Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Tree The Town == debt lever?

I'm getting a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I really, really hope this isn't the underlying rationale for Tree the Town:

Posted by Dollar Tree @ 2:04 PM Tue, Mar 16, 2010
The hidden story in this is how these sponsors are effectively bolstering the City's asset base by tens of thousands of dollars. Not long ago, the Texas Legislature enabled municipalities to place a dollar value on trees. This is intended to increase the net worth of the municipality, and thus make its financial solvency seem more plausible. Well, enter the Tree The Town project. For every tree that is planted, the City will gain additional credibility in the financial markets, thanks to the value of trees being added to the asset base. The only loser here are the citizens who have to repay the debt for which these assets will be applied as collateral.
I hope Amir addresses this in public somewhere.

Line in the sand: I will actively work against any council member/candidate who seeks creative ways to increase COR's ability to go deeper into debt. We need leadership that will help wean COR off debt.

1 comment:

frater jason said...

Dangit; made a significant typo the first time. 2nd try ---

Update: I am now convinced that Tree The Town (T3) is what it appears to be rather than some dastardly bond-rating distortion device.

To paraphrase Freud, sometimes a tree is just a tree. And I'm relieved; I find that tinfoil hats make my head ache a bit. I don't like wearing them.