windcrest speaking to an employee. Mayor Baxter curses and threatens the Fire Chief if his wished are not followed.

One sentence laced with *@#*1 would be bad enough, but Mayor Baxter carries on for 10 full minutes. His vocabulary is evidently somewhat limited.

Listen to this Uncut, Unedited recording Click Here for Audio then go Vote.

Note, those two council members running for re-election saw absolutely NOTHING wrong with the tone, message, or language in the audio. Even their 3 candidate black/white sign reflects a dark side to many.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Would You Really Vote for this Guy?

This is the fella running for re-election as Mayor of Windcrest, Tx. His true character is revealed in the links below. From cursing out an employee, Fire Chief Erick Vargas to the Ethics Commission violations to questionable hiring practices. Baxter won the election last year and immediately after winning filed for County Commissioner. That was a slap in the face for Windcrest citizens. What next?

He even appears on a TV interview with Rick Casey and told several half truths, which Mr. Casey uncovered during a later article.