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Balancing Williamson County Needs with Mandates

Oped by Commissioner Cook

  • 15 August 2018
  • Author: Doris Sanchez
  • Number of views: 4910
  • 0 Comments

The requirement also takes more administrative workers, with much of the work done digitally and readily available, plus storage and backup. While it is for the good, the cost is enormous for district and county courts, and the state funds none of that cost. I just passed my unused CDs and cases to our district attorney to help maintain these records.

To exacerbate the problem, Gov. Greg Abbott even attempted to limit the ability of local entities to raise sufficient revenue to cover state mandates. Local problems and issues are best addressed locally where you can talk directly to those tasked with devising the solution.

Be assured that while we are in the bowels of the currently proposed budget for Williamson County, we on the Commissioners Court are also girding our loins for the next legislative session and hoping legislators pass a bill that eliminates any un- or under-funded mandates on local governments. However, we will include contingencies for that not happening if more mandates are pushed down on us.

Hear ye, hear ye taxpayers! We are very cautious in this delicate dance of the budget. We pray for wisdom to discern the “need” from the “want” of departments. It takes many, many meetings to understand the ever-changing world of this fast-growing county called Williamson.

I encourage you to view a video on unfunded mandates at https://www.county.org/Legislative/news/Pages/County%20Issues%2008-03-18/New-Unfunded-Mandates-Video.aspx or read the 2016 Unfunded Mandates Survey results at https://www.county.org/Legislative/issues/Documents/Unfunded%20Mandates%20Complete%20Book.pdf.

By the way, we hear and understand the cry, “Reduce my tax burden.”

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