Letter to the Editor

Gonzales city taxes

Posted Thursday, October 4, 2018 11:04 am

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I used to live in Gonzales and still have relatives there and visit them as much as I can. I try to keep up with things and don’t know what happened to the good people that used to live there. People filed a restraining order against the city for trying to raise taxes to take care of necessary things? From what I hear and read, this TAG group is just a bunch of upset business people not worried about the citizens and the way the city is taken care of. One used car business and restaurant owner is griping and say they may move to Luling because the taxes are too high. That is so silly, Luling taxes are higher than Gonzales and so are a lot of other towns in the area. Another guy has a small business and was not re-elected to the city council a few years ago. One owes the city money for not paying on his failed Alcalde hotel and fancy restaurant business and his son couldn’t get elected as a state judge and hit his opponent and had other problems. That sounds like a lot of sour grapes to me, but I’m just an old timer but I do have common sense. The taxes in Gonzales are lower than so many other towns even similar or smaller and poorer than Gonzales. A simple search on the internet will show you other city taxes. Yoakum and Cuero are higher than Gonzales and here are some more:

Gonzales – 27.5 cents
Luling – 56 cents
Nixon – 40 cents
Yorktown – 63 cents
Bastrop – 56 cents
Smiley – 36 cents
Stockdale – 36 cents
Gonzales Hospital – 36 cents
Gonzales ISD - $1.16

Notice that the GISD taxes are $1.16, which is pretty high. This is the same school district that just got an ‘F’ for their education rating. It doesn’t look like they are using these high taxes very wisely for our kids and the school board doesn’t do anything except what they’re told. That’s what my relatives say too and other people too scared to. Guess that’s why so many kids go to Shiner.

Come on Gonzales, you can make this city better again. But you have to let city leaders try to build better streets, sidewalks and infrastructure, new water and sewer lines that are too old, electrical problems. Don’t let the city fall apart because a few old men think they know better than everyone else, workers who may lose their jobs because of this or the city programs like the youth center and golf course that may not be able to operate. Those are good things and people shouldn’t lose their jobs. I’m not the smartest man in the world but I am old enough to know that sometimes cities have to raise taxes a little to make things run and to improve the city. The city should be able to help make things better in all parts of town, not just the good ones for the business owners. That means taxes sometimes, even just a little bit higher. The haves (the businesses and schools) shouldn’t act like they’re better than the have nots. The city is trying to do better for everyone, not just some people who think they are more important than others, so let them. People should know both sides of the story not just those hoity-toits who want to run their businesses on the cheap and let streets and other necessities go to pot in this town. The regular people want good streets and good water, they don’t have the luxuries these TAG guys with sour graphs have. I don’t like to gripe, but this is wrong and in bad taste and the people of Gonzales needs to pay attention to what is going on and those that really care about the town.

J. Smith
San Antonio

Gonzales city taxes

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