It’s going to be a rough session for cities and counties, who have every reason to believe that a large part of the Lege’s budget-balancing strategy will be to foist expenses on them.
“As will all of the big cities in Texas, we’re going to primarily play defense,” said Mayor Annise Parker. “They have a huge budget hole that they’re going to have to work through in Austin, and we want to make sure there are no unfunded mandates coming at us.”
Possibilities abound for what local officials consider unwelcome meddling. Proposals already on the books for caps on property taxes or appraisals could have the effect of shifting control over local affairs to the state, officials said. If cities and counties collect less money, they may grow increasingly dependent on state funding, a development that has been disastrous in California, said Darrin Hall, director of the mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Relations.
I’d almost forgotten about appraisal caps on the wingnut wish list item. You want to turn Texas into California in the bad way, that’s an excellent place to start.
Harris County government’s highest legislative priority is to limit state cuts to mental health services.
“All the other stuff is inconsequential when you start looking at this,” said Cathy Sisk, director of the county’s office of legislative relations.
[…]
[County Judge Ed] Emmett said he is worried the new crop of legislators will harm the state’s interests on matters such as investment in transportation if they take a short-term view of the budget crisis.
“Too many of them are just saying, ‘No, we just want to cut spending,’ ” Emmett said. “Long-term, that’s a disastrous decision for the state of Texas to make.”
I’m really glad to hear Judge Emmett say that. We sure didn’t hear a whole lot of it from anyone before the election. I mean this very sincerely when I say good luck getting anyone in Austin to listen.