Reform Local Debt Issued Without Voter Approval

March 23, 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.

"Reform Local Debt Issued Without Voter Approval" includes CO debt on the rise, CO debt issued to get around voters, and CO debt in need of reform. It’s important to stress: these reforms would not substantially impair or prohibit the use of COs.

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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...

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Fool Me Twice: Why the Texas Grid is Still Vulnerable to Winter Storms | Part 2: Projecting Winter Outage Risk Through 2030

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Out Of The Ashes Of Government Censorship Rises A Swing-State Election Protection Project

The tumultuous nature of recent elections, particularly the 2020 presidential race, showcased the critical need for attention to election administration. In 2020, the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), along with writers at The Federalist, had their social media posts flagged, suppressed, and even censored by a government-nonprofit-industry taskforce supposedly designed to combat election “misinformation” from foreign powers....

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James Quintero

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