Kemah raises tax rate a 'slight' 21 percent

LST reader and commenter "Maltboy!" (gotta love the name) brought this one to our attention. The Citizen, a small local newspaper, reports Kemah's enormous tax hikes:

Kemah City Council passed a $3.573 million budget during its Sept. 29 meeting, while also slightly raising property tax rates from $.172 to $.208545 per $100 valuation.

Slightly? That's more than 21%. Try calling a 21% hike in anything else "slight." That's like a gallon of gas going from $2.89 to $3.50, or an August day going from 96 to 116 degrees, or the federal speed limit going from 70 to 85. 21 percent is not slight. Of course, if we're talking about less government, the situation is dire:

The city slashed the municipal court budget by $30,172, bringing that department's total budget to $211,661.

That's a 12.5% "slash," while a 21 percent tax hike (that's before appraisal creep) is "slight."