Question: As the 80th Legislative Session Approaches, What Issues Do You Want to Discuss With Lawmakers?
Answer: Roberts County Judge Vernon Cook: As we near the opening of the 80th Legislative Session, I think I join with most elected officials across the state of Texas in having varying degrees of trepidation and apprehension.
Of utmost concern in most of our minds is the ever-looming prospect of continued unfunded mandates, revenue caps and appraisal caps. Roberts County’s tax base is derived primarily from oil and gas production. As we all know, this is a very volatile economic environment. Our values can and have fluctuated as much as 40 percent, and that can be either an increase or decrease in value. If caps were to be placed upon these values, or their revenue to the county, there is no way to manage the loss of funding in a down trend of values.
I guess, to take this a step further, I would echo Rep. Fred Hill as he spoke at the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas State Conference in Addison. Rep. Hill made the comment that he found it hard to believe the “arrogance” of legislators in Austin, who are attempting to tell locally elected officials how to run their business. I would take it even further and mention that our state leadership is attempting to tell locally elected officials how to manage ad valorem taxes, and they are prohibited by our Constitution from using or being involved with local property taxes. I wonder where they received their expertise.
Another area of concern to many of us in rural Texas is rural economic development. I understand that there is a movement on through the Sunset Commission to consolidate the Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) into the Texas Department of Agriculture which is under the leadership of an elected commissioner of agriculture. In my mind this is counterproductive to efforts toward economic development in rural Texas.
We were also led to believe that the recent special session called to “fix” problems with school funding and “Robin Hood” was a spectacular success. It now appears that only a Band-Aid was placed on the funding issue and that Robin Hood remains hale and hardy. The Miami Independent School District (MISD) is our county’s primary school district. MISD’s tax levy for 2006-07 will be approximately $8 million. Of this $8 million, approximately 75 percent or nearly $6 million will be sent to the state of Texas to satisfy Robin Hood requirements, leaving only $2 million to fund a barely basic program with no frills included. I think that this flies into the face of any lip service paid toward rural economic development as no small community will survive without its school program.
Rural Texas has played a large part in bringing our state to the greatness it enjoys today. Public policy enacted by the 80th Texas Legislature will play a huge role in sustaining rural Texas, or on the other hand, causing its demise as has happened in so many of our surrounding states.
Vernon Cook, Roberts County Judge