VOL 12 No. 6
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FORT BEND FAIR. BALANCED. INFORMATIVE. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019
P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623
Official newspaper of Fort Bend County & Missouri City
County sides with Houston, ignores Fort Bend residents By SESHADRI KUMAR A majority of Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, in a symbolic vote last week, weighed the power wielded by the City of Houston against the interests of Fort Bend County residents and sided with Houston. The remarkable episode occurred during the consideration of Fort Bend County’s legislative agenda in the Jan. 29 Commissioners Court meeting. Pct. 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers made a motion seeking the county’s support for a bill already introduced in the Texas Legislature which would enable registered voters in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city of Houston to file a petition for detachment from Houston if a majority of voters sign the petition. A large area of Fort Bend County is in Meyers’ precinct along the Grand Parkway and the Westpark Toll Road and in Katy in the extra-territorial jurisdiction of Houston. Houston is able to collect sales tax revenue from Fort Bend County areas, but Houston is not obligated to provide any services to Fort Bend County residents in these areas. Houston is collecting as much as $16 million a year in sales tax revenue from its extra territorial jurisdiction in Fort Bend and Meyers calls it “taxation without representation.” Already, the state has
passed a bill that would prevent Houston from annexing the ETJ unless the voters voluntarily want to be annexed. Meyers wants this provision in the law further clarified so that the voters can detach from Houston, remain unincorporated or join another city. Last week, when Meyers made the motion seeking the county’s supporting resolution, no one seconded the motion and it failed. Pct. 1 Commissioner Vincent Morales (Republican) joined the newly elected Democrats County Judge KP George, and Pct. 4 Commissioner Ken DeMerchant and Pct. 2. Commissioner Grady Prestage (D) in killing Meyers’ motion. In previous administrations too fellow Republicans opposed Meyers’ legislative efforts against Houston, ostensibly because they did not want to get into cross hairs with Houston. The newly elected officials have the same sentiment in supporting Houston. Meyers had a few more items on the agenda pertaining to the “County Assistance Districts,” based on the same issue of Houston collecting taxes without providing any services in return. Meyers’ next motion sought Fort Bend County’s support for House Bill 957, legislation requiring a portion of future revenue collected by Houston
under Strategic Partnership Agreements to be spent in the area where the sales taxes are collected for the purposes of benefiting the general public in Houston’s ETJ in Fort Bend County. The resolution in support of this legislation was voted down 3-2. George, DeMerchant and Morales voted against the motion, while Prestage joined Meyers in support. Two other resolutions in support of the county getting the authority to dissolve the CAD when necessary and allowing the city to collect sales tax when the CAD is annexed by a city were approved unanimously. During the discussion on the legislation authorizing County Assistance Districts to spend revenues on government services “in proximity” to the boundaries of and for the benefit of the District, sensing there was some reluctance among members to support it, Prestage made a statement in support of Meyers, and said Meyers single-handedly helped create the CADs for the benefit of taxpayers all over the county and commended his work in this regard. The CADs helped fund libraries, community centers and road projects. He urged fellow commissioners to lend their support to the cause. It is easy to kill a bill, but See COUNTY,Page 3
Judge Ron Pope named Child Advocate of the Year
Judge Ron Pope was named Child Advocate of the Year for 2018 at Child Advocates of Fort Bend’s Annual Volunteer Celebration held January 30 at Sweetwater Country Club. The event was attended by more than 250 volunteers, community partners and staff. “Judge Pope embodies the mission and passion for the work that we do. He has gone “above and beyond” and his actions and influence will have long-lasting impact, not only for the children we serve but for our entire community,” according to Child Advocates of Fort Bend Chief Executive Officer Ruthanne Mefford. “Judge Pope is a huge supporter of our CASA program. He values and Child Advocates of Fort Bend CEO Ruthanne Mefford with Judge See POPE, Page 3 Ron Pope. Photo courtesy of Sue Lockwood
Community Spirit Award conferred on Sonal Bhuchar
Dr. Subodh Bhuchar, left, Chamber president Keri Schmidt, award recipient Sonal Bhuchar, immediate past chair Malisha Patel and Sugar Land Mayor Joe Zimmerman at the Fort Bend Chamber’s annual gala. See story on Page 2.
Bills filed to cap property tax roll back rate at 2.5 percent AUSTIN State leadership unveiled a plan to slow the growth of property taxes Thursday. “People desperately need property tax reform, our businesses need property tax reform, and we have set out, on this date, early in session… with a major piece of legislation,” said Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. “We are setting the tone for the rest of the session on this issue.” He was joined by Governor Greg Abbott, House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, as well as two key lawmakers, Houston Senator Paul Bettencourt and Lubbock Representative Dustin Burrows, who will carry the bills in their respective chambers. Both bills, designated SB 2 and HB 2, are identical and would put a 2.5 percent cap on annual property tax growth absent voter approval. The current property tax “rollback rate” is 8 percent per year. If a taxing entity other than a school district approves a rate increase beyond that, under current law, citizens can trigger a rollback election if they can collect the signatures of seven percent of the registered voters in that taxing jurisdiction. Rollback elections for local school property tax rate increases are triggered automatically if they exceed the rate,
and SB 2 would make that the law for all taxing entities. The 2.5 percent rollback rate would also apply to all taxing entities, excluding those that collect less than $15 million annually. “The vexing problem facing taxpayers is that tax bills are going up at least two or three times faster than they can handle,” said Bettencourt. “I think that the concept of having a two and a half percent rollback rate across the board means there’s a universal solution.” Bettencourt chairs the Senate Property Tax Committee, which will begin hearings on the bill next week. Also last week, the Finance Committee continued work on crafting the Senate version of the state budget, hearing testimony from a number of different agencies. Monday, as the Department of Public Safety appeared before the panel for its usual budget presentation, frustration at the agency’s handling of the issuance of drivers licenses came to the forefront, with multiple members demanding to know how the DPS was going to fix the problem. The Sunset Advisory Commission found during the interim that wait times at DPS license offices are getting longer
despite more and more money being added to the agency’s budget for that purpose. “This is one of the few places where everyone in Texas of drivers license age and above interacts with their state government,” said Friendswood Senator Larry Taylor at Monday’s hearing. “When it’s this dysfunctional, it doesn’t look good on the whole state.” DPS Director Steve McCraw said his agency is seeking $420 million in additional funds to hire 1900 more staff and open 15 more license offices to finally address this issue. As it stands now, the Sunset recommendations for DPS would move license services to the Department of Motor Vehicles, a relatively young agency only carved out of the Department of Transportation to handle car title and registration services in 2009. Texas is one of only eight states that doesn’t issue licenses through a DMV, but that would change in 2021. Sunset Commission Chair Senator Brian Birdwell, said that the Legislature can decide whether that’s soon enough. “This is not a ‘study whether we should transfer this or not’,” he said. “It’s going to move. If this committee wants to move it faster, we can do that.”—By RICHARD LEE