Testimony: Local Debt Transparency

December 1, 2015

James Quintero

James Quintero is the policy director for the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Government for the People campaign. Since joining the Foundation in 2008, Quintero has focused extensively on: state & local government spending, taxes, debt, public pension reform, annexation, and local regulations.

According to the Texas Bond Review Board (BRB), local debt outstanding reached more than $225 billion in fiscal year 2014, representing almost 85 percent of total Texas debt.

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TEFA is a Success. What’s Next?

Texas’ launch of the Education Freedom Accounts (EFA) program has been nothing short of historic. It sends a clear message that families are demanding more control over their children’s education. Within the first 24 hours, more than 42,000 applications poured in, shattering national records for a school choice program rollout. By the time applications closed,...

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Local Government

Who Were Austin’s Highest Paid Public Employees in 2025?

Last month, the Austin American-Statesman launched an interesting new city salary database that shines a light on the “top-paid city of Austin employees of 2025.” The new details are quite interesting, especially given the city’s own recent admission that “Austin is experiencing a housing affordability crisis”—which is, of course, chiefly driven by government action. Using this tool, it’s obvious that city workers have become numerous and well-compensated. As the Statesman itself notes: “The city of Austin employed 13,567 full-time workers...

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Invited Testimony to the House Committee on Ways & Means: Property Tax-Related Interim Charges

Chairman Meyer and Members of the Committee, My name is James Quintero, and I am a policy director with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a nonpartisan research institute based in Austin, Texas. Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee today on last session’s historic property tax relief package and the current environment. My...

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James Quintero

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Invited Testimony to the House Committee on Ways & Means: Property Tax-Related Interim Charges