The new Precinct 4 Northwest Subcourthouse, which opened in March and includes the office of longtime Commissioner J.D. Johnson, is a monument to government. At 57,000 square feet and a $16.9 million cost, it's an example of government grandeur built by a Republican administration when governments everywhere are trying to cut back.
Tarrant County, which has frozen employee salaries in the past and reduced services, isn't done building. The county is in the midst of a massive construction spree, with some of the projects not needing voter approval.
County officials brag that with some projects they are using a pay-as-you-go formula in which money is taken out of annual operating budgets without causing a tax increase. But one former commissioner said that philosophy appears to be borrowed from Tarrant County College officials who embarked on a similar construction spree that didn't require voter approval, either.
Either way, officials emphasize that the county tax rate stays the same. They don't mention that the rate could fall if the county spent less.
Hampton, who served as a commissioner for 12 years until 1996, told me that without direct voter approval on construction projects, "the only way you know this is happening is to see a building go up or go to every working budget session that the Commissioners Court has and watch the court approve the details.
"Somebody like the media or whomever is interested would have to be there, and who could spend that much time? So it behooves our fearless leaders to put that out in some form or fashion and say, 'Look what we're doing.'"
Don't miss the comments from THE PEOPLE.
The public can't know what the Star-Telegram can't afford to cover.
This started ten years ago as a healthy local newspaper became a journalistic skeleton. If the descending spiral of local government coverage continues; building like this will last as long as contractors kickbacks (read legit "fundraisers") keep coming.
Earlier this year at the Northwest Sub-Courthouse, I asked one of the clerks, "If smoking is prohibited, why does the building reek of cigarette smoke?"
The reply and ensuing conversation:
"Commissioner Johnson smokes a lot in his office."
"How is that? There are no-smoking signs all over the place."
"Well, it's his building, so I guess he can smoke if he wants to."
"Well, it's not his building, is it?"
"Oh, yes, it is."
That attitude explains a lot. It's J.D. Johnson's domain, and woe betide anyone who fails to recognize that fact.
