Is a pay-to-play scheme underway in Harris County? A shocking new Houston Chronicle investigation makes it appear so. According to the paper’s latest exposé, Harris County commissioners are raking in campaign cash from “executives at companies awarded no-bid contracts by those commissioners.” The article even puts forward some eye-opening data to support its proposition. “From...
Last week, the Texas Public Policy Foundation published a new report looking at property taxes in Texas’ major urban centers. In the report, the authors, Anthony Jones and James Quintero, compare property tax levy growth vs. population and inflation increases over five years in select communities. The facts and figures are aimed at helping taxpayers...
The city of Austin owns a lot of land. In fact, according to a 2019 CBS Austin report, the city “has bought more than 28,000 acres of raw land over the last 20 years.” The fact that it owns so much property—especially in the midst of a raging affordability crisis—raises some serious concerns about purpose...
The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), one of the state’s largest taxpayer-funded lobbying groups, is coming under fire for its refusal to sever ties with the National School Boards Association (NSBA). The NSBA is the same group that, in September, ignited a firestorm when it sent the Biden administration a letter comparing parent protests...
Progressive policies set the stage for a huge uptick in crime and violence this year, costing many people their property and even their lives. More from the Daily Mail: “…at least a dozen large mid-tier cities across the country have already broken their annual [murder] records. The grim trend follows national calls to defund police...
Last week, we revealed that local government debt had grown to $389.7 billion in fiscal year 2021, an incredible increase of $14 billion over the previous year’s total. This week, we dig a little deeper into the data to see which types of local government are most responsible for the borrowing binge. A few things...
Austin’s regional public transportation agency is spending money like it’s going out of style. And at least some of it appears wholly unnecessary. Earlier this week, KUT revealed CapMetro’s unofficial logo redesign, which arrives just ahead of a “$7.1 billion expansion of public transit known as Project Connect.” The agency, working in partnership with an...
In response to a Public Information Act request, the Bond Review Board (BRB) recently provided TPPF analysts with new local government debt data for fiscal year 2021—and the figures are simply stunning. According to the BRB, cities, counties, school districts, and special districts owed a grand total of $389.7 billion in FY 2021, up from...
In response to the pandemic, Congress passed several bills, including the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), that boosted public education funding by “nearly $190.5 billion.” The massive aid was provided in hopes of reversing learning loss, but instead, many school districts seem to be frittering...
Something happened last week that hasn’t happened in a long time—for the first time in a decade, Texas voters said “NO” to most school district bonds. Here’s more from The Texan: “Last week, a majority of proposed bonds on the November ballot failed for the first time since 2011, when only 17 of the 37...
Local governments appealed to Texas voters seeking lots of new debt this election cycle. According to The Texan: “Eighty-one localities have placed 149 different bond issues before their constituents on ballots across Texas, totaling nearly $11 billion.” For better or worse, voters approved a great deal of it. But not every bond proposition passed. In...
This November, Texas voters will be asked to make up their minds about 8 constitutional amendments that cover a wide range of issues, including: religious freedom, running for office, property taxes, and more. Here’s a little more detail on each. Proposition 1 (HJR 143): The constitutional amendment authorizing the professional sports team charitable foundations of...