Hey GANG!
I hear this where the cool kids come to discuss Aggieland (COCS) Issues.
Allow me to introduce myself before we get into the fun(?).
My name is Craig Regan - I have lived in Brazos County for about 15 years. I am a active duty vet. AC2 in the US Navy. Father of 15 years Husband of 17. I currently help run & manage a bond brokerage for construction insurance. I have no local conflicts to get that outta the way but my experience runs deep in Fed/State/Municipal Contracts. I have most likely read more RFP's than a healthy person should.
Disclosure: I ran for COCS City Council back in '20 and as you might have guessed, I lost in a runoff.
But have been following the discussion on this forum for sometime regarding COCS budget issues. I ran on this four years ago (along with several other policy concerns) and even before that I would appear before council to try and highlight that our real fiscal issues having been and continue to be our O&M and our debt.
So let us open the books briefly to see what is actually happening.
(No need to be gentle with comments. If I messed up or got something wrong, tell me. I'm a big boy, I can handle it.)
As you can see in the images attached COCS budget has increased in the last ~4 years by $150,889,116. Now, as a percentage O&M and debt service has remained steady 58-41 (respectively). However it is important to highlight where the budget has seen the most growth. I am going back to 19-20 because COVID and it's fall out do not create a "clean" side by side COMP.
By far the largest growth is our DEBT service. Up nearly $9m. As you work your way down the list you will see other funds and expenditure be slashed or zero'd out completely.
The other growth line item is the General Fund
For what it is worth, we are still seeing the same trend line in certain areas. But a few of the bigs stand out pretty easily. Parks and Rec's budget has nearly doubled while Public Works has actually decreased.
The last part I will get into now (to keep things digestable) is one that concerns me the most and that is our capital projects and outlays. This next bit of images might surprise or scare you depending on your perspective.
What you see above is what is I consider to be the real threat. Capital Projects and the associated interest that comes with them.
These have to be Prioritized and Organized to a degree that we have not seen before. I have not included utilities such as water and waste water etc for simplicity sake but fair to say the numbers/trends are the same.
I have tried, for many moons, to get folk's eyes on this issue by using several policy methods.
1.) Shift more CASH into CIP budget to avoid paying interest on debt but this would require taking from other departments. Majority on council would have to approve.
2.) Reduce O&M growth by 25%. Growth will happen, there is no way around that but capping that growth at a certain limit is a start.
3.) No more buying or building (think Rock P Baseball fields and Macy's) until we lay down a set of criteria by which we approve further spending. We need the balance sheets for each Buying and Building. If the criteria are not met, we do not advance it. If it council still wants to do it, put it to a public vote.
For example the I did not support the ballpark off RP but not because I do not like baseball. I've been in and around baseball for 20 years but I knew the city bought that property blind and the associated due diligence had not been done on the land itself, when it was bought. We needed to see the balance sheets and P&L's associated with the project and the land sale paperwork before we ok'd bond for it to be built. This is apart of the criteria check I am talking about.
There are more policy's to go through but suffice to say unless we get our arms around these issues we will not being seeing anything but more tax & fee increases.
But here is the rub. It is not just about the growth of the city balance sheet. It is about the subtraction from taxpayers. One more dollar taxed is one less that is in the economy. The less in the economy the less our community grows. The less the economy grows the more people struggle to meet their daily needs - gas, food, utility's - the list goes on. Heck, I do not need to tell you because I live it myself every day as well.
We need to start to open budgetary windows in the coming years and the only way to do that is an orderly, policy based process. It is not just about the intent of doing something but how you intend to get there. The HOW is what really matters.
Hope this helps provide some clarity (or not) but figured it was time to just put the numbers down and open the books.
Best Regards
I hear this where the cool kids come to discuss Aggieland (COCS) Issues.
Allow me to introduce myself before we get into the fun(?).
My name is Craig Regan - I have lived in Brazos County for about 15 years. I am a active duty vet. AC2 in the US Navy. Father of 15 years Husband of 17. I currently help run & manage a bond brokerage for construction insurance. I have no local conflicts to get that outta the way but my experience runs deep in Fed/State/Municipal Contracts. I have most likely read more RFP's than a healthy person should.
Disclosure: I ran for COCS City Council back in '20 and as you might have guessed, I lost in a runoff.
But have been following the discussion on this forum for sometime regarding COCS budget issues. I ran on this four years ago (along with several other policy concerns) and even before that I would appear before council to try and highlight that our real fiscal issues having been and continue to be our O&M and our debt.
So let us open the books briefly to see what is actually happening.
(No need to be gentle with comments. If I messed up or got something wrong, tell me. I'm a big boy, I can handle it.)
As you can see in the images attached COCS budget has increased in the last ~4 years by $150,889,116. Now, as a percentage O&M and debt service has remained steady 58-41 (respectively). However it is important to highlight where the budget has seen the most growth. I am going back to 19-20 because COVID and it's fall out do not create a "clean" side by side COMP.
By far the largest growth is our DEBT service. Up nearly $9m. As you work your way down the list you will see other funds and expenditure be slashed or zero'd out completely.
The other growth line item is the General Fund
For what it is worth, we are still seeing the same trend line in certain areas. But a few of the bigs stand out pretty easily. Parks and Rec's budget has nearly doubled while Public Works has actually decreased.
The last part I will get into now (to keep things digestable) is one that concerns me the most and that is our capital projects and outlays. This next bit of images might surprise or scare you depending on your perspective.
What you see above is what is I consider to be the real threat. Capital Projects and the associated interest that comes with them.
These have to be Prioritized and Organized to a degree that we have not seen before. I have not included utilities such as water and waste water etc for simplicity sake but fair to say the numbers/trends are the same.
I have tried, for many moons, to get folk's eyes on this issue by using several policy methods.
1.) Shift more CASH into CIP budget to avoid paying interest on debt but this would require taking from other departments. Majority on council would have to approve.
2.) Reduce O&M growth by 25%. Growth will happen, there is no way around that but capping that growth at a certain limit is a start.
3.) No more buying or building (think Rock P Baseball fields and Macy's) until we lay down a set of criteria by which we approve further spending. We need the balance sheets for each Buying and Building. If the criteria are not met, we do not advance it. If it council still wants to do it, put it to a public vote.
For example the I did not support the ballpark off RP but not because I do not like baseball. I've been in and around baseball for 20 years but I knew the city bought that property blind and the associated due diligence had not been done on the land itself, when it was bought. We needed to see the balance sheets and P&L's associated with the project and the land sale paperwork before we ok'd bond for it to be built. This is apart of the criteria check I am talking about.
There are more policy's to go through but suffice to say unless we get our arms around these issues we will not being seeing anything but more tax & fee increases.
But here is the rub. It is not just about the growth of the city balance sheet. It is about the subtraction from taxpayers. One more dollar taxed is one less that is in the economy. The less in the economy the less our community grows. The less the economy grows the more people struggle to meet their daily needs - gas, food, utility's - the list goes on. Heck, I do not need to tell you because I live it myself every day as well.
We need to start to open budgetary windows in the coming years and the only way to do that is an orderly, policy based process. It is not just about the intent of doing something but how you intend to get there. The HOW is what really matters.
Hope this helps provide some clarity (or not) but figured it was time to just put the numbers down and open the books.
Best Regards
