What an election!

No matter what our personal political druthers are, we all have to acknowledge that it was one of the most memorable election years in our lifetimes. Across the state, more than a million new voters weighed in on Texas elections for the first time — in a democracy, that’s good news.

In our county courthouses, it appears the election produced no major, statewide house cleanings — there were the usual round of retirements and occasional upsets of incumbents, but not really more than usual. Of course, if you’re an incumbent who got beat, it is as painful as ever and let me offer our condolences. This is a tough business to be in — knowing that you may go to bed one night every fourth November and wake up without a job is not the most comfortable position to be in.

On the other hand, at the state level county government is taking a major hit with the retirement of State Rep. Fred Hill, who chaired the House Local Government Ways & Means Committee for the past several years. For the past 20 years, Chairman Hill was highly regarded for his conservative, low spending credentials, but when some of his colleagues in state government started pushing to place unreasonable restrictions on county and city revenues, he stood up to them. He explained to his fellow lawmakers that Texas provides few funding options for local government and — unlike many other states — little in the way of direct funding to the local level. And perhaps more importantly, he understood that Texans overwhelmingly prefer that local government funding be determined by their locally elected officials — that’s why we call it “local control.”

Last year, Chairman Hill came to the conclusion that retirement from the Legislature was the best decision for him and his family, and I want to thank him for a long career in public service. But that means counties have lost a valuable ally on the tax cap issue. It is vitally important that officials develop new allies to help make up the void. Every member of the House and Senate needs to be made aware of how the proposed changes to our tax code will affect the ability of counties to provide the services that our local citizens expect and deserve. Any limitation on county revenue is an issue that affects every office in county government and every county official whose office is funded through local property taxes should be willing to communicate their concern to their state representatives and state senators.

Of course, there are a number of other legislative issues that will affect county government during the session, and it is TAC’s role to find common ground when proposed laws create the potential for conflict among various county offices. This year, we are beginning to do that by bringing together the affiliate associations of independent county officials at a symposium discussion Nov. 20. Once the legislative session gets underway in January, we will host regular Tuesday morning breakfast meetings to review legislation that is pending. All county officials are welcome to attend those sessions at the TAC headquarters building in Austin.