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"We work to achieve compatible development via communication," said committee Chairman Paul Paine, a former base commander and the president of Fort Worth South Inc. "We are not here to restrict development."
On Sept. 21, the Regional Coordination Committee voted to support Proposition 1. Texas voters should follow its example. The Star-Telegram Editorial Board recommends voting for Proposition 1.Proposition 2Texas scrapped a fragmented property tax system in 1979, one that allowed separate taxing entities to place different values on the same piece of property and to base taxes on different fractions of that value. The new system established central appraisal districts (mostly county by county) with all taxes based on market values determined by those districts. Property owners have an appraisal appeal process, and there’s a 10 percent limit on how much anyone’s taxable property value can rise each year. That’s a good system. Most proposed changes would diminish its fairness by giving breaks to certain property owners and not others. That would shift the tax burden from the favored properties to the disfavored and build pressure for tax rate increases. Prop 2 would cause just such a shift. It would require that appraisals of residence homesteads be based solely on their homestead value. It sounds good, but there’s no logical reason why someone who can sell their property for a higher value (say, for a pending commercial development) shouldn’t be taxed according to fair market value. The appraisal appeals process is designed to rectify special cases that fall outside of this general rule (say, the pending commercial development has flopped, and nearby property values remain unfairly high). There’s no good reason to use a constitutional amendment meat cleaver to accomplish that task. The Star-Telegram Editorial Board recommends voting against Proposition 2.Proposition 3Call this one the Big Government Amendment. Prop 3 says that the mostly county-based central appraisal districts have not done a good job and that the Legislature should take over. As if letting lawmakers big-foot their way through it every two years would solve any problems that the current system has. In fact, the state has a way to correct inequities in local property tax appraisals. The comptroller’s office conducts a property value study every year to ensure equitable state aid to school districts. Appraisal districts that are out of line have to correct their numbers. That’s all the orders from Austin that local folks need. The Star-Telegram Editorial Board recommends voting against Proposition 3.Proposition 4Texans have to be getting tired of lists that show their state ranking way behind others, especially when it comes to education. In the Nov. 3 constitutional amendment election, they have a chance to start making things right, at least in one crucial way. Proposition 4, if approved by voters, will provide a way to help more Texas universities grow to become nationally recognized for their research, what’s often called "Tier 1" among U.S. institutions of higher learning. That’s important not only to provide more top educational opportunities for Texas students but because top-level universities can bring millions of dollars to the local economy through research grants, venture capital, spin-off companies and jobs.
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