The Cost of County Government: 2018 Unfunded Mandates Survey is now available online. This first-of-its-kind survey highlights the costs of Texas county government and details the growing financial impact of unfunded and underfunded mandates on county budgets. The 2018 edition updates and expands on the impact of the mandates first reported in the 2016 edition.
The study, which looked at eight years of data gathered from 137 counties, was conducted by the Texas Association of Counties in cooperation with the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas, the Texas Conference of Urban Counties, the Texas Association of County Auditors, and the County Treasurers Association of Texas.
It collected information on the costs of certain unfunded and partially funded mandates, and then extrapolated to estimate the annual statewide expenditures by counties for those mandates. The report focuses on the statewide extrapolations to give readers a better grasp of statewide costs incurred by property taxpayers.
Please take a moment to review the report and assess how your county may compare with the survey results. It is critical for county officials to communicate with constituents, taxpayers and legislators about what it is counties do, how they do it, and how it is funded. We trust this will prove useful to these efforts. Questions about either of these reports can be directed to Tim Brown at 512-478-8753 or 800-456-5974.