Major cities such as Dallas are finding themselves the object of a slate of proposed legislation that would limit local control over allegations of misgovernment.
One of the bills filed included a proposal to prevent municipalities from banning the use and sale of gas-powered lawn equipment — a measure currently being considered by the City of Dallas.
Rep. Briscoe Cain (R-Baytown), the author of the bill, said to The Dallas Express, “businesses shouldn’t have to change out equipment when they’re moving to a different job between cities.”
“Additionally, the City of Dallas has said that this will cost millions of dollars to implement for their own departments,” Cain continued.
Similarly, Rep. Nate Schatzline (R-Fort Worth) recently proposed legislation to require cities to release financial audits yearly in a bid to increase local accountability.
“We have seen many instances across the state where there is too little accountability for cities in how they spend taxpayer dollars,” Schatzline explained to The Dallas Express. “This bill would give the people of Texas the tools to hold their local government accountable for tax dollars spent and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Just south of Dallas, Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian) submitted legislation to cap the salaries of government employees to that of the governor, who has a yearly income of $153,750, as reported by The Dallas Express.
“The main concern for me, as an elected official, is the custody and stewardship of hundreds of thousands of Texans’ hard-earned tax dollars,” Harrison explained to The Dallas Express. “I think the only people that even might be worried about it are people that are getting rich off the backs of the taxpayers.”
However, Dallas’ human resources director Nina Arias, denounced the bill to The Dallas Express, suggesting, “This legislation would suppress salaries artificially (disconnected from the job market and local economic conditions) and severely hamper the City’s ability to attract and retain quality government officials.”
Arias continued, “Most of the City leaders would currently be above that threshold and, since we benchmark our salaries with the government sector, that would also be the case in most Texas municipalities.”
In conclusion, Arias claimed, “In addition to having a hard time recruiting for positions that are specific to government, we would also have a more difficult time attracting and retaining talent that is looking to transition from the private sector knowing that their salaries (current and future) would be limited by the salary of the Texas Governor.”
Other municipalities have denounced this perceived attack from the legislature, with San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg complaining to the Houston Chronicle, “Over the last several sessions, there’s been an assault on local authority.”
He added, “I think it erodes the ability of citizens in Texas to govern their own quality of life and have families and businesses thrive in the places they choose to live.”
Similarly, a conglomerate of 16 Texas mayors, forming the Big City Mayors organization, included local control in their legislative priorities for the 88th Session of the Texas Legislature, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Arlington Mayor Jim Ross explained to The Dallas Express, “My priorities on the list of initiatives are local governance. … Community-based decision making is vitally important so that cities are able to address the unique needs of their own communities.”
The debate over state versus local control will no doubt continue to spark controversy as Texas becomes destination number one for Americans leaving other states, as reported by The Dallas Express.
