How confident are you, really? (Trans-Texas Corridor)

Even before the US supreme court 'legislated' their opinion that our constitution allows government entities to take property from one citizen and profit on the 'exchange' of that property to another private individual or group, our own Texas leaders (some elected and many non-elected-TxDOT personnel) have been working overtime to assure that toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) are forced on Texans before too many of us become aware, stand up, and protest.

Probably due to many groups protesting the TTC and toll projects allowed by law in 2003 with HB 3388, our Texas leaders came up with HB 2702 to...'win back the confidence of Texas citizens', according to one member of the Texas house transportation committee. I have read this bill, 2702 (something many representatives admitted that they did not do before or after voting for it).

See if you feel more confident in our 'leaders' after you read a few excerpts from this new law.

According to several points in the legislation, TxDOT can take your property, even if not used for a transportation project, and then sell or lease or trade it to someone else for any use. Just read Ch. 203 section 2.31, 227.041; Section 2.10, 203.052(b), Section 2.28, 227.028(a); Section 201.604 and 203.021. These sections clearly allow TxDOT to take your land.

Other sections give the department of transportation (an un-elected government agency) powers to order the tolling of non-tolled state highways or a segment of them with very little local input. TxDOT can lease or sell all or part of railroad right-of-way for any purpose, again allowing competition to the local area economy.

Imagine some "big money" eyeing your property for a future business of some sort. With another 2005 new law, HB1546, our department of transportation seems able to take your property under the guise of possible use for a transportation purpose, then not use it, and end up selling it to someone able to pay high bucks for it.

This does not seem related to the traffic safety or congestion on I-35, which, according to TxDOT, is the primary purpose of the Trans Texas Corridor and the multitude of new toll roads proposed for Texas.

From Corridor Watch:

CorridorWatch.org SCORE: Taxpayers 0 - Big Business 2.8 Million (09.01.05)

The property tax reductions promised Texas homeowners has not yet appeared, but today the Austin American Statesman reports Wal-Mart will save an estimated $2.8 million dollars a year in property taxes thanks to a state funded purchase-lease deal.

The State of Texas has gone into the land development business using powers and leverage only available to government. By doing so the State is now directly competing with private enterprise and violating the most fundamental principles of capitalism.

You can wrap it in public school funding platitudes, but at its core it is still wrong.

Creative accounting in Austin appears to make money appear out of thin air. Someone needs to explain how Wal-Mart can skip paying nearly $3 million a year in property tax without that having an impact on local government.

Bottom line, Wal-Mart is paying less than they would without the State giving them preferential treatment over other businesses. The State isn’t even requiring employment or investment targets be met as they would if a county or city were providing economic development incentives. And in the process the State is collecting more than its fair share. It's no surprise that both think it a good deal. Wal-Mart pays less and the State makes more.

This is another recent example of government greed. It's the kind of win-win-win accounting we would expect Enron to have approved.

What is government greed you ask?

In a democratic society the government taxes the governed to provide certain limited services. Unfortunately, we have created a direct linkage between government spending and winning elections. When the elected officials who operate our government desire to spend more than the governed are willing to pay for it creates a political conflict. It is very simple and nothing new, spending is popular and taxing is not. To overcome that conflict the government improperly is driven to generate its own revenue independent of taxes, something I call government greed. At first that might look like a good thing, less taxes and more services. However, it creates an even greater conflict. It undermines the fundamental principles of our democracy and capitalist system. Moreover it abandons fiscal restrain and responsibility. Revenues derived from non-traditional tax sources are often treated with significantly less public accountability. Somehow we view taxes as our money, something we earn, while other monies are akin to gifts and windfalls.

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson calls this deal, "the flagship of our future efforts in the real estate area." If so, we would call this first ship in the fleet the HMS Taxtanic.

Why is CorridorWatch.org concerned?

CorridorWatch.org is concerned because this is the underlying problem with the Trans Texas Corridor. It's not about good government, it's not about meeting our transportation needs, its about generating revenue. It's about going into the land development business doling out special deals and public infrastructure monopolies. It's government greed. It's un-American at its core.

We believe that this Wal-Mart land deal is the prototype for development that will dot the landscape along the length of the Trans Texas Corridor.

When did we make the leap in philosophy that allows our government to compete with private enterprise; exchange business advantage, privilege and protection for state financial gain; conduct pubic business and negotiate agreements in secret; put the protection of private business interests above that of the public interest; surrender accountability; and, abdicate the responsibility of government to provide services to share in the private profits generated in selling those services? Are these American values?

What's next?

Toll tags for children who play in our parks? Why not? That's the logic being applied by TxDOT today. Just consider it a user fee and your backyard the free alternative. Maybe a French concessionaire will build and maintain your parks and pay a handsome government fee for the right to charge taxpayers to use the basketball courts, ball fields, swings, slides and even the grass. Just think how great our parks could be. After all we don't have money to build all the parks we need and we could get them built years sooner.

Maybe its time we pay a user fee whenever we call the police or fire department.

Or maybe its time we take a good hard look at the direction we're headed and make a serious course correction.

==========
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/09/1PATTERSON.html
==========

CorridorWatch.org

==========

Here's the Jerry Patterson Wal-mart business Corridor Watch was talking about. Texas has apparently gone into the land leasing and real estate businesses.

State adds giant warehouses to real estate holdings

Wal-Mart will lease back bulk-storage center it built near Baytown, putting $338 million into public school fund over 30 years.

By Mike Ward

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, September 01, 2005

State officials on Wednesday announced the purchase of a $100 million Wal-Mart bulk-storage center near Baytown, the largest real estate investment yet in a strategy they called the future for Texas school funding.

"This is a historic deal for Texas schools," Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said. "This is the equivalent of a moon landing for the School Land Board . . . the most significant, most secure investment with the best return in the history of the Land Office."

Over 30 years, he projected, the investment will earn $338 million for the Permanent School Fund, the multibillion-dollar fund that is used to finance public schools in Texas. It will also create 1,900 new jobs with an estimated payroll of $66 million.

General Land Office officials had first announced the deal in February 2004. Wednesday's numbers were larger.

Under the details made public Wednesday, the School Land Board — of which Patterson is chairman — bought a pair of gargantuan warehouses just completed by Wal-Mart Stores East LLP on a 474-acre site southeast of Baytown off Galveston and Trinity bays.

In all, the two warehouses include 4 million square feet of warehouse space, about 83 football fields in size.

Wal-Mart has leased the space back from the state. The company will make lease payments that, over the 30-year term of the agreement, will total more than $238 million.

After two years or through the end of the lease, Patterson said, Wal-Mart has the option of buying the warehouses back, for $100 million or the "current market price, whichever is greater."

"Our rate of return on this deal will be far better than we would get if we invested the money," Patterson said. "It's a true win, win, win situation . . . We consider this the flagship of our future efforts in the real estate area for the school fund."

For years, the school fund relied solely on oil and gas production on state lands for its income. Two years ago, faced with a shrinking petroleum economy, lawmakers gave the Land Office authority to get into real estate.

Since then, officials said several smaller deals have been closed involving investments in a sprawling ranch near College Station, which is leased to the prison system, and an industrial plant in Sherman, which is leased to a corporation much as in the Wal-Mart deal.

When the Arkansas-based retailer, the world's largest company, began searching for a new bulk-distribution site, Chambers County and state officials offered the site, just 14 miles from the Port of Houston, with rail and close highway access, Patterson said. He said Texas was able to win the facility over New Orleans and perhaps other locales with the purchase-lease option, attractive to Wal-Mart because it could provide them tax and other savings.

Patterson said that when the distribution center is in full operation, Wal-Mart will pay about $5.8 million annually in taxes to local governments, with about $4 million of that going to the local school district. It will save Wal-Mart about $2.8 million a year in property taxes, he said.

Wal-Mart spokesman John Bisiosaid Wal-Mart's regional distribution centers will be serviced from the site.

"We feel the deal benefits both sides," he said, noting that one benefit to Wal-Mart is that the company does not have to make a $100 million initial capital outlay for a new facility since the state is buying it.

Phil Wilson, deputy chief of staff for Gov. Rick Perry, whose office was involved in the securing the deal, said the deal highlights another option for economic development enticements in Texas.

"It's a nice investment, a nice return for the state and it create a whole bunch of jobs," Wilson said. "That's a good deal."

Patterson said the center will serve as a bulk-storage point for Wal-Mart's operations in the central United States, the point from which consumer goods will arrive from overseas for sorting and shipping to Wal-Mart distribution centers. That bulk transfer work is now done mostly at Wal-Mart's Long Beach, Calif., bulk center, he said.

"Historically, royalties from oil and gas helped the state pay for public education, but we can't rely on oil and gas forever," Patterson said. "Last year, we earned about $48 million from land transactions, an increase of almost 3,000 percent. I expect to earn even more in the future."

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.