CITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES SPRING CLEAN UP EVENT
The Annual Spring Clean Up Event at the Citizens Collection Station generated a lot of discussion by Brenham City Council members today (Thursday). Public Works Director Dane Rau said that the event has become so popular in recent years that the Collection Station employees are overwhelmed by the amount of debris brought in and it takes weeks to return the area to normal operations. The annual three day event is designed to allow city and county residents to dispose of items from their property for free. Rau said that residents are now stockpiling debris during the year in order to take advantage of the free days. He stated that last year, city and county residents brought in 582 tons of debris costing the city almost $25,000 in disposal fees. Rau said that they are looking at limiting the free portion to only the first 500 lbs. or charging half price during the event. Most of the questions raised by council members dealt with the costs involved as the majority of the debris is brought in by county residents. Rau said that the biggest issue was the disruption of normal operations at the center:
Council members also heard a two reports during their work session.
Washington County Chamber of Commerce President Page Michel presented the yearly report on Tax Phase-In Compliance. Michel stated that the Compliance Review Committee looked at documents from the 10 Brenham companies that are receiving tax phase-ins by the city. The said that all 10 met the employment and payroll requirements. The 10 companies receiving tax phase-ins are: Advanced Data Storage, Stanpac, Blue Bell Creameries, QuestSpecialty, Valmont Industries, Longwood Industries, MIC Group, Brazos Valley Brewing Company, PPE/GSL and Tempur Sealy.
Jenny Mills updated the council with the quarterly report from the Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau. She noted the print and online coverage the county received during the summer and early fall and also said the number of views of their VisitBrenham website are up.
Lets review the 2016-2017 Adopted budget.
The Brenham Community Development Corp allocated approx. $68,000 of sales tax income to do the following…
$40K – Resurface 4 Basketball Courts
$13K – New Picnic Tables for Jackson Street Park
$15K – Design of Douglas St. Linear Park (Whatever this is)
and they cant afford to spend $25 to haul off waste from the Taxpayers. And, city management states it causes them too much work to support the taxpayers and citizens who fund their purse.
We pay more and get less! Way to go City Council and Our Mayor.
Right on Ironic. Let’s examine these things closely. These Brenham businesses who receive tax rebates BECAUSE they bring jobs to Brenham. Are they good paying jobs? For the most part NO. Because agreeing to pay no more than locally owned businesses blue collar jobs was the ticket price for the tax breaks. And our city assumes the reports furnished by these businesses are true and correct. That is up to their honesty, just like business are allowed to determine what they pay in property taxes on the equipment used in operations. Why can’t homeowners determine what we pay? The working man gets increases in his taxes, reduction of government services, and controlled wages. Is this what we call “ the shaft”?
I just got back home from offshore work and looking at local news. It is ironic that big business gives a report on their city tax rebates. And in same report, the director of public works, complains that he can’t get his work done during spring clean-up and it costs an extra 25K. Wow, city property taxes go up, others don’t pay taxes, and local taxpayers loose government taxpayer services. Do others see a problem with this too?