Children Pay the Price for City Councils Bad Decisions Approximately $72.5 Million Dollars Lost School Revenue
I am not sure how to compose this into a short version of the FACTS but I am going to try.
You have seen a lot of building on the North East side of town over the last few years. Lots of fancy restaurants, shops dealerships, a movie theatre. It is wonderful and impressive.
There is only one problem. A HUGE part of this growth is in Midland County. We increased Midlands Property Tax Value by almost 5 billion dollars.
ODESSA IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ROADS, WATER, FIRE STATIONS, FIRE HYDRANTS, AND SOME 911 SERVICES IN THAT AREA.
What this means is Odessa is on the hook for the infrastructure but receives little revenue. Simply put, your tax dollars are paying for this. We are pouring money in and it is benefitting Midland.
STAY WITH ME HERE……..
In short, the properties are located in the City of Odessa but located in Midland County and are raking in big bucks for Midland. Over a 5 year period, approximately $86 Million dollars in property tax revenue from these businesses was generated for Midland while Odessa saw none of it. The same property values multiplied by Odessa’s Property tax rates would have generated approximately $111 Million dollars in property tax revenue for Odessa.
This is all lost revenue for Odessa.
City Council should have made no deals on these development projects without funneling this growth a few miles down the road to ensure that they were located in Ector County and would benefit Ector NOT Midland County. Midland ISD gets over $1 Million dollars per month off this growth, which is in the CITY OF ODESSA.
City Council member’s lack of attention to details cost us BIG TIME and the biggest losers were our school systems. Meanwhile, we saw tax increases, a school bond proposal, increased water rates, $93 million dollars’ worth of issued debt with $190 million more on the table. How much, as a taxpaying citizen, are you willing to overlook?
David Turner & Dewey Bryant, MOVE ON!!