From the Legislative Desk

Being dependant—except maybe in the 1040 I.R.S. sense, dependency is a ghastly sort of thing everyone has to deal with. Imbedded within the core of distaste is the real culprit—control. Being subjugated to authority, particularly in a regular and direct way, is not an inherently favored way of life. The tentacles of control are manifested in countless ways and cause huge losses of time through efforts to avoid constraints.

Unfortunately, in far too many instances, the control is oppressive and unfair and must be adjudicated unconstitutional. Countless controls have been put in place in an effort to manage human nature. The Federalist papers refer to observations concerning the degree of depravity in mankind that requires a certain degree of distrust and the insufficiency of virtue among men to self govern. Counties are not excepted from the prevalence of dependency. For the vast majority of Texas counties, at least 60.0% of their total revenue is gained from ownership interests in real property. The most recent numbers available from the Texas Comptroller’s office indicate counties received 15.0% of the total tax levy for the year 2006 with cities also taking in 15.0%, special districts 11.2% and local public school districts 58.8%.

The next round of numbers will likely be different because the legislative “buy down” of local school property taxes, by contributing roughly 14 billion dollars, was more substantial in 2007.

Despite its efforts to scale down high local school property taxes, the legislature’s objective of reducing such taxes by one-third is predicted by some to fall short. For instance, bonds used to finance local public education are not included in the statutory ceiling imposed upon school districts; inflation and growth invariably drive up costs and thereby increase budgets; and, the rather bold and unsubstantiated contention that because the courts and the legislature previously rescued the schools, there is no incentive for school boards to keep taxes down— that can’t be true. Such a contention presupposes an absurd level of fiscal indifference that would have to be maintained by school board members.

These trustees, like their other local government colleagues, must be careful stewards of the public’s money or find their public service ended at the ballot box. The services local governments provide the citizens of the state cost money, and those costs are rising, not falling. Assumptions of free-spending must be countered with facts about services and their cost. Communication among local and state government leaders is an indispensable requisite for maintaining good government. The idea that governments shouldn’t communicate is a rather primitive, ill-conceived notion.