I can only see that I must agree with Mr. Avey's argument.  Austin itself has an outstanding amount of local revenue per local businesses due to the fact that Austin is sometimes known for,"keepin' it in the family(city)."  This is great but honestly how do we know how much revenue is acrueing for our city and state?  How much longer will our city survive with no raises in retail taxes?  Just because we are at a minimal 8.25% tax rate other taxation changes are being proposed and made through fees and other taxable items.  Changes are being made everywhere from raising prices for storing documents for local governments to charging state employees for parking in state garages.  Raising insurance premiums for state employees who use tobacco was also in the proposal.  How much money is this really going to contribute to our state's shortfall?  More than none, I guess that's all that matters.

BUDGET SMUDGET

Thursday was a big day in the House, with members voting to approve cuts and rainy-day-fund use to close the $4 billion shortfall in the current budget. You can read all about it here.

It is stated that eventhough this budget has passed the final budget will end up spending more and cut less. The proposed house budget looks like this: $164.5 billion, this is over a 12% reduction from last year. No taxes will be raised. It is proposed that Texas will owes its school districts around $7.8 billion, causing approximately 96,000 school employees to lose their jobs. Medicade will also take a hit. This will reduce the number of students that receive Texas grant scholarships by 60,000. Early childhood school programs will also be reduced by $223 million.  It maintains funding for a broad range of victims’ services, including domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, hotlines and victim advocacy. It cuts funding for community mental health services by $162 million, and it cuts $34 million from state and community mental health hospital funding. This cut is one that I personally do not agree w/. I know first hand what it is like to suffer from PTSD and depression/anxiety disorders. A majority of the residents receiving mental health services are from the ages of 18-35.

The teacher retirement fund is also being docked by $153 million. This is unsatisfactory considering education employees are being either laid-off or forced into retirement. On top of that the funding for already retired teachers healthcare is also being reduced. It virtually eliminates all funding — $20 million — for housing placement and retention services for homeless families and individuals. I understand that the state has to make cuts but I disagree w/ some of them.