ASAC Meets & Welcomes New Members

San Angelo's Animal Shelter Advisory Committee welcomed three new members.  The meeting kicked off with public comment.  Director of Neighborhood and Family Service Bob Salas stated the temporary shelter is being permitted and he expects construction to begin in a month or so.

New board member Penny Roberts asked about the location of the temporary facility.  Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden said she would get Roberts a presentation as "they want us to be careful and not dialogue in this section."  Sharing a fact with a new board member relative to earlier public comment by a city leader hardly seems like dialogue.

I took the liberty of including information on the temporary shelter's location in the above image.  New board members asked questions during the meeting which the agenda did not accommodate.  So future agenda items include:

1. Shelter capacity
2. Enforcement of ordinances
3. Budget 
4. Barriers for the public to access shelter services

Morgan admitted the ASAC failed to comply with city ordinance by only meeting twice in 2023.  She did not say city leaders had over two months to schedule and hold a committee meeting but chose not to do so.  Bob Salas instructed Morgan not to reschedule, according to an 11-14-23 internal e-mail.

Bob, missed you at 4pm – wanted to clarify this messaging. Brian’s referencing a reschedule of ASAC but you’d previously discussed proceeding with the 2024 calendar with no additions. Will there be a meeting in the near future?

Nope, as Bob instructed there were "no additions."  Salas gave an update on the temporary Animal Shelter but provided no information on renovating the existing facility (City Council approved financing for the project in early 2023).  The last official word was the project would go out for bids in May.  That is yet to happen.

New board members have much to learn.  I hope staff answers as many questions in public as possible.  That is the open and transparent thing to do.

Gov. Abbott Issues New Hospital Regulation

The Hill reported:

Beginning Nov. 1, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is directing hospitals in Texas to gather data on “patients who are not lawfully present in the United States,” as well as the number of inpatient discharges and emergency visits and the costs of care.

The Texas Hospital Association responded with:

Texas Governor Greg Abbott“This would be a new requirement, and we are reviewing it as quickly as possible. Right now, hospitals don’t ask about patient immigration status as a condition of treatment. Hospitals are required by law to provide life-saving treatment to anyone, regardless of ability to pay or status.”

That's less than three months for hospital electronic medical record systems to add this field.  Surely, the Texas Health and Human Service Commission has ways of estimating the financial cost of treating undocumented persons in Texas hospitals.  

Texas has not participated in Medicaid expansion and as a result:

there are about 5 million uninsured Texans

The Governor left federal money to pay for hospital care on the table since he was sworn into office.  He passed over a bonus for recalcitrant states, those yet to participate. 

Hospitals have a difficult job to begin with.  Gov. Abbott just made it harder for those providing and those seeking care. It's a shame.

Update 8-12-24:  Gov. Abbott and the political Red Team have turned hospitals into no treatment zones for women with ectopic pregnancies.  New Mexico is recruiting Texas OB/GYN physicians as a result.

Council Subsidizes Businesses, Cracks Down on People

San Angelo City Council approved the sale of 17 acres in the Industrial Park to LTG Real Estate Group LLC in Grapevine, Texas.  The property was appraised in January at $48,000 per acre.  Council approved selling the property for $25,000 per acre due to site issues.  

The Development Corporation approved the item in their July meeting.

The City approved a tax rate as part of the budget process.  Council stressed that fees should reflect the cost of providing the service during a previous budget meeting.  That seems to conflict with today's discounted land sale.

A citizen spoke during public comment about an upcoming Tom Green County Appraisal District board meeting.  She encouraged people to attend and shared her concerns about the board appointment process as well as the move to appraise properties annually instead of once every three years.  

Tax abatement for significant capital projects that provide some measure of employment also passed 7-0 in today's meeting.  In order to receive tax breaks up to 85% applicants must provide at least one full time job.  

Corporations as a whole did much better than financially stressed citizens as Council restricted the ability for homeless people to be in certain areas from 10 pm to 6 am with a camping ordinance change.  The head of San Angelo's Homeless Coalition thought he had five minutes to offer public comment as an affected party but was cut off at three.

Citizens should take advantage of free and open public comment while it lasts.  Today's meeting, had it occurred in October would've had far fewer public comments.  

Update:  City Council raised the tax rate from 70.42 cents per hundred valuation to 75.57 cents,  That nickel increase is a 7.3 percent increase in the tax rate.  Inflation is not going away for San Angelo homeowners.  Neither the prior rate nor the increase were included in the City Council background packet.  Truth in Taxation and transparency should ensure that information is shared as a bare minimum.

Old rate:  70.42 cents per $100 valuation

New rate: 75.57 cents per $100 valuation 

Increase:  5.15 cents or 7.3%