More Georgetown Legislative Agenda

The City of Georgetown does not seem to understand that the State of Texas Government is superior to City and other local governments in Texas. The state legislature, with approval of the Governor, created all the subordinate governments within Texas. As such they have the right and authority to change the scope and power of local governments when they abuse the people, who are the ultimate authority with respect to government.

The following slides show the City agenda with respect to lobbying the state legislature to protect the power and authority of the city at the expense of its citizens. Plus, the City uses city staff to lobby our legislators against us and they hire professional lobby firms to lobby the legislators in Austin during the legislative session.

Look at all the issues they plan to oppose! They fall into several broad categories.

1. They have perverted the concept of local control to mean city control! True local control means that citizens are in control as individuals, not elected officials! The city wants to take/keep control away from individuals!

2. The City opposes any limits on their ability to tax you, either directly or indirectly through special taxing entities like Economic Development Corporations. They clearly do not want to give property owners the ability to vote if they want to be annexed into the city.

3. Finally, they oppose transparency with respect to the city owned utilities. The citizens are supposed to accept on blind faith that the utilities are being operated efficiently, effectively and in the best interest of the citizens. The State needs to impose transparency rules on the city with respect to all city finances.

Wake up Georgetown citizens and let your state legislators know that you oppose local government spending your tax money on lobbying the legislature. If the state needs to pass legislation ensuring the city does not spend money on lobbying, then, so be it.

If the city does not want to be transparent about city owned utility finances, then, maybe it is time that the legislature passes legislation insuring competition for your utility dollars. Let the individual Georgetown consumer decide the "best" financial deal for them, not an opaque city bureauracy.