In Decade of GOP Power, Cuts Moved Costs to Local Level
Pflugerville residents were excited about the opening of the State Highway 45 toll road in 2006. The congestion-free highway and its connection to Highway 130 to the east would give them quicker access to a major road. City officials like Victor Gonzales, now the mayor pro tem, hoped the road would provide economic development and tax revenue along its exits. Then the Texas Department of Transportation, which was supervising the construction, came calling.
Audio: Ben Philpott's story for KUT News
“They asked us to contribute $6 million to the opening of a ramp which was already there,” Gonzales said ...
Comments (3)
Bonnie McGuire
The state wants 6 million for a ramp that's already there?? What would the state have done if Pflugerville had said they didn't have it to give and refused to go into debt? Not opened the ramp? Sounds like extortion to me.
Tim Thetford
Under the guise of budget-cutting, the R's have "lowered the boom" on county and municipal government since they took the House in 2003. But that's nothing compared to what they will do, especially to Hospital Districts, counties and Texans WHO CAN afford health insurance after 2014.
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20120923-tim-thetford-lack-of-affordable-health-care-leading-to-homelessness.ece?action=reregister
As Susan Combs put it in her 2005 report, “Much of the cost of providing health care for the uninsured ultimately is transferred to those who have health insurance through higher health insurance premium costs … and to Texas taxpayers who pay for uncompensated care in public hospitals and other programs.“
Rudy Gonzales
States Rights come with one big price tag! Doncha just love the new radical fringe control of your state's government? If you don't - make a change and vote straight Democratic ticket in November. I for one will not give my votes credability to the current radicals in charge. Oust the career politicians and TEA fringe in Austin!