Watching the Brady City Council operate leaves the observer with the impression that the members minds are in a fantasy world. They live in Brady, but seem detached from the reality of their own community.

 

Brady is not some upscale, affluent oasis in the Heart of Texas. Brady is a very poor community. It is depressing to note that 25% percent of the households here have incomes less than $15,000 and 72% have household income less than $50,000 per year. The median household income in Brady is about $32,000, meaning half make less than that and half make more.

 

For comparison, the median income for the entire State of Texas is $54,500, 12% of households make less than $15,000 and less than half make less than $50,000 a year.

 

Brady is not a community filled with young, upwardly mobile people. It is an old community. Almost a third (31.4%) of the population is over 55 compared to less than 20% statewide.

 

Housing statistics show more of the same harsh reality. The median value of a house in Brady is about $52,600 compared to a statewide average of $119,000. Statewide, only 10% of houses are valued under $40,000, but in Brady 37% are.

 

Brady's education profile is also well below state averages. Only 17.4% of the people in Brady hold a college degree compared to a Texas average of 33%. Over 25% of the people in Brady did not complete High School.

 

That isn't because the schools are not educating, students drop out or because people in Brady are stupid. It is because there are few employment opportunities here for educated people. Bright, ambitious, educated, young people are forced to leave Brady to make a living.

 

It is embarrassing to air this dirty laundry in public. We would not do it except that the Brady City Council will begin considering the 2012-2013 budget in a month or so. It is important (and worth whatever embarrassment it costs) for them to get the fantasies out of their head. They cannot serve Brady in any meaningful way if they refuse to acknowledge the nature of the community itself.

 

So far, the City Council has refused to listen to the citizens for more than one minute at a time, and then only while giggling in contempt at what they have to say. Maybe publicity will change that. Here is what they need to hear:

 

  1. Financing the City budget with utility surcharges is the most regressive form of taxation imaginable. It drives working people into poverty and the poor into desperation. It doesn't make much difference to those living in million dollar homes. The only way to reduce surcharges is to reduce the total budget. Do it.

  2. Most of the people who live in Brady don't need or use the airport. Ten percent of the households do not even own a vehicle, much less an airplane. Yet the net cost for the airport is more than the net cost for the widely used Senior Citizen's Center and Thunderbird transportation service. The same could be said for the Golf Course and Brady Lake facilities. It is hard to see how an ATV Park or Walking Trail is something that will bring tangible benefit to the majority of people living in Brady. Set some spending priorities that actually address the needs of the citizens and eliminate those that don't.

  3. Develop and practice strict internal controls for expenditures and equipment usage. Without them, there is always waste, fraud and abuse in any budget, whether government or business.

  4. Shift spending priorities to projects that offer some prospect of educating the uneducated and helping people develop job skills that are in demand.

  5. Long term Economic Development should focus on funding only enterprises that offer some prospect of providing secure, high-paying jobs that will let our young people stay in Brady and prosper. Don't fund anything that doesn't.

(Reference: CLRsearch - links to Demographic Information)

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