Way To Steward Taxpayer Money, Fort Worth

And this is with the former Tax-Assessor Collector as Mayor?  Just great.

The City of Fort Worth is looking to finish spending money it took in as early as 2004 so that it can have a $2.3 billion dollar bond election as early as November.  They currently have about $185 million, of which $165 million is already set aside for street improvements.  And, believe me, the City of Fort Worth can spend at least that much on street improvements.

But then they have a "wish list" of other things on which they wish to spend about $20 million of taxpayer money.

Among these:

• Four million dollars each on "aquatics centers."
• Five million dollars on Z Boaz Park
• Four million dollars on Chisholm Trail park

Not to mention about $200 million for a move from the current city hall to an old Post Office.

Now, much of their wish list is quite reasonable.  Road improvements, improvements for sidewalks, intersections, and traffic lights, all of these things are proper expenditures of tax payer money.  I do not understand why parks have to be publicly funded.  As I said previously, if someone can make the Dallas Zoo profitable as a private enterprise, there's no reason the same couldn't be repeated elsewhere.

And then the people who actually use the park would be the ones to bear it cost.

But Fort Worth doesn't even necessarily have to make that choice.  There are plenty of rich people in Fort Worth who make a fairly large show of their philanthropy.  Why don't they aim that at home and pay for those parks.  Now, in fairness, they often do donate to the city and assist with area renovations and such, my point is not that "they should do more" or to shame them.  My point isn't about them at all, it's about the city.

When you're still trying to spend money from eight years ago, and you're accelerating your expenditures in the hopes that you can have a new bond election (read: take more money from taxpayers) in three months, you've already shown that you're not being the proper stewards of taxpayer money that would make you worthy of having that bond election pass.

To my readers in Fort Worth (who says I'm not an optimist?), remember this when the next bond election comes around.  Heck, remember this when the next city-wide elections come around.  Are these the people with whom you wish to entrust $2.3 billion?