The ESD saga continues

With a few new moves between the county commissioners, the ESD and the City of Joshua I'm ready to break radio silence and bring you the latest. 

Last week the ESD managed to produce an audit of fiscal year 2009-2010, one hundred or so days late.  Since they made it in before the Johnson County Commissioner's Court meeting on Monday the 13th it was presented to the court by Joey Reed and the auditor.  For some reason the cover letter from the auditor that may or may not note any findings that could be positive or negative in the accounting processes of the ESD was not included in the presentation to the court.  It is not required by law, but most entities interested in transparency make it available.  We'll see if an open records request from the City of Joshua will produce it.

During the commissioner's meeting the court decided to hold a work session on September 27th to discuss the ESD operations and plans.  I'm encouraged that Judge Harmon and the commissioners want to take a more active role in what's going on at the ESD and I'll certainly be in attendance for that meeting.

Last night the City of Joshua and the ESD held our regular monthly meetings.  I'll detail Joshua's agenda more in another post, but we approved our reduced 2010-2011 budget and adopted our new tax rate - the effective rate to generate equal revenue to last year though the rate itself is higher than last year.  The ESD had the same two items on their agenda, but opted for a 100% increase in their tax rate to generate 70% more revenue than last year.  I wonder what the Tea Parties would think of that?

The final action of the evening for the Joshua City Council was direction to the city attorney to draft a new contract for the ESD in which the Joshua Fire Department would cover an area within the district only equal to the boundaries of our city limits.  Though we're bound by state law (for now) to do business with the ESD it's best for both parties to limit our interaction with one another.  We'll be taking Joey Reed and ESD President Glenn Reue up on their offer from a meeting a few weeks ago and requesting compensation only equal to what the residents of Joshua pay in taxes to the ESD.  Joshua will gladly continue mutual aid agreements with our neighboring fire departments to assist as needed.  This action was not entered into lightly and it was unanimous.  We fundamentally disagree with the financial practices of the ESD, the direction of spending, overreaching control and lack of leadership and detailed planning.  It's time for the City of Joshua to exercise our sovereignty and self-sufficiency.

A.J.