Wilson, Mitchell oppose efforts by state senator to cut roll back rate

Council members David Wilson and Travis Mitchell oppose the efforts of a Houston state senator to trigger roll back elections if cities or counties proposed a 4 percent or greater property tax increase, with Wilson arguing the legislator’s plan does not address the biggest segment of a taxpayer’s bill.

Earlier this week, Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, unveiled Senate Bill 2 which would, if approved, automatically trigger roll back elections in which voters could not only nix any proposed property tax increase of 4 percent or more, but actually "roll back" taxes to below the current rate. Currently, a proposed property tax increase of 8 percent or more would trigger such an election.

Bettencourt’s proposal would only affect proposed city or county tax increases, and that’s where Wilson has major heartburn with the proposal because it exempts school taxes, which, by themselves, comprise more than 50 percent of a taxpayer’s bill.

"I am a supporter of property tax relief for all Texans as a basic concept," Wilson said in response to an e-mail I sent to all city council members seeking their reaction to Bettencourt’s proposal. "Senate Bill 2 does not appear to address the fundamental property tax issue for our state which is funding of public education. They chose instead to address city taxes which accounts for some 16 percent of the property tax collection."

Wilson posed the rhetorical question "What are city taxes used for?" and then answered it.

"Most city budgets are heavy weighted on police, fire and EMS as those are the key public safety responsibilities," he wrote. "The remainder of the budgets are used to build and repair roads, improve and maintain parks (quality of life) and maintain basic city services.

"With what I know about the bill with it's provisions, I am not in support of it as I believe that if it is passed as it currently filed that it would damage the ability of a city to provide for public safety and other critical responsibilities expected by people that live in those cities," Wilson concluded.

Mitchell argued it was "hypocritical" of the state to act in a way toward local government entities and then complain when the federal government acts in exactly the same way toward the state.

"While I agree with the concerns of State Senator Bettencourt about rising property tax bills, I vehemently disagree with the state legislature restricting the rights of cities to set their own rate," Mitchell wrote. "It is hypocritical of our legislature to impose their will upon municipalities because they are famous for fighting Washington over similar measures to restrict state's rights."

One other council member told me conflicts of interest prohibited him from replying to my request. I did not receive a reply from the other four members of the council.