Taxes Won’t Increase, but Many Fees Will
AUSTIN–Putting an exclamation point on a legislative session
that opened with lawmakers facing a $9.9 billion shortfall, the
all-Republican leadership team gave itself a pat on the back for
not raising taxes.
“State leaders showed the kind of budgetary discipline families
must show: We set priorities, separated wants from needs and
stretched every dollar,” Gov. Rick Perry said a day after lawmakers
finished their business. “We protected the pocketbooks of Texas
taxpayers while protecting vital programs, increasing funding for
public education and health care.”
But where Perry and others see discipline, Capitol critics see
dodged responsibility.
“Let’s just say that some pocketbooks got protected more than
others,” said Richard Kouri, spokesman for the Texas State Teachers
Association. “Every school employee in the state lost $500 for
insurance, and we also saw a doubling of the amount active
employees pay into the health insurance system for retired
teachers.”
And school employees aren’t the only ones who are going to see a
bigger bite taken out of their paychecks after the 140-day
legislative session that ended Monday.
Following the agenda set by state leaders, lawmakers also pared
back the rolls for human services programs, dramatically jacked up
the fines for traffic violations and opened the door to higher
tuition at the state’s premier universities.
To comply with federal clean-air mandates, lawmakers also
increased from $13 to $33 the vehicle-transfer fee paid by car
buyers in high-pollution areas such as Fort Worth-Dallas. Under the
same measure, car buyers in less polluted areas will now pay $28.
Also, the fines for many traffic offenses will be raised by $30,
with the bulk of the money going to fund trauma centers.
In addition, Texas will adopt a point system to punish drivers
who receive multiple traffic tickets. For example, a typical
speeding ticket would be worth two points, and causing an accident
would be three points.
Motorists who rack up six points over 36 months will have to pay
a $100 surcharge to keep their licenses. Additional fines will be
assessed at $25 per point.
The state will also assess a $1,000 surcharge for first
convictions for driving while intoxicated. Those who drove without
a license or with a suspended license will be fined an additional
$100.
State university boards of regents can now set tuition rates.
The new policy, which ends the long-standing practice of uniform
tuition set by the Legislature, will not take effect until the
spring 2004 semester, so it remains unclear which universities will
increase rates.
To help offset any increase brought about by the deregulation of
tuition, the Legislature increased need-based grants for college
students from $280 million to $324 million. However, that still
falls $89 million short of what the Higher Education Coordinating
Board sought for all eligible students expected to apply. As a
result, eligibility requirements may be tightened.
Fees for hunting and fishing licenses will rise starting Aug.
15, but not because of an act of the Legislature. Last month, the
Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission voted to increase the price of
both from $19 to $23. A combination license will cost $42 instead
of $32.
Advocates for reduced government spending give the lawmakers and
the governor high marks for putting the concerns of taxpayers
first.
An effort to raise the cigarette tax by $1 a pack failed without
so much as a hearing in committee. The same was true for a proposal
to allow voters to decide whether Texas should levy a personal
income tax.
“I think this was a very good session for taxpayers, no question
about it,” said Peggy Venable, who heads the conservative watchdog
group Texas Citizens for a Sound Economy. “I think the governor and
the leadership team deserves high marks for saying they weren’t
going to raise taxes and sticking to it.”
Anne Dunkelberg, an analyst for the liberal-leaning Center for
Public Policy Priorities, pointed out that the rolls for the
state-backed Children’s Health Insurance Program will be cut by
about 170,000 and that the hours will be curtailed for the
Medicaid-funded home health aides who help the disabled.
“All they [lawmakers] did was shift the costs down to the local
governments, and that will mean higher taxes at the city and county
level,” Dunkelberg said. “They are the ones who will have to take
up the slack.”
Bill Allaway, president of the nonpartisan Texas Taxpayers
Research Organization, said it’s too soon to calculate the full
impact of the budget. But he said he doubts that local governments
will institute huge tax increases or slash services.
“There’s a little bit of truth to both of those, but in reality,
nobody really knows yet,” Allaway said. “Personally, I don’t think
there is going to be as big a hue and cry as some might imply. But
it remains an incomplete picture right now.”
Early indications are that Tarrant County was spared many of the
ill effects expected from state cutbacks.
Tom Roy, the Tarrant County Hospital District’s government
affairs liaison, said that when the ominous talk of steep budget
reductions was initiated by top state officials, it appeared that
the cost to the district would reach as high as $28.5 million.
That number is now estimated at $4.5 million and could drop to
about $515,000 if Tarrant County receives its share of a $1.28
billion federal grant announced last month.
“The best way to put it from our point of view is that we dodged
a great big bullet,” Roy said.
Staff Writers Gordon Dickson, Jim Fuquay, Mark Horvit, Jan Jarvis,
Patrick Mcgee, Mitch Mitchell, Diane Smith, Neil Strassman and Anna
M. Tinsley Contributed to This Report.