More Texas Sleaze for Sleepy Texas

Texas Scorecard ^ | 4/21/2025 | Erin Anderson

[ma_che62]

Mesquite ISD’s $600 Million Bond Would Cost $1.1 Billion With Interest School district property taxpayers are already on the hook for $979 million in bond debt principal and interest.

Yet the district’s bond marketing claims the billion-dollar debt will have minimal impact on Mesquite ISD taxpayers, who are already on the hook for $979 million in outstanding bond debt principal and interest.

All this while only 42% of the district’s 38,000 students meet or exceed grade levels across all subjects

[Lockbox]

It appears that school districts use larger and larger bonds to payoff the outstanding bond(s), generate a few dollars for a large "important" project and then pass along tax increases to the property owners. Somehow the bonds never get paid off, just refinanced with more walking around money!

Of course Texas's new lowering school district property taxes is just the first step towards legalized gambling (or "resorts" ...). After all it's for the children who were disadvantaged by school property tax cuts.....

[Resolute Conservative]

Must need a new stadium and English as a second language classes.

[deport]

Lots of rambling area.

[TStro]

Hope the voters are smart enough to reject this
How much of that money will go to contractors with ties or are related to the administrators?

[eastexsteve]

Mesquite Independent School District officials are asking voters to approve a $600 million bond package to expand, renovate, and replace facilities and equipment.

Translation: "We need new buses for the football team, an indoor practice stadium, and a huge new computerized scoreboard like the NFL gets to use."

[Svartalfiar]

Hope the voters are smart enough to reject this How much of that money will go to contractors with ties or are related to the administrators?

Rockwall just had a similar vote on four different proposals that would have added $900MM in bond debt (before interest) as well as raising property tax rates something like 12-17%. All four failed, although the not-too-expensive one to increase pay might have been ok, Rockwall pay is lower than most of the other DFW-area ISD pay rates.

And they're already making bank off of property valuations skyrocketing around 10% every year, the max increase Texas allows each annual assessment... An automatic tax increase that no one ever mentions. Texas needs to require reporting of home sale prices, then freeze your home value for tax purposes when you buy it.

[Svartalfiar]

Whoops, meant to include:

It’s funny, the auvertisinground the four propositions was the district spending taxpayer dollars to spread “information” on the votes, even though it was rather one-sided...

And then several architect/construction firms in Dallas supporting the bonds, go figure.