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Opposition Group Emerges to Election Bond Referendums

Posted byHoumanitarian

(Chris Moran, Houston Chronicle)
Three weeks before local voters decide whether to approve $2.7 billion in government borrowing to build schools, job training centers, parks, libraries and public safety facilities, organized opposition has sprouted.

Longtime City Hall naysayer Dave Wilson and other anti-tax activists gathered on the grounds of an elementary school that was slated to get $3.7 million from the last Houston Independent School District bond measure but instead was closed for lack of enrollment. Their message was that politicians cannot be trusted to spend your money wisely.

“There hasn’t been transparency. There is no accountability so that with this present bond election there’s no way anybody can vote for it. What we’ve got to do is send them back to the drawing board, look at something a little more reasonable,” Wilson said, focusing largely on HISD.

HISD has pledged a bond oversight committee, quarterly reports on spending on a special website, independent construction audits and project bidding managed by school procurement officials as safeguards against waste.

“There is going to be accountability,” campaign spokeswoman Sue Davis said, which includes a Web page for every affected school “that says how much they’re going to spend, what the problems are, what problems they’re going to correct and what they’re going to do.” Each school also will have its own oversight committee with parents, teachers and community leaders to tell architects what they want done. “I don’t know how much more accountability you can add.”

A coalition of skeptics of government joined Wilson in opposing seven local bond measures on the Nov. 6 ballot. HISD has a $1.9 billion measure to finance the rebuilding or renovation of high schools. The Houston Community College District is seeking $425 million for classroom technology, a medical training center and campus expansions. The city of Houston has five measures totaling $410 million for public safety, parks, libraries, housing and general government purposes. The HISD and HCC measures come with property tax increases; the city’s does not.
(Read more at Houston Chronicle)

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