Inside the Moon
Seashore Happenings A4
Turkey Bowl A2 Issue 659
The
Island Moon The voice of The Island since 1996
December 1, 2016
Around The Island
Free
Weekly
FREE
City by the Numbers
2017: $69 Million for Police… $145 Million for Debt
By Dale Rankin
We came stumbling out of a tryptophan daze from the holiday weekend only to run smack into a 90 degree Monday as we head into what is supposed to be the fall season. As one Islander said it doesn’t feel much like fall when you are swatting mosquitos and sweating through your shirt. All in all life is good here on our little sandbar. It is hard to believe that La Posada is next weekend. We’ll say that again, La Posada is next weekend. Let’s hope the warm weather holds for that.
Whale of a deal
Up on San Jose Island – or St. Joe as we know it – a sperm whale that washed up over a week ago is still decomposing on the beach. Removing the large whale from the privately-owned Island is not really an option. It is recommended that anyone crossing to St. Joe leave the whale alone as it is currently not bothering anyone.
Editor’s note: Since his election to the Corpus Christi City Council from District 4 which includes The Island, Greg Smith has been busy. He has been digging through the city budget and found some interesting facts. We asked him to share them with our readers. By Greg Smith
Dozens of trees and holiday décor will be auctioned off at the enchanted forest on Dec. 1st
La Posada Celebration Kicks Off Tuesday The La Posada season will kick off Tuesday evening with the official launch party at Scuttlebutt’s Seafood Bar & Grill. The party began five years ago to raise money for Toys for Tots and get Islanders in the spirit of the season. It has become one of the largest and most fun of Island celebrations. We include a full array of La Posada information in this issue.
Commodores Work Begins
Crews began work this week to reconfigure the SPID/Commodores intersection. The inside turn lane, now able to accommodate only a few cars, will be extended. The diagram shows how the intersection will look when finished.
In reminds us of the 1970 event on the beach in Oregon where the local brain trust decided to rid themselves of a beached whale with a charge of dynamite and it blew whale giblets over three counties. When residents complained of being hit by flying whale blubber the county guy said, “Well, it sounded like a good idea at the planning meeting.”
There has been a noticeable uptick in burglaries and thefts on The Island in recent weeks. It seems the thieves this Burglary Season are favoring boats and trailers but they will also take anything left in sight in parked cars. If history is any indicator the thefts will increase as the thieves come OTB to do their Christmas shopping. Lock your car and close you garage doors everybody.
Seven layer bean dip We leave you with a quote from our founder, Mike Ellis, a long-time Islander who launched the Island Moon way back in 1996. Mike always said that La Posada parties on The Island are like a seven-layer bean dip, when they start out everything is sort of separate and in its own little place, but by the time the night is over everything is all mixed together and Island strangers have become Island friends. We’ll see you at the kickoff party at Scuttlebutt’s Tuesday night, say hello if you see us Around The Island.
Breakfast With Santa This Sunday
Tuesday, December 6
Aquarius Light Update Set for December ISAC Meeting
By Dale Rankin
As usual the 8 reindeer, fat from engorging on tundra grasses and
Santa continued on A4
In our City Manager form of government one of the Council’s primary duties is to approve the budget and spending for the City. The City Manager handles the day to day operations and is the Chief Executive Officer reporting to the Council. While the budget for fiscal year beginning this October has been approved the new Council will be authorizing the actual spending as it takes place. Below are some highlights of our debt & budget or as our incoming mayor says the fifty thousand foot view.
Staff from the City of Corpus Christi will give the committee a full update on the project after ISAC members voted in their November meeting to advise the city council against activating the light until warning signs are placed on the traffic lanes
They are leftover from the project that was the Million Dollar Inn built
Interest expense for the current fiscal year. $65,970,123.
•
Principal payments for the current fiscal year. $78,941,909.
•
Total interest & principal payments. $144,912,032.
How does this compare to our property tax collections and the cost of the police department? •
Police $69,550,175.
Our debt payment for this year will be double the amount that the City is budgeting for the police department, the largest operating expense for the City. Planned capital spending for this year; These are for the big tickets items, replacing streets, water lines, sewer plant upgrades, buildings, etc. $206,979,600.
Where are we getting the money? •
Certificates of Obligations $32,872,500. A fancy name for a non-taxpayer approved loan.
•
Revenue Bonds $110,610,700. Bonds that are paid back by revenue from dedicated income such as water, garbage and sewer fees. Does not require taxpayer approval.
•
Past Bond Issuances $8,548,300. Money from prior years approved bonds.
•
Reserves and Transfers $32,707,700. Coming from cash and utility profits.
•
Grants & Other $21,976,000. Mostly your Federal tax dollars and Federal debt at work.
•
The revenue bonds and certificates of obligation debt do not require tax payer approval, the total for these, $143,483,200. As a comparison tax payers did approve $17,000,000 or 12% of the total loans that the City will be borrowing in the coming year.
If things go as planned we will end the year $64 million more in debt than where we started. We have our work cut out for us.
Property tax revenue $111,724,202.
12/4 – The La Posada Kickoff Party at Scuttlebutt’s Restaurant
Light cont. on A4
The Million Dollar Inn
They don’t look like much now, but the mark the beginning of an ambitious plan to turn The Island into South Florida.
•
12/3 – La Posada Golf Tournament at Schlitterbahn – 9:00 AM - 18 holes includes lunch
A little Island History
If you have walked the seawall you have walked right past it. A few square tiles, a strip of concrete across a patch of barren sand near the Island House.
Total debt as of October 1, 2016 $1,595,088,807. Rounded off that is $1.6 Billion dollars.
•
La Posada Schedule
The project to install a new traffic light at the SPID/Aquarius intersection will be front and center at the next meeting of the Island Strategic Action Committee.
By Brent Rourk In spite of a particularly vexing and busy December schedule, Santa Claus again will take time to visit the Island this Saturday during the annual Padre Island Kiwanis sponsored Breakfast with Santa. A longtime friend of our Island children, Santa along with the most kind and wonderful Mrs. Claus will take a rocket like sleigh ride from the inhospitably cold and snowy North Pole to the much warmer and sandy Island.
December 13 the City will be swearing in the new Council. There will be five new faces out of the nine members. Of the returning four, Rudy Garza has served four years, Carolyn Vaughn & Lucy Rubio, two years, and Michael Hunter eight months. The voters have spoken and it should be an interesting two years.
•
As of this writing there are no plans to launch any whale blubber, but there is always time for an emergency planning meeting.
Burglars
Fishing A11
Enchanted Auction A4
in 1967 and closed in 1972. It was meant to house potential real estate buyers who came from as far away as Europe to get in on the land rush that was soon to be Padre Island. There were no home on The Island yet so buyers were purchasing raw land with a promise; “Imagine if you will this land full of new homes and you my friend can get in on the ground floor.” The name came from the building price a room for two was $20 per night. The U-shaped building was the gem of the Gulf Coast when it opened. The third floor was home to the offices of the Padre Island Investment Corporation sales offices where they showed them huge maps of what The
Million cont. on A4
12/7– Toy Collector Boat meeting at PIYC (7:00-8:00 PM)
12/8 – Parade Captain’s Meeting at PIYC (7:00-8:00 PM) 12/9 – La Posada Parade North side of the Island – begins at 7:00 PM 12/10 – La Posada Parade South side of the Island – begins at 6:00 PM
The Intracoastal Waterway – A Different Plan By Bobbie Kimbrell Editor’s note. Bobbie Kimbrell has lived in Flour Bluff since the early 1940s where he was a commercial fisherman until his retirement. I think hindsight tells us that if the Intracoastal Canal from Flour Bluff t Port Isabel had been dredged on the backside of Padre Island, the Laguna Madre side, instead of like it is, right down the middle of the Laguna Madre, that it could have been better in the long run for the ecological and economic factors, especially sport and commercial fishing and the development of Padre Island before any development started. If the dredge fill had been deposited on the back side of Padre Island just think of how much higher what development that went in would have been and safer from a hurricane tide. As it is at last 1/8th to 1/10th of the
Laguna Madre has been destroyed and left useless because of the spoil dumps and the dredge fill that has been deposited on the rocks in and around the mount of Baffin Bay. T6he rocks were a haven for bait fish that fed off the moss growth that in turn attracted the trout and redfish. The Intracoastal Canal constantly silts in because of heavy rains that wash the silt from the dumps back into the canal and hurricane and seasonal high tides do as well. There would have been very little resilting if the spoil had been dumped on Padre Island which would have cut the cost to taxpayers of re-dredging to a minimum. If the canal would have gone through the Nine Mile Hole, also called the Graveyard, just think of how may trout, redfish, drum and croakers and other fish would have been saved and utilized.
Intracoastal cont. on A4