"Fortunately, it's not told by any lawmaker. Unfortunately, I'm going to stamp it on the forehead of thousands of good-intentioned, mostly volunteer public servants who are elected to serve on our city councils and county commissions.
The lie being told in Austin is that the big property tax bill under consideration, Senate Bill 2, takes away local control from city and county governments back home. They say the bill also limits growth in budgets for cities, counties, community colleges and hospital districts.
Truth is, SB 2 does the opposite.
A government would still be allowed to grow 4.9 percent a year with no fuss, no muss. But if city hall or the county courthouse wants to grow 5 percent or more in one year, they have to come to you in a November general election (not off-season when voters are away on vacation) and ask your permission.
Yet most cities and all but two counties are crying about the big bad wolf at the door. There's no wolf."
Unfortunately, this message has been put forth by our city and county and through their surrogate lobbyists, Texas Municipal League, and Texas Association of Counties.
Let your legislators know that you support SB 2. It has been passed by the Senate and referred to the House Ways and Means Committee, but, it does not show up on their list of bills.
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