Opinion

Taxpayers in the Las Vegas City Schools district are in for a 30 percent property tax increase when the county treasurer sends out the bills next month.

But on the west side of the river, residents are actually seeing a big cut. Last year, the property tax bill for my New Mexico Avenue house came in at $784. This year, $686 — a 14 percent drop.

Hallelujah!

That’s all thanks to the bond schedule in the West Las Vegas district. Whatever the case, I can’t stop humming the Dons’ fight song.

Let’s see now, in recent months, members of the Las Vegas Fiesta Council have:

• Made mistakes with last summer’s event that cost money and support, but instead of working to fix the problems, they circled the wagons and blamed their mistakes on detractors.

• Made themselves inaccessible to the public and failed to produce a single financial report since wrapping up the last fiesta.

• Turned petty in their attacks on a 22-year-old former fiesta queen.

No well-running business would do away with its best-performing branch. Unfortunately, public entities don’t always operate in that manner.

That became all too evident when the West Las Vegas board tentatively decided last week to close Union to make room for the alternative Family Partnership School. Indeed, it overruled the recommendation of West’s superintendent.

We taxpayers have not even begun to recover from the Wall Street bailout and we are again hit-up to bail out Robertson High School for their mismanagement of bond funds?

Just how much are taxpayers expected to cover-up? Many can't even afford the monthly premium on their auto insurance. Why is it the only solution is to turn to the taxpayer? Shouldn’t responsible people be held to account?

Previously, we've had money missing from a city office where only a few individuals had access to the money. Yet, no one has been held to account.

Piping effluent water up to the city’s reservoirs — the answer to our water problems here in Las Vegas. Is this what it has come to? Are there no other solutions? We will resort to drinking our own waste! Well, Councilman Andrew Feldman and Mr. Glenn Yocum are more than welcome to partake from that glass, but as for me and mine, no thank you!

We at Samaritan House Inc. are proud to announce that we have been selected as a recipient of the 2010 grant award from The Catholic Foundation (Archdiocese of Santa Fe). A $5,000 award was received and will be used to assist with our Food Pantry Program.

At the present time, we are servicing about 220 households during our monthly food distributions.

Thumbs DOWN for ... ONE LESS CHOICE. Travis Regensberg was planning to offer voters another choice for District 70 state representative, but because of some confusion at the secretary of state’s office, his name won’t be on the ballot.

That’s one less candidate on the Nov. 2 ballot and, unfortunately, one less choice for voters. But on the upside, voters still have a choice, as Democratic incumbent Richard Vigil faces Republican challenger Mel Root for the state House position.

The entrance to hell bears the following admonition: “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.” That message, part of the 14th-century work, The Divine Comedy, by Dante, came to mind as I listened to a couple of famous people who should know better.

Consider: The language of Shakespeare and Milton is being reduced to a few (very few) mono-syllables designed mainly to pique one’s interest in partyin’, eatin’, cruisin’, and meetin’.

One of my New Mexico Avenue neighbors has posted a big sign that reads, “No Tejana Susana.”

That’s a good rhyme. But does it really matter that Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez was born and raised in El Paso?

Sure, we have a rivalry with Texas. While El Paso is officially part of the Lone Star State, it doesn’t seem to belong to that goliath of a state. You don’t hear the Texas drawl in El Paso like you do in other parts of that state.