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.
The Texas Education Agency has released its annual superintendent salary update and the new data reveals some eye-popping details. For instance, the highest paid full-time superintendent in Texas makes almost $450,000 in base pay alone. In 2021, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD’s top administrator will pull in $437,018, which is more than the President of the United States...
Was the Constitution a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic? One federal judge warned that it could be. Striking down a ban on indoor church gatherings in North Carolina, Judge James C. Dever III ruled that “There is no pandemic exception to the Constitution of the United States or the Free Exercise Clause of the First...
A new property tax report is raising eyebrows—especially among Texans struggling to put food on the table. The newly-released report, published every other year by the Texas Comptroller’s Office, confirms what most already suspect: Property taxes are big and growing fast. In 2019, more than 4,200 local governments hit homeowners and businesses with property tax...
Video from a Jan. 5 officer-involved shooting won’t be made public until April, the Austin police say, because on top of everything else, it got cold in Texas in February. According to a police statement, “due to recent city of Austin weather-related closures, APD will not be releasing the video during the initial 60-day timeframe.”...
A year ago, Texas governments were making it up as we went along. Officials responded to COVID-19 by upending our lives, shutting down the economy, and closing schools. Parents became teachers and grocery store stockers became vital front-line troops. Governments further closed bars, mandated masks, and enforced stringent measures that chipped away at our fundamental...
Most people know that the city of Houston will spend almost $1 million on contract lobbyists this year. But some may be surprised to learn that it also employs in-house lobbyists. And these Bayou City boosters excel at pushing for higher taxes, more spending, and less government accountability. The city’s in-house lobby team, otherwise known...
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is taking its message on local government lobbying to every corner in the Lone Star State. Earlier this week, the Foundation launched an aggressive statewide radio campaign educating Texans on the insidious practice of spending taxpayer money to lobby for more taxpayer money. The campaign comes on the heels of...
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has just published a new report detailing the extent of property tax growth over the last few years. The data is revealing. According to the 2018-19 Biennial Property Tax Report, almost 4,300 local taxing units levied $67.3 billion in property taxes on homeowners and businesses in 2019. That’s a...
School district property taxes are massive. In 2019, Texas’ local governments walloped homeowners and businesses with property taxes totaling $67.3 billion, according to a new Texas Comptroller report. Of the total tax levy, school districts, by far, imposed the greatest burden at $36.2 billion or 54% of the whole. By comparison, property taxes levied by...
Upon news that the city of San Marcos could soon be officially designated as “the mermaid capital of Texas,” the Texas Public Policy Foundation submitted the following Public Information Act request: “Please provide a list of mermaid-related expenses in fiscal year 2020. City expenditures may include (but are not limited to): marketing, advertising, public art,...
Yesterday, the Foundation released a new poll of 800+ registered voters, conducted by WPA Intelligence between Feb. 2 – 4, 2021, that asked Texans whether local governments should spend tax money to hire lobbyists. The poll’s findings mirror results from a similar survey conducted in 2019. Here’s the major takeaway: Texans overwhelmingly oppose allowing tax...
Think that a pronounced economic crisis has ushered in more cost-efficient local government? Think again! New data from the Bond Review Board shows that in 2020, total local debt rose to $375.7 billion, an increase of more than $10 billion over the previous fiscal year. Source: obtained from Public Information Act request and Bond Review...