Public Comments to Nueces County Appraisal District - 02.03.2010
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Below is a copy of the Public Comments given by James Duerr at the Nueces County Appraisal District on February 3, 2010.
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Hello my name is James Duerr – 411 Pasadena Corpus Christi Texas
I was a Board Member of the Nueces County Appraisal District from 2007 to 2009. I appreciated the opportunity to serve the public in this capacity and I enjoyed working with my fellow Board Members.
However, the Board has come to a point where they must gain the public trust and I recommend that you immediately return the $2.8 million in the building fund back to the taxing entities. If the Appraisal District has a future need for repairs, they can use the $1 million line of credit and stop keeping the taxpayers money.
I have always been against the building of a new building because of the down turn in the economy where every cent in the budget may mean a job saved for the City, County, School District, Hospital district and many other local entities. The current building does need upkeep and maintenance but this can be done for far less than the $7.4 million required to build a new building.
Second, building a new building and moving out of Downtown is against the wishes of the Leaders of Corpus Christi whom are trying desperately to reinvigorate the Downtown business district. Moving the Appraisal District out of Downtown will hurt efforts to bring Downtown back to life.
I also have two simple solutions that will provide more transparency for the Nueces County Appraisal District and prevent this type of miscommunication in the future. We must all work together and these two recommendations will help.
1. Hold meetings at 5pm so that the public and the taxing entities can attend
2. Video Tape all meetings.
Again I would like to stress that the building fund should be immediately refunded to the taxing entities to stop needless waste of taxpayer’s money in fighting the return of the money back to the public.
Do not forget that the money in your building fund is the People’s Money not the Appraisal Districts money.
The people have spoken for the immediate return of all $2.8 million in the building fund. Please respect the wishes of the public and the taxing entities.
The money does not belong to the Appraisal District. The money belongs to the PEOPLE!
Note: The Nueces County Appraisal District Board did vote and authorize an immediate $1.5 million refund to the Taxing. I will stay on this issue to make sure that ALL the $2.8 million is refunded to the taxpayers in short order.
James Duerr – The Taxpayer Friend
James Matthew Duerr is a Republican candidate for the Texas 27th Congressional district with inspirations of unseating the 27 year Democratic incumbent Solomon Ortiz.
