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Commissioner Christina Drewry was the only member of the Republican-majority Smith County Commissioners Court to vote “NO” on yet another the tax increase.
CONTRAST…
The Tarrant County Commissioners Court, under the leadership of “coupon clipping” County Judge Tim O’Hare, passed four consecutive years of property tax rate cuts, with both the Tarrant County and the JPS Health Network’s property tax rates set below the no‑new‑revenue (NNR)threshold each year!
According to the Tarrant County website and Dallas Express reporting, O’Hare’s fiscal management has resulted in:
- Cumulative county tax rate cuts of about 17% and JPS hospital district tax rate cuts of about 29.2% over the past four years.
- Cumulative taxpayer savings of roughly $1.1–$1.2 billion.
- Annual operating‑budget reductions exceeding $70 million.
- Maximum 20% homestead exemptions for both county and JPS, increased from 10% to 20% in 2024.
In Smith County (our home base), Commissioner Christina Drewry rightly pointed to the state’s spending “limit” to make her point about excessive Smith County spending:
“Population plus inflation is the taxpayer test – did county government grow faster than the people and the cost of living?
“Smith County Population grew by 1.4%.
“Prices in this region are up about 2.9%.
“Together that is a 4.3% for the Population + Inflation measurement.
“This budget raises $6,139,669, or 5.77%.”
Drewry added: “We should use the same measuring stick the state uses on its own spending—“population plus inflation”—as a fair way for the public to judge whether this county’s spending grew faster than the number of people we serve.
“Using this metric on Smith County:
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The number of people grew a little over one percent.
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Prices grew about three.
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Taxes grew almost six.
We are increasing funding 28% higher than what the state uses as a measurement.”
We agree with Commissioner Drewry!
Although “population growth plus inflation” is the statutory limit on state government spending, the budget wizards in Austin have numerous accounting gimmicks that allow them to exceed the spending limit by using various loopholes. Because of these loopholes, state spending has gone up 27.6% in two years and 43%in four years. We’re already re-engaging that fight in response to campaign promises of affordability.