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July / August 2010
Volume 22, Number 4

By Gene Terry, Executive Director Texas Association of Counties

Making the Case for County Government Revenue

“At first I was afraid, I was petrified.
I kept thinking I could never live
with this deficit by my side...”

My apologies to the band “Cake” for a bad modification to an even worse song. It does, however, set the tone for this time of the year. The dreaded budget cycle is upon us. Oil spill, hurricanes, low property values, consumer pessimism, credit crisis, fiscal chaos and a shortage of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla. Can it get any worse?

The challenges faced by counties in this budget year are unprecedented. Pressure from constituents to keep property taxes static without losing essential services is offset by pressure to respond to ever increasing costs of services as well as the additional fiscal responsibilities imposed by state and federal regulations. The resulting budget will, undoubtedly, look like a can of biscuits struck sharply against the edge of the kitchen counter. But, referring back to the crude lyrical reference above, we will survive.

The whole process of examining the burden of ad valorem taxes will be a priority in the next session of the Legislature.

The State of Texas has given counties few sources of revenue and none larger or more vital than the property tax. Counties continue to be good stewards of this revenue stream. There is little, if any, fluff in a county budget. Once the budget is set to pay for the essential services — most of which are constitutional mandates — there is little discretionary money left. Some counties may assist in supporting parks, libraries, swimming pools and the like, but county money goes first to courts, law enforcement, record keeping/management and collecting and distributing funds for the state and state agencies.

County officials are not part-time policy makers but full-time employees who manage the budget daily. They see their taxpayers daily in the grocery store, barber shop and gas station. That hands-on practice ensures county money is spent cautiously.

Much of the discussion at the Capitol concerning property taxes will center around creating restraints on that revenue source. It is truly disingenuous to suggest that such restraints do not already exist. The simple fact that a county must publish a notice of tax increase if the levy goes up at all is constraint enough. Nobody wants to publish a quarter-page ad declaring a vote in favor of higher taxes. Nobody wants to have public hearings to try to defend or support tax hikes.

I firmly believe any county that goes to the publication rate to fund a budget is truly needy and not doing that just to raise money to restripe the parking lot. I personally recollect only three times in the past few years when a county was compelled to raise the levy to the rollback rate. In two of those cases, the rate was sustained by election; only one county was rolled back. That seems like a pretty good record of fiscal responsibility to me.

We should all do some historical research within our own counties and come up with the facts we need to support our positions. For example, compare the growth of your budget (or tax levy) with your population growth in recent years. Citizens should see how more people means additional services, which requires additional funds. In counties with population declines, similar results may be evident. Perhaps I am naïve, but that message can and will be heard if it is repeated often enough. Help us collect this information so we can present a positive picture of our fiscal responsibility collectively.

Thanks for your support of your Association. We do appreciate it and understand the responsibility that goes along with it. As always, please tell us what you need and help us serve you better. Recently, we launched a new service called the TAC Service Office. Calls that come in that do not specifically request a department or person are directed to this office. A live person will take down your information and pass it on to the appropriate person in the organization or to an outside agency. Contact numbers will be verified and a follow-up call will be made to ensure that the inquiry was handled in a satisfactory way and that the caller has the information needed. Don’t waste your time trying to find the right bureaucrat. Let us help you get to the right person and get your questions answered. We hope you will use this service and find it to be helpful.