Ahead of the next legislative session, the Texas Association of Counties is asking counties to complete an online survey about the costs of unfunded and underfunded mandates by Nov. 5. Those directives from state and federal governments place a significant strain on county budgets, property taxes and taxpayers. This is especially true as counties feel the immense weight of the pandemic on top of other already predicted constraints.
The 2020 Unfunded Mandates Survey was emailed to county auditors or to county treasurers in counties that don’t have auditors on June 9 and will remain open until Nov. 5.
This year’s survey is critical as counties prepare to voice their concerns and priorities to lawmakers, who will meet for the 87th legislative session in January. TAC strives to help policymakers understand the true effects of shifting unfunded mandates and asks the Legislature to pass a constitutional amendment to prevent such directives in the future.
TAC developed the survey in collaboration with the Texas Association of County Auditors, the County Treasurers’ Association of Texas, the Texas Conference of Urban Counties and the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas.
Please complete the survey about how rapidly these mandates are growing and on other related information about the burdens they bring. The results of the 2018 survey are available on the TAC website. Contact TAC Senior Analyst Tim Brown with any question about this year’s survey.