Bill to cap taxes would cut into public safety, other needs

Our state should not cap the ability of cities to protect public safety and other critical and basic needs.

State legislators will soon consider 2.5 percent property tax “revenue cap” proposals that endanger Texans and provide no real property tax relief. The proposals, House Bill 2 and Senate Bill 2, limit what cities can raise in property taxes to fund city services.

We — along with Bastrop Mayor Connie Schroeder, Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross and Pflugerville Mayor Victor Gonzalez — want you to understand the impending crisis. We urge our legislators to protect public safety and other essential city services that are at risk under the proposals.

We are Republican and Democratic mayors, but we are Texans first. We share the Legislature’s desire for true property tax reform. But property taxes can only be lowered by fixing the school finance system. School tax increases are responsible for the overwhelming majority of the total property tax increases we’ve all been feeling in all our cities. For example, more than two-thirds of the total property tax increases in Austin over the last five years have been just for school taxes. Our cities are only a small fraction of everyone’s tax bill and an even smaller part of your overall property tax increases.

HB 2 and SB 2 provide no real relief, but they would make it impossible for cities and counties to maintain existing services. The numbers are similar for all our cities, even if the scale is different. In Austin alone, HB 2 and SB 2 would cause an annual budget deficit of $51.7 million in three years and the typical Austin homeowner would save only $2.70 per month. The magnitude of the budget hole is the equivalent of 612 firefighters or 549 police officers (or more than 50 percent of the entire operating budget for Austin Parks and Recreation). The reality is, because most Texas cities spend about two-thirds of their general fund budgets on public safety, it will be impossible to make the cuts required by HB 2 and SB 2 without impacting public safety.

Cities in Texas are among the fastest growing in the country, propelling the state’s economy. State leaders often talk proudly about the people and companies moving to Texas. Cities provide the basic services that allow the growth that the state encourages.

The proposed property tax cap is so low that it will leave cities across the state unable even to keep up with normal cost drivers for rising costs of living, such as health insurance increases, wage increases and inflation, never mind actually keeping up with growth.

If the Legislature insists on imposing property tax caps, it must allow exemptions for public safety, roads and other basic priorities shared by the state and cities. As drafted, HB 2 and SB 2 have no such exclusions.

To negate the damage that caps cause, the proposal would require Texans to head to the polls year after year, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, to vote on any tax revenue increases above 2.5 percent, even if the money is needed to protect public safety and maintain basic city services. Such annual elections will cost millions of dollars and create tremendous uncertainty. They undermine our credit rating by making it impossible to make long-term commitments.

At kitchen tables across the state, families make tough decisions about budgets — which investments are necessary to ensure their children’s health and safety, how to improve their credit and where to tighten their belts. Those decisions are best made by the folks closest to the facts — and to the consequences. As local elected officials, we know firsthand where people experiencing homelessness are gathering, which roads need repair, where new fire stations and parks are needed, and which police units are understaffed.

HB 2 and SB 2 would cost us millions and save us pennies. The proposed cap artificially and unnecessarily creates a crisis, especially without exemptions for public safety and other necessities. Contact your legislators and state leaders — tell them public safety and basic needs must be protected.

Adler is the mayor of Austin. Morgan is the mayor of Round Rock.