| Nope! I didn't have to make this up. I hereby quote a paragraph from the City of San Antonio 2002/2003 Budget - page S30, where the Mayor touts a 57.854 cent per $100 valuation tax rate that has not changed in 10 years. "The FY 2003 Adopted Budget includes $143.8 million in maintenance and operations support for the General Fund from property taxes while maintaining the tax rate at the current year level - 57.854 cents per $100 valuation. For the tenth straight year, no increase in the overall tax rate is adopted."
Note how he puts the last sentence above in bold letters implying that with great effort our taxes are not being raised!
What he didn't tell you was this: Property tax revenue from 1993 through 2003 grew an astounding 85.1% while our Cost of Living Increases grew only 27.8%. Thus, the bottom line is simply this. The tax rate was frozen, and appraisal increases were not. Accordingly, the tax rate of 57.854 cents per $100 valuation would have had to be raised (85.1%) to $1.0709 in order to rake in the same amount of revenue.
Folks, its all a shell game, and if the Mayor and others will not tell the whole truth about property taxes, then what else are THEY lying to us about?
I want to challenge all State Wide Groups to look at their own cities (Houston, Dallas, Austin, et al.), and I'll bet they find the same lies and half truths being told. But I won't be surprised if San Antonio turns out to be the worst of the lot.
In my next column on Monday, I will also reveal how, and why, the Mayor of San Antonio thinks you taxpayers and voters are stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid! * * * TAXWATCHER
An Open Letter To The New SA City Council
Congratulations - Get To Work
CA Stubbs, SAL Commentary Dear New Council Members:
Congratulations on your new roles as Leaders Of City Government. You spread the word that the time is far overdue for a restoration of trust in City Government and its leaders.
That need and promise for better government has somehow been overlooked by the previous Council Leadership. Now that you are in a majority, you can do something about it.
I want to share with you 23 years of research of actual City Budgets, and trends which clearly demonstrate colossal waste and mismanagement of taxpayer money. To save your valuable time, I have condensed 23 years into three simple graphs (Charts) that tell more than you will ever get from the Express/News, or any other Mainstream Media. These are their figures, I'm only serving as a messenger.
Chart 1: The following are actual trends of Budget Growth, and the grave disparity that exists between CPI (cost of living), and population growth. The trends revealed are far worse than the Federal Government, and we usually consider them to be hopelessly out of control. Note budget growth of over 32% per year from 1980 through 1986. This set the stage for a trend that was not broken until Term Limits began in 1991. 
Chart 2: Here I express these trends in terms of dollars and the devastating impact it has had on citizens of this City.
Chart 3: You as new leaders are going to be under major pressure to completely overhaul the City Charter (Constitution of San Antonio). You will be asked to destroy or change Term Limits; Give inordinate powers to the Mayor; Establish a strong Mayoral Government like that of Chicago; and finally, to put the Mayor & Council on Salary.
Before you do any of these things, please take a moment to look at the actual record of what was going on before Term Limits, and the major improvement in reduced budget trends that have occurred since 1991 when Term Limits were implemented. Budget growth for 1980 to 1991 was 214%, while it grew only 81% from 1991 though 2003. This is no mere coincidence. Accordingly, please note Chart 3 and the budget trend set before Term Limits (1980 to 1991) and look at the extension of this trend out through 2003. Compare this to the actual budget growth which was far less. But, note what happened in Mayor Peak & Mayor Garza's Administrations, when efforts began to abolish or change Term Limits. Budget growth quickly intersected the line of extravagance predicted by unbridled growth before Term Limits.
IF THE BEFORE TERM LIMITS TREND HAD CONTINUED FROM 1991 THROUGH 2003, TAXPAYERS WOULD HAVE BEEN SADDLED WITH $2,288,220,000 MORE THAN WAS ACTUALLY BUDGETED.
PLEASE CHECK IT OUT, IT IS THEIR RECORD NOT MINE! 
Most Sincerely,
C. A. Stubbs - Texas No. 1 Tax Watchdog
State Chairman Emeritus - Citizens Against Gov. Waste.
Former President - Texas Assn. Of Concerned Taxpayers.
Former President & Founder Of HTA.
Columnist - SanAntonioLightning.Com | 
