Weather Conditions, Forecasts and AlertsTexas Comptroller Susan Combs wrote an article for the Online Wall Street Journal in which she said:
Recently I spent several months holding about 40 town-hall meetings with Texans across our state. Each time, I asked the attendees if they could tell me how much debt their local governments are carrying. Not a single person in a single town had this information.
Just so you know, as of August 31, 2013 local public debt in McCulloch County was:
- Brady ISD - $17,959,996
- City of Brady - $9,105,000
- McCulloch County Hospital District - $7,314,802
- Lohn ISD - $1,155,000
- McCulloch County - $1,110,000
- Rochelle ISD and the City of Melvin do not have any public debt.
These figures are "net" debt in that funds held in escrow or sinking funds for debt payment are subtracted from total debt. Interest is not included. The information is updated at the end of each fiscal year as soon as new information is tabulated. Visit Texas Transparency for comprehensive information about public finances in Texas.
Since Susan Combs is one of my True Texas Heroes, here are some other quotes from the article (which may not be available without subscription).
On Government:
Federal, state and local governments have generated millions of pages of unreadable prose laying out rules and regulations and asserting their authority over our lives. But the whole nation began with a Declaration of only about 1,300 well-chosen words—and perhaps the most important are the words that say governments derive their powers "from the consent of the governed.
On Local Taxes:
Even in low-tax Texas, property taxes have risen three times faster than the inflation rate and four times faster than our population growth since 1992.
On Certificates of Obligation:
We should, for instance, strive to limit all the various mechanisms that governments have crafted to get around the usual requirement for voter approval of new debt. In Texas, we have an instrument called "certificates of obligation." Other vehicles used around the country include lease-purchase financing, lease-revenue bonds and "certificates of participation." Regardless of the name, they're all designed to allow governments to sell debt without your permission. The practice should be limited—and watched closely.
