People should at least consider the keeping of the $180 POA maintenance fee/assessment fee. I know this is an unpopular point of view, but please consider some reasons why:
The Fee Now Goes to The WPPOA
The primary argument people use against the Fee is that it has never gone into the community and has instead gone to the Waterwood Development Company.
Jason Gale, owner of the Waterwood Development Company, has stated that all properties and deeds and Fee collection abilities have been handed over to the WPPOA. The WPPOA, however, is not forthcoming on information and is acting in secrecy.
If it is true that the WPPOA has the ability to collect the $180 fee, then the WPPOA has the ability to use that fee to better the community. The argument that the Fee goes to an outside entity that does nothing is no longer a valid argument.
If the WPPOA had real leadership it could involve the community and accomplish something by building a better place to live with that Fee.
The Fee Is A Flat Tax
It is no stretch of the imagination that property in Waterwood is not appraised fairly. There are house/lot combinations that are still appraised at $20,000 and only a block or two away from similar houses sitting on similar lots valued at two or three times the value.
A property tax would effect everyone differently and force certain people to have to pay more than their neighbors, even if their neighbors have similar property. Bringing in the county to reappraise everyone will simply raise everyone’s taxes for both city and county and all the other taxing entities which would cost everyone even more.
The $180 fee is essentially a flat tax, meaning, everyone pays in the exact amount regardless of property value.
A Functional WPPOA
The small group of people who pushed for the creation of the City of Sandy Oaks had certain goals, wants, and desires in mind. Much of what they wanted could have been achieved by a fully functional POA.
The city is almost a year old and not a single thing has been done on the 3 most important aspects of government: Police, Fire Protection, and Roads. In fact, the city is planning to continue using the ESD6 for fire protection. So the amount of fire protection Waterwood residents have now is the same it had 2 years ago and the same it will have 2 years in the future.
The city approved a City Marshal, but it has taken the city over 3 months to get a background check on the person. Even with the Marshal in place, most of his job will be related to code enforcement. Most law enforcement protection will come from the Bexar County Sheriffs Department. The same County Sheriffs who were already policing the area before the creation of the city.
As far as roads, City Council members are now stating that the roads aren’t the city’s responsibility and that they’re owned by the POA. So creating a city hasn’t done anything for the Swiss-cheese styled roads of Waterwood.
A functional POA would have been a more realistic goal than creating a brand new city government that does nothing for the community on the 3 biggest areas a city should be responsible for.
A city government which is already in debt. Yes, the City of Sandy Oaks is less than 1 year old and already in debt. The majority of that debt is owed to the City Attorney, Art Martinez de Vara.
If city creators had aimed at creating a functional POA instead of a city, the community could have focused on real issues instead of spending its time and money paying the Mayor of Von Ormy (the City Attorney) for mediocre information.
There Needs to Be A Plan B
Here is a brief list of issues that have occurred just in the first 7 months of city government:
- The City Council hired the Mayor of another city to be our City Attorney
- The Council created an illegal amount of sales taxes
- The Mayor tried to create a retroactive property tax
- The Mayor lied to outside news media and said he pushed for a 0 cent tax
- The Mayor was caught lying to voters outside the only polling location
- Alderman Earnest Gay gave a speech in Austin talking poorly about residents and lying about the city not being in debt
- The salary of the City Attorney has been kept secret, even though by law it is public information
What is the Plan B? What happens when someone from the county or state level steps in and says enough is enough? What happens if the city is un-incorporated?
The entity to turn to to maintain roads, organize the community, and be the central form of a “governing body” would be the WPPOA. To function it will need an assessment fee.
Less Power
POA’s can be very powerful and at times downright ruthless. But POAs are typically less powerful than cities are.
A city government has more power and therefore has more abilities to inflict itself upon a community and damage it.
Just as an example, consider zoning. A municipal government can re-zone residential land to become commercial or industrial land. Imagine living on Waterwood Pass next to, or across the street from, an empty vacant lot. The city can rezone the land as commercial, and suddenly you can have a strip club within walking distance.
If you’re thinking that this would never happen, remember the City Council is currently trying to figure out how it can bring in more money. Currently there is only 1 commercial entity to bring in sales tax. And there are a lot of vacant lots in Waterwood.
A POA, however, cannot rezone land. In fact, a functional POA with real leadership could organize against outside governmental forces trying to rezone residential areas.
Clarification
The issue attached to the idea of keeping the $180 should be obvious: I don’t think we should pay the $180 AND pay property tax. The impending doom of the property tax will vanish the moment the status of the city vanishes.
Most of what the creators of the city wanted the city to do could have been achieved by a real POA that actually functions effectively and efficiently. But remember that the current WPPOA board members are the same group of people who created this “outstanding” city government.
This is just my opinion and the topic is much more complicated and deals with many different repercussions that need to be considered. You are entitled to your own opinion, in fact, I encourage you to leave a comment below. But whatever you believe, at least agree with me that this is something the community should discuss, not something that should be decided for us by a small group of people acting in secrecy.
Also, this assumes the WPPOA is an actual legal entity. So far, there has been little evidence to its legal existence.
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