A couple months back, I and other members of TAC’s board of directors heard a talk about state legislatures in various parts of the country that are considering proposals to limit local government revenues that are based on property taxes. The speaker was Carl Neu, who heads the Center for the Future of Local Governance in Lakewood, Colo. Neu pointed out that across the country, state lawmakers are “ganging up” on local governments. “What happens is that local authority is stripped,” he said. “It’s the Legislature wanting to control local government with regard to taxes and spending.” You can read about Neu’s comments and other aspects of this disturbing trend in the article “Bullying the Local Guys” on page 11 of this magazine.

In Texas, some of our state leaders have been proposing to further cap revenues or appraisals each of the last several times our Legislature has met, but so far, wiser heads have prevailed — county and city officials have made it clear that arbitrary limits are destructive to local control.

But just because the right side has won this Texas-sized political struggle in the past, that’s no reason to think it’s going to continue that way. A number of the past votes in Austin have been close, so now is not the time to rest easy.

In January, for example, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst charged a special subcommittee to ”study the benefits and limitations of property tax appraisal caps compared to a limit on revenue a local jurisdiction can receive without the approval of the voters in the locality.” And in April, Speaker Tom Craddick announced his creation of a “Select Committee on Property Tax Relief and Appraisal Reform.” Craddick had already assigned two other legislative committees (Appropriations and Local Government Ways & Means) with taking a hard look at the appraisal process and spending limits. That’s four different groups essentially looking at the same issue.

It doesn’t take a high-priced political consultant to figure out those are great steps to take during an election year.

All four of those panels are expected to hold hearings over the next few months and then make recommendations to their colleagues in time for January’s legislative session. As we’ve seen in the past, it is important for county officials — and not just judges and commissioners — to contact not only the members of those study committees but all incumbent lawmakers (and their challengers, if any) to explain what the effect of caps would be on local services.

You don’t have to go at this task alone. The TAC Legislative Department has updated and expanded its excellent Property Tax Education Packet that explores multiple aspects of the issue — everything from charts that show what uncontrollable expenses are cost-drivers for local governments to lists of mandatory vs. discretionary services.

And in fact, TAC staff is already working with county officials around the state to meet with legislative candidates to explain the ramifications of revenue restrictions. We believe it is important that would-be lawmakers hear about the value of local services before they commit to a position that could cripple local service delivery.

So if you are interested in obtaining a copy of the Property Tax Education Packet or in getting some hands-on help from TAC’s staff to contact your local candidates, do not hesitate to contact the TAC Legislative Department at 800-456-5974. They are there to help county officials, who are the best advocates for county government.

And there’s something else that will help — let’s step up the effort to educate lawmakers as well as the general public about what county governments do. We all know how little most folks understand about the role and function of counties, but TAC has recently made that task easier also by putting its video, “County Government: There When You Need It” on their Web site, www.county.org. You can get people to watch it online, or you download it to a laptop and take it to show at a school or civic club. Or if you just want to educate someone about your own office without having to watch the whole 17-minute production, you can view smaller segments that deal with specific functions of counties. Let’s get the word out.