Joe Ochoa ... circumventing the Open Meetings Act

As stated in David Diaz's "Edinburg 'advisory committee' reccommends city tax incentives for buyers of new homes," "Future buyers of new homes in Edinburg might qualify for a break from city property taxes under a plan being promoted by an informal advisory group organized by Mayor Joe Ochoa."

"Proponents of the plan, dubbed the Homebuyers Tax Abatement Incentive, who are part of a group calling itself the "Mayor's Advisory Committee," said the tax break, which would be temporary, would only apply to the value of the home, and not to the value of the lot.

For a newly-constructed home valued at $100,000, Rodríguez illustrated, the city would not collect any city property tax on that structure in the first year, then collect 20 percent the following year, 40 percent in the third year, 60 percent the fourth year, and 80 percent of the fifth year.

Ochoa said he had shared similar sentiments with the group, but emphasized that the advisory council is one way for Edinburg residents to bring their concerns and ideas directly to the city council."

Now, why did Joe-Joe the Clown share similar sentiments ... he runs the meeting.

Why is this a bad idea? First, this advisory group is not sanctioned by the Edinburg City Council and you cannot enter the group with out Joe's approval. Click here to see a proper advisory council. How is this dangerous? Remember Joe's greatest accomplishment, Super Splash? Well, he says it was not his fault. How is it not his fault? He says he was just giving the citizens what they wanted. Who were those citizens ... we don't know, there are no records of the Mayor's Advisory Committee back then either.

Second, the middle classs is already being dumped on by Joe's tax freeze. Now, he wants tax breaks/incentives for new home buyers. Who is going to pay for the police and fire protection, sanitation, roads and other municipal tax burdens? Not the tax freeze recipients! The present citizens and voters of Edinburg. But guess who is going to be exempt? Joe Ochoa will be building his new house pretty soon and Hector Casas owns Shea Construction. Another Joe-idian, Robert Pena Jr., owns DevCon Properties. Rats! They want to get rich with our money!

So what does that mean to you and me? You got it, more taxes.

Thanks Joe, I always wanted to be over taxed.


*** Note to Joe ***
Over 100,000 hits and going strong! :)