Voting for home rule will not raise property taxes

Dear Editor:

Recently, people have asked me about signs they have seen that read “Vote No to Home Rule – Taxes Will Increase,” or words and visuals to that effect, and what they mean to Bulverde city residents.

The fact is voting for home rule does not raise your property taxes, nor does it increase the sales tax rate. Further, under tax rollback rules provided by state statutes, a home-rule city has no more authority to raise taxes than it currently has. Based on these facts, I believe one can safely conclude that the signs referred to above are a source of misinformation and should be ignored.

In the Viewpoint section of the Aug. 28, 2008 edition of this paper, Comal County Commissioner Pct. 2 Jay Millikin wrote an informative article about the property tax process. In short, the Comal County Commissioners Court is responsible for setting the property tax rate for Comal County.

The Comal Appraisal District, which is a separate subdivision of the State of Texas and is not a county agency, is responsible for establishing the appraised value of your property in accordance with state law.

Ted Wilcox,

chairperson,

Bulverde Home Rule Charter Commission

Congestion on U.S. 281 needs to be fixed, no matter what 

Dear Editor:

Does Terri Hall drive on U.S. Highway 281 between Donella and Marshall Roads at 5 p.m. Monday through Friday? Does she spend five days a week taking 30 minutes to go three miles, burning up expensive fuel and polluting the air? Has she tried taking an alternate route home, but every route you try is just as bad? Does she leave her house at 6 a.m. on weekdays just so you don’t have to deal with the traffic twice in one day? Has her frustration level reached the boiling point by the time she gets home?

We recently hired a new employee at my workplace in downtown San Antonio. He currently lives in Austin and is considering buying a home in the New Braunfels area. I thought about recommending Bulverde to him, but I couldn’t with good conscience make that recommendation because of the traffic.

We need more lanes and we are going to have to pay for them no matter if they take the form of overpasses, toll lanes, dedicated commuter lanes, or, in my fantasies, a high-speed rail line from Bulverde to downtown San Antonio.

 I like it here. I don’t want to move. But . . .

Susan Eisenbrey

Bulverde