Over the weekend came this story that has Dallas County officials and lawmakers grousing that Collin County won’t go along with whatever far-fetched scheme they have going.
“I don’t think Collin County plays nice lately,” said state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas. “I don’t think they have a regional concern, but only for provincial Collin County.”
Well, yeah. So what? We’ve seen what, for instance, Dallas County has done to itself, and we don’t want to get dragged down into that mess.
The gripe really comes down — as always — to demands for new taxes. Collin County leaders don’t support a slew of new taxes to expand a regional rail system that few in Collin County want in the first place. According to the story, more than 40 area cities and five counties passed resolutions in support of the measure, but Collin County did not.
Carona, your standard big government, big spending Republican type, was just aghast that Collin County leaders would actually care about the will of the people they were elected by.
The best part of the story came, though, in reference to Dallas’ Parkland Memorial Hospital.
Collin County commissioners snubbed Dallas County’s request to support a bill that would create a new hospital tax in suburban counties to help pay for using the Dallas hospital.
But Ron Anderson, Parkland president and CEO, said Collin and other adjacent counties have an obligation to help fund the tax-supported hospital. Parkland provides more than $20 million in unreimbursed care annually, officials said.
Nowhere does it mention exactly how much they claim comes from Collin County residents. The story throws out the big $20 million number, but it’s a bill that should go to all the surrounding counties — not just Collin.
And I believe we all know that at least three-quarters of the $20 million in unreimbursed care should be sent to Mexico City.
Collin County has prospered precisely because it’s frugal, cautious, and wise. And yet Dallas County expects us to fund their pet projects — a hospital that provides generous care to illegal immigrants and public transportation that almost no one here uses.
Meanwhile, Collin County’s ISD’s lose tens of millions of dollars in Robin Hood taxes to the underperforming schools outside Collin County.
Collin County already provides more in taxes at the state level than it gets back — why should Collin County throw additional money down the money pit to our immediate south?
Let’s see. A 2006 story indicates that something like 28% of Parkland’s unreimbursed out-of-county expenses were from Collin County. Looks like the same stat for 2005.
A 2007 story discusses that “Collin County residents accounted for $5.7 million in care provided by Parkland. Tarrant and Denton counties together accounted for $6.2 million, statistics show.”
If you northern deadbeats want to use Dallas County services, you ought to pay for it. And if they’re public services provided to the indigent, then Collin County ought to foot the bill for their own people.
Here’s a little challenge for you, Trey — why don’t you go a month without using any public services from the little “money pit to [y]our immediate south?” And I mean roads, too. I challenge you to stay out of Dallas — city and county — for a month, so you’re not using what I’m paying for.
Wow, Trey, I know you’re a super-intellectual and an outstanding speller and all that, but you don’t know much about Collin County. For one thing, you cannot assert that “Collin County leaders don’t support a slew of new taxes to expand a regional rail system that few in Collin County want in the first place.” First of all, McKinney, Plano, Richardson and others have passed resolutions in favor of the current plan. Frisco has one in the works, and the mayor is a big proponent.
All the major Collin County cities have passed resolutions in favor of higher taxes for rail expansion in the past. The legislators who represent the bulk of the county population support the plan. And at least two of the five members of the commissioners court support the plan; indeed, the county judge has made it his top priority to kill this in Austin, but he does not have the votes to oppose it officially through a resolution.
Also, the voters of Collin County strongly opposed the county judge’s efforts to kill transportation efforts last year when he opposed a road bond election. Voters in cities and the county as a whole have a history of strong support of spending tax dollars to improve mobility.
Also, low taxes have not fueled the county’s growth. The availability of cheap land, giant houses and easy credit had a bit more to do with it. C’mon.
And now onto Parkland: The basic problem is that Collin County (and others without a public hospital) do not define indigent the same as Parkland does. Collin County does pay for care when they are billed and it fits their standard (100 percent of the federal poverty level.) Statistics do not back up your assertion about Mexico. Most out-of-county indigent cases are workplace trauma and emergency care. This isn’t about immigration. It’s simply about a lack of resources in surrounding counties. Never mind that Collin County doesn’t spend a dime of current tax money on indigent health care. But you knew that, right?
If Dallas County didn’ t exist, what would Collin County look like? Suburbs can’t exist without the big, bad cities that allow them to prosper and grow.
Trey on this one you cannot win. Collin County has no county hospital but contrary to popular assumption has plenty of uninsured persons who come to (drumroll) Parkland. Paid for by (drumroll) Dallas property owners paying said taxes like (drumroll) me. Below links courtesy of Mike Orrens @PegasusNews.
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Reports circa 2005 were that uninsured Collin County residents were costing Parkland $6 million / year.
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:w...
http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives...
According to our content partner, The Collin County Observer, the county has been paying more of the load of late:
http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2009/...
But still stiffs on a lot– $5.7 million of the $20 million in out-of-county bills Parkland was stuck with:
http://www.baumbach.org/b2evolution/b…