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| The "droll barber," with apologies to Mr. Charles Dickens, ink-stained wretch |
Our
far-flung correspondent, R.S. Gates, writes...
I
got interested in a comparison of salaries and administrative and the number of assistants to the Commissioners Court in Bell County, as compared to
McLennan. This is what I learned about the two corporate entities,
their styles, the attitudes of their leadership.
An
interesting aside is that Bell County enjoys a considerable budget
surplus, while McLennan County is scrambling to deal with a huge
deficit that will force salary and benefit cuts, budget cuts, a
substantial tax rate increase for the second year, and much
consternation. Nothing is really as simple as this, but it's a
starting point.
Judge
Burrows,
I
live in McLennan County, and I am following the budget process here. Due
to the similarities of our counties, I had a few questions.
What
is your salary?
What
is the salary of a County Commissioner?
Does
each County Commissioner have an administrative assistant?
How
many staff members are in your office?
Within
two hours, the reply came.
Here
is the requested information:
County
Judge Total Salary/with state supplement - $125,888
Commissioners
- $65,545
Does
each Commissioner have an administrative assistant? – No
How
many staff members? – We all share one. We are budgeted for two,
but only one slot is currently filled.
Jon
H. Burrows
Bell
County Judge
An
identical request to McLennan County Judge Scott Felton
Judge,
Please
answer the following questions.
What
is the current salary amount for the McLennan County Judge with state
supplement?
What is the current salary of a County Commissioner?
How
many staff members in your office?
How
many staff members for the Commissioners?
A
follow-up note to Judge Felton's three administrative assistants one
week later.
I
never heard back from the request below.
A
reply from Dustin Chapman, counsel to the Judge, nearly two weeks
hence:
I
was forwarded your email to Judge Felton and asked to respond.
As you know, the (Texas Open Records) Act does not require a
governmental entity to respond to interrogatories. If you would
like to change the format of your request and re-send, we will be
happy to review it.
Thank you,
Dustin
Editor:
As we all know, the Open Records Act does state in its preamble that
the records of the State of Texas belong to the People of the State
of Texas, and not the public servants of the State of Texas, who
serve as custodians of those records, are not the arbiters of what it
is good for the People of the State of Texas to know and not know.
-
The Legendary
far flung? more like full of dung.
ReplyDeleteAnd somebody already responded on your silly little budget facebook page the differences between bell and mclennan in that bell doesn't use precincts like mclennan does.
Bell County enjoys the benefit of Fort Hood and the considerable amount of money that brings into that economy with housing (property taxes) and retail sales.
ReplyDeleteMcLennan County enjoys the benefit of Baylor, an entity that actively campaigns to stunt economic growth, keeps jobs out and promotes poverty
People on welfare or working a mcJob cant buy a house and pay property taxes
Funny how you go right after commissioners pay while overlooking the elephant in the room being a new sheriffs department that wants to spare no expense to make themselves comfortable
ReplyDeleteWe all know..... something stinks!
ReplyDeleteThese are the policies and politics of organized crime - not much different than the Chicago of today or the Chicago of Capone's day. None of it has to be good. Like Capone's beer, it just has to be bought. Paid for. Obviously, there is a party of organized crime, and you don't need much coaching to figure out which one it is. I may have a silly little budget Facebook page, but at least I'm not stupid enough to pay the dues you pay for the rich folks. And by the way, what you counting on doing about my silly little Facebook page? - The Legendary
ReplyDeletenon sequitur
ReplyDeletenon se·qui·tur
/ˌnän ˈsekwitər/
Noun
A conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement.
Synonyms
paralogism