At a glance
Voters in Community Impact’s coverage areas approved just over half of the local bond propositions and tax rate elections on the November ballot, according to previous Community Impact reporting. Statewide, 40% of tax rate elections and 45.9% of bond propositions passed, according to data from the office of Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican and property tax policy writer.
Cities, counties, school districts and other local government entities use funding from tax hikes to build new schools and facilities; hire educators and first responders; and maintain local infrastructure. However, amid high inflation nationwide, more Texas residents are tightening their belts and asking local officials to do the same, fiscal policy experts told Community Impact.
“Texas voters understand that our schools and local governments provide essential services for everybody—they pave the roads, they pay for police services, fire services,” said Shannon Halbrook, who leads fiscal policy research for the progressive think tank Every Texan, in a Nov. 21 interview. “Our school districts obviously educate our kids, and all that stuff needs tax dollars for it to operate.”
Halbrook said that in “more uncertain [economic] times, like what we’re in now,” voters are more worried about paying their own bills than funding the construction of a new school building.
“I think the way that schools and local governments have to respond to those kinds of things is just—they have to be more upfront about what they're spending the money on,” he said. “They have to make a better case, basically, for why they're asking for this additional money from voters.”
From 2000 to 2024, local governments throughout Texas put over 8,000 individual bond measures before voters, who approved nearly 80% of them, according to data from the Texas Bond Review Board.
In contrast, data from the Nov. 4 election shows that 45.9% of bond propositions passed, with voters in some communities authorizing portions of a local bond package and rejecting others.
James Quintero, who leads the tax policy team for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, said he believes voters rejected more tax hikes this year due to “disenchantment out there with the direction of Texas government.”
“When you think about the posture of Texas, we pride ourselves as being a low tax, limited government state,” Quintero told Community Impact on Nov. 18. “And yet, when you consider the number and the reach of local governments, it is very far away from that ideal.”
Bettencourt and Quintero also attributed this year’s election results to a new state law that requires taxing entities to list “this is a tax increase” at the top of ballot propositions, which was not previously required.
“What voters are beginning to understand is that bonds and [tax rate elections] have a financial impact, and they are clearly beginning to shift their preferences as a result of being a bit more informed,” Quintero said.
Bettencourt, who authored recent state legislation aimed at driving down local tax rates, said Nov. 21 that property taxes are essential to fund local services.
“You have to have money for growth, you have to have money for schools, you have to have money for roads, you have to have money for water systems. ... This tells you that if the public wants to vote [in] a tax increase, God bless them—as much of a hawk as I am, you have to say it's fine,” he said during a Nov. 21 event hosted by the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association.
The local impact
Local governments whose tax hikes were shot down are now grappling with how to make cuts while maintaining essential services, Community Impact reporting shows.
“When these measures don't pass, then [taxing entities] have to make really hard choices about what they decide to fund,” Halbrook said. “That's when it comes down to looking at their operating budgets and trying to figure out how they can cut their operating budgets, whether that means cutting staff, cutting facility spending [or] wages.”
In Austin, nearly two-thirds of voters rejected Proposition Q, a 20% tax rate increase that would have provided additional funding for city programs related to homelessness, public safety and parkland maintenance. As a result, roughly $100 million was removed from Austin’s general fund, and City Council approved a reduced tax rate, Community Impact reported.
“We are expected to govern with fiscal responsibility, focusing on basic services, providing them efficiently and effectively, and being accountable for the money we collect,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said in a Nov. 4 statement. “This election was, in part, a referendum on city government demonstrating discipline and a visible effort to stop or slow rising costs and expenses.”
In Bee Cave, a city west of Austin, voters signed off on the construction of a new public library but rejected a tax increase to fund the $19.98 million project, according to previous Community Impact reporting.
“The City Council will review election results and determine next steps. Community input will continue to play a vital role in future city investments and priorities,” city officials said in a Nov. 5 statement.
In North Texas, residents of the city of Prosper rejected four local bond propositions, which would have funded a new library facility, upgrades to the local police headquarters, parks improvements and a new public works and parks service center, Community Impact reported. Two measures, totaling $95.1 million of the $192.3 million bond package, were approved for road and downtown projects.
Of the failed propositions, Mayor David Bristol said following the election that the public works service center is his top priority for alternative funding.
“We have to get our public works people out of the double-wide trailers that they are working out of currently,” Bristol said. “We will put aside other projects to get that facility completed.”
