Senator Bettencourt Secures A Critical Amendment On To SB 1760
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas - Today Senator Bettencourt put a critical amendment on a taxpayer protection bill (SB 1760) authored by Senator Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe). The amendment which passed by a bi-partisan 22-9 vote requires that 60 of every city council or commissioners court will have to approve the tax rate if they want to bring in more revenue than the year before.
This is a historic day - for the first time we have applied a super majority requirement to help protect Texas taxpayers from rising property taxes said Senator Bettencourt.
Under current law only a simple majority of the governing body of a taxing unit is required if they want to adopt a tax rate that exceeds the effective tax rate. This makes it easy to pass tax increases on to taxpayers.
If a taxing unit taxes at the effective tax rate they will raise the same amount of tax revenue they had the prior year. Any tax rate that exceeds the effective tax rate translates to a tax increase on hardworking property owners.
I just want to ensure that if a taxing unit wants to increase the property tax burden on their taxpayers they have to have a super majority vote to do it stated Senator Bettencourt.
Long advocated by fiscal conservatives a super majority (3/5ths) vote would apply to tax rates set by Cities School Districts Counties and Special Districts if they set a property tax rate above the effective property tax rate calculated in the truth-in-taxation process. The effective tax rate is set at 3 above last years tax rate so the new requirement if adopted by the Texas House means all property tax rates now face a steeper hill to enact.
I want to applaud Senator Creighton for supporting the amendment as well as Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick for his Senate leadership on all property tax relief measures Senator Bettencourt added.
