City's financial future grows bleaker
The state wants to make it worse.
Just how bad will the situation be for city government if voters don't approve the proposed 5¢ tax hike? That depends on the state legislature. Reports Megan Kimble of the Houston Chronicle:
Cities and counties will soon be more hamstrung to raise property tax revenue under a Republican bill that is likely headed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
Lawmakers in the Texas House approved a measure on Monday to limit how much cities and counties can raise property tax rates, lowering the threshold for voter approval from the current 3.5% to 1%.
Now, it sounds like 1% is unlikely to be the final deal they settle on. More likely it will be 2.5%. But that is still brutal – lower than the current rate of inflation (2.7%).
Again, the irony here is that the same lawmakers who are pushing this austerity on city and county governments are going to continue to pummel urban and suburban property taxpayers, particularly in Austin, forcing them to shoulder a heavy burden of public school costs in rural and property-poor areas of the state.
Who's coming to the tax campaign rally? The Love Austin campaign announces the following people will be speaking in support of the proposed 5¢ tax hike at the campaign kickoff tomorrow at 9 am at the Laurel Creek Apartments in North Austin:
