Proposed Drainage Utility System Defeated – No New Tax!
At last night’s City Council meeting, the proposed Municipal Surface Water Drainage Utility System was defeated by a vote of three to two, with Council members Legendre and Villanueva voting for it and Council members Whitehead, Massey, and Johnson voting against.
There will be no additional property tax forced on Helotes homeowners and businesses, at least for now. Four citizens spoke out against the proposed tax at last night’s public hearing. Or I guess I should say the proposed “user fee.” The City Attorney corrected those calling it a tax. It is a user fee. (Either way, it would have come out of our pockets.)
Other highlights of the meeting:
City Council voted unanimously to not increase the property tax rate this year. Mayor Schoolcraft said this was possible because they are using the money “smarter and spreading it further.” (Well, I guess history will be the judge of that. I can still hear Council member Villanueva exclaiming, during last year’s budget workshop, that the City was very close to bankruptcy. I guess it’s a miracle!)
Council decided unanimously that Helotes will now have a disc golf course at the Helotes Natural Area, which, I guess, will no longer be “natural.”
Council also agreed with P&Z’s recommendations and approved a new Schedule of Uses for the B-3 Overlay District.
For more detailed information about the issues discussed, please read the report on the meeting that will be posted on this site in the next couple of days.
It is a relief to learn that some members of the council can at least represent the wishes of the greater Helotes Community. It was a back-door tax (a user fee is just another diversion to increase tax revenues, regardless of what our learned Lawyer contends). If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.
I was appalled to learn that Legendre is so poorly informed that he either did not know, or chose to ignore the fact, that a gated community is solely responsible (by law) for maintenance of its streets and utilities. The city of Helotes has no responsibility for streets or utilities in any of the gated communities within the city limits. It also seems that the residents of Los Reyes Canyons are equally uninformed if they believed his claims.
Hooray that some on Council, though they don’t appear to have the guts to say “no” by themselves, at least have the courage to stand behind someone else who does. Way to go, Rock Stars!!
If the drainage tax (a user fee is a tax) had passed, did they discuss whether or not it would apply to a subdivision where the homeowners own the drainage easements and are responsible for their upkeep? It doesn’t seem reasonable to pay a tax to the city to use one’s own drainage easement.
Handy pocket votes for Schoolcraft–Villanueva and Legendre sent a loud message as pro-developers to their constituents in Los Reyes Canyons. Will this mean they will be in favor of an HEB or other superstores like Wal-Mart outside the pricey subdivision’s gates?
They’re not friends of the budget-shrinking crowd either. At an annual Los Reyes Homeowners Association meeting, Legendre offered to pave the streets of the private enclave with the City’s money, once he and Villanueva were elected.