In May, Hays Consolidated Independent School District will ask voters to approve two separate bond propositions totaling $250 million. While officials are pitching the bonds as a way to “provid[e] the infrastructure needed to meet the current student enrollment and the expected growth in enrollment,” a growing number of residents are expressing concern about the...
May promises to be a busy time for voters. Next month’s election cycle will see 45 different political subdivisions asking voters to approve 49 separate bond propositions totaling $5.5 billion. That’s a hefty sum, especially given Texas’ already elevated level of debt. Among those asking for the most are: Lewisville ISD ($737.5 M); Collin County...
Testimony before the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations by James Quintero
Texas Governor Greg Abbott made waves recently when he voiced support for a “broad-based law” that would preempt onerous local regulations unless specific standards had been met first proving the regulation had merit. The Governor’s rationale for this sort of pre-emptive regulation is grounded in the notion that Texas is being “California-ized” with a patchwork...
Trees are timber — a natural resource that belongs to private property owners in the same way as a backyard garden. It would be absurd to require a government permit to harvest your peppers and potatoes — yet many Texas cities strictly regulate trees on your land.
Letting communities have control and oversight of their home-grown pension plans is a commonsense idea whose time has come. And now that the 85th Texas Legislature has convened, it's fast-becoming time to turn this idea into action.
Very big. In fiscal 2015, more than 4,100 local governments levied property taxes totaling $52.2 billion or about $1,900 from every man, woman, and child in the Lone Star State. That’s up by a staggering $11.7 billion since 2011 ($1,578 levied per capita). That the burden has become so big and is growing so fast...
Major property tax reform appears to be on the horizon. In response to growing public angst over soaring property tax bills, leaders in the Texas House are proposing House Bill 15, the Property Taxpayer Empowerment Act. Among other things, the bill would lower the rollback tax rate from 8 percent to 4 percent and require...
Should Houstonians be given a chance to vote on the issuance of $1 billion of pension obligation bonds (POBs) as part of the city’s overall reform package? Absolutely. With the possible exception of certificates of obligation issued for emergency purposes, local government debt should almost always be accompanied by a public vote. After all, it’s...
Defined benefit retirement systems in Houston and Dallas are collapsing under their own weight, putting retirees and taxpayers in harm’s way. And while pension reform proposals are right now taking shape (see here and here), there’s a big problem with the outlines of both plans: they leave these systems locked in state law. As I’ve...
These programs and projects are just a small sample of the big-time waste that exists in places like Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth and elsewhere. These real-life examples are living, breathing proof that city governments have plenty of fat in their budgets and little incentive to prioritize.
According to a recent report from the Texas comptroller, local government coffers have become swollen with new revenues over the past two decades, thanks to persistently high increases in the property tax.