$9 MILLION Dollar impact in Financial Damage to City
Fiduciary - A fiduciary duty is a legal duty to act solely in another party's interests. Parties owing this duty are called fiduciaries. The individuals to whom they owe a duty are called principals. Fiduciaries may not profit from their relationship with their principals unless they have the principals' express informed consent. They also have a duty to avoid any conflicts of interest between themselves and their principals or between their principals and the fiduciaries' other clients. A fiduciary duty is the strictest duty of care recognized by the US legal system. (Legal Information Institute).
Malfeasance - wrongful and unlawful conduct, especially conduct by public officials which interferes with their public duties (Black's Law Dictionary).
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by Jerry
An email obtained via the Texas Open
Records Act and posted at Chucoleaks.org shows that City Representatives Steve Ortega, Susie Byrd, and Courtney Niland knew on August 24, 2012 that the Western Refinery Property Tax
appraisal would be between $216 to $280 million dollars. Even though they knew
this -- they kept it quiet.
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| CLICK TO ENLARGE |
As a result, this caused a $3 MILLION Dollar Budget Shortfall
with a $9 MILLION Dollar impact in financial damage to the City, damage harming
all El Pasoans.
Who Knew What and
When?
Dinah Kilgore stated that she met with ALL the taxing
entities in July 2012 and informed them not to count on the Western
Refinery property tax money from the $780 million dollar appraisal.
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| Rep. Suzie Byrd |
On August 24, 2012, Susie
Byrd forwarded an email to Steve Ortega and Courtney Niland stating that the
Central Appraisal District (CAD) board will not allocate funds to go to court
and instead will negotiate a settlement with Western Refinery and the expected property
tax appraisal would be between $216 to $280 million dollars.
Byrd attributed these statements to a conversation with
Dinah Kilgore, Director Central Appraisal District proving that Dinah Kilgore is telling the truth about
giving the City notice.
Steve Ortega, Susie Byrd, and Courtney Niland KEPT THE SHORTFALL QUIET!
Gary Hanson spokesman from Western Refinery stated his company notified all the taxing entities
not to count on the $780 million dollar appraisal.
Furthermore, are we really expected to believe that the City
Manager Joyce Wilson and Chief Financial Officer Carmen Arrieta Candelaria were
not informed by both Dinah Kilgore and Western Refinery, but Susie Byrd was????
Could the Budget
Shortfall Have Been Prevented?
Absolutely!
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| Photo obtained via Occupy City Hall |
City Manager Joyce Wilson and the Chief Financial Officer
Carmen Arrietta Candelaria had a responsibility
to amend the budget and submit a truthful accounting of expected property taxes
in July 2012 when notified by both Dinah Kilgore and Western Refining.
Steve Ortega, Susie Byrd and Courtney Niland could have prevented this from happening
in August 2012 at the beginning of
the budget year. Ortega, Byrd, and Niland had a responsibility to post an
agenda item to review the impact on the budget rather than “keeping it quiet” until May 2013, the last quarter of the budget
cycle when the budget shortfall would
have triple the impact.
Who gets Harmed?
As a result of “their
secret,” Steve Ortega, Susie Byrd, and Courtney Niland have harmed every person
in the City.
Yes taxpayers, you
will have to make up the shortfall in higher
taxes or lose services.
What are the
Financial Damages?
The expected
financial impact is between $11.3 to 17.3 MILLION Dollars in budget shortfalls
countywide.
KVIA reported Western Refinery CAD settlement leaves budgets short
You can read the KVIA story here
The Western Refinery Property Tax Settlement is expected to
cost in budget shortfalls:
§ The
City $3 million dollars and an actual impact of $9 million dollars
According to Mayor Cook with only a quarter of the year left that
$3 million triples to a $9 million
dollar impact on the city budget.
To put it in perspective, the City
only keeps a $16 million dollar reserve
fund and they want you to lower that in the Charter Amendment Propositions!
§ The
County $1.7 million dollars
§ The
El Paso Independent School District
§ The
El Paso Community College
§ The
University Medical Center $800,000
The Convenient
Scapegoats: Central Appraisal District Board (CAD) and Dinah Kilgore
Steve Ortega had no response which is no surprise since he
thinks he answers to no one.
Amazingly, Susie
Byrd’s response to the KVIA story regarding CAD was "It's almost
like they make this stuff up," City Rep. Susie Byrd said.
Geez “It’s actually like Susie Byrd is
completely lacking in both honesty and integrity.”
Courtney Niland has
“volunteered” to sit on the Central Appraisal District (CAD) Board and “vowed to do what she can to prevent
something like this from ever happening again.”
Newsbreak to Niland! Your
oath of office is a “vow”!
You had a responsibility to take steps to prevent this in
August 2012. Do you really expect us to believe your “vow”?
Vote INFORMED EL PASO - It’s time
to Clean Out a Corrupt
City
Do you really think Steve Ortega is fit for public office
much less Mayor?
Do you really think Susie Byrd is fit for public office much
less an EPISD school board trustee?
Do you really trust Carmen Arrieta Candelaria to “fix” the
problems at EPISD by serving on the EPISD Board of Managers?
Are you tired of being scammed
for millions of dollars by City Manager Joyce Wilson?
Steve Ortega, Susie Byrd, and Courtney Niland should resign
or be removed from office immediately by
recall or fiduciary malfeasance. They should NEVER be allowed to run for
elected office again.
Joyce Wilson and Carmen Arrieta Candelaria need to shown to
the door.
