The purpose of this review is to identify opportunities to improve the performance of Smith County on behalf of its customers — the taxpayers. In the course of the review, issues of superior performance are also analyzed with the intention of encouraging replication in similar public agencies. Finally, an opportunity analysis evaluates results both in relation to internally established objectives and externally established public purposes, both implicit and explicit. The underlying question addressed by the opportunity analysis is “how good is the public agency compared to what it could be?”
Taxes & Spending
Assessing Tax Trends in the City of Austin
Does history suggest that property taxes are too high in the city of Austin? And, if so, have local decision-makers actively helped or hurt the situation? To help answer these questions, let’s review the city’s 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) and gather four types of data—i.e., tax levies, local population, total tax rates, and taxable values—over a 10-year time horizon. Using these audited estimates, we can gauge the growth of government (i.e., tax levy trends), assess its reasonability...
February 19, 2026