MannyIsGod
02-23-2005, 02:03 AM
Well, I think people are going to end up getting the property tax relief they are seeking. But get ready to say hello to a state income tax.
Budget-writers stretch creativity
Web Posted: 02/23/2005 12:00 AM CST
Peggy Fikac
Chief, Express-News Austin bureau
AUSTIN — In a push to find $3 billion for new education spending without new taxes, state budget-writers are looking at a combination of new fees, funding cuts and policy changes — such as allowing parole of permanently incapacitated sex offenders.
Items on the table include a proposal to levy a nursing home quality assurance fee of 6 percent of gross receipts, which would bring in $452.5 million.
It's unclear which proposals will survive, but the House Appropriations Committee chairman said the panel's determination to fund additional classroom spending without a tax bill is "very firm."
"It's one of the things we've been charged with, to find $3 billion for public education," said Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, so that tax changes being considered by the House Ways and Means Committee "will buy down property taxes and nothing else, dollar for dollar."
A list of potential money-savers and money-makers that would get the state $940 million closer to that goal is being circulated among committee members by Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, who chairs its government efficiency and operations subcommittee.
Isett said he's not recommending the ideas, calling them "just the first pass." But he added, "Some of these ideas will probably be more palatable to most of my friends than passing a big tax bill."
The items came from a larger list compiled by the Legislative Budget Board.
Republican leaders have backed a school funding bill that would provide $3 billion in new money for schools on top of the billions necessary to reduce skyrocketing local property taxes. A judge has ruled that the current system, which relies heavily on local property taxes, is unconstitutional.
Although the proposed nursing home fee proposal died in a previous session after Gov. Rick Perry opposed it, Isett said waivers such as those granted in other states to keep the cost from being passed on to private-pay patients might make the idea more acceptable.
He also said the fee would be used to draw more Medicaid funding, which would go back to nursing homes paying the fee.
Another proposal would save $1.2 million by increasing the number of prison inmates eligible for medically recommended intensive supervision, or parole of offenders who are no longer considered a threat.
It includes a change that would allow sex offenders — who currently can't be considered for such parole — to be eligible if they are permanently incapacitated either mentally or physically.
The list includes elimination of a "teaching experience supplement" for higher education, which would save $70.5 million. The supplement was approved in 1997 as a way to get more tenured and tenure-track faculty to teach undergraduate classes, but Isett said the percentage of such faculty teaching classes instead has gone down.
"I'm going to say that some of those will be proposed to the full Legislature," Pitts said. "All of them, or most of them, I wouldn't say that."
Some lawmakers were skeptical that enough money can be found in savings and fees.
"It's very difficult," said Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, an Appropriations member, noting lawmakers must look at the effect of cuts or spending shifts.
"We're going to have to do it by raising additional revenue," she concluded. "It goes back to, 'Which tax do you like best?'"
Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, the Ways and Means vice chairman, said, "I do believe it's important to turn over every rock and stone to find savings and efficiencies that we can then redirect into making a meaningful investment in our schools."
But Villarreal said he believes the court ruling will require more than $3 billion in new school funding, and that kind of investment will require lawmakers to "come up with bigger, bolder ideas."
Budget-writers stretch creativity
Web Posted: 02/23/2005 12:00 AM CST
Peggy Fikac
Chief, Express-News Austin bureau
AUSTIN — In a push to find $3 billion for new education spending without new taxes, state budget-writers are looking at a combination of new fees, funding cuts and policy changes — such as allowing parole of permanently incapacitated sex offenders.
Items on the table include a proposal to levy a nursing home quality assurance fee of 6 percent of gross receipts, which would bring in $452.5 million.
It's unclear which proposals will survive, but the House Appropriations Committee chairman said the panel's determination to fund additional classroom spending without a tax bill is "very firm."
"It's one of the things we've been charged with, to find $3 billion for public education," said Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, so that tax changes being considered by the House Ways and Means Committee "will buy down property taxes and nothing else, dollar for dollar."
A list of potential money-savers and money-makers that would get the state $940 million closer to that goal is being circulated among committee members by Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, who chairs its government efficiency and operations subcommittee.
Isett said he's not recommending the ideas, calling them "just the first pass." But he added, "Some of these ideas will probably be more palatable to most of my friends than passing a big tax bill."
The items came from a larger list compiled by the Legislative Budget Board.
Republican leaders have backed a school funding bill that would provide $3 billion in new money for schools on top of the billions necessary to reduce skyrocketing local property taxes. A judge has ruled that the current system, which relies heavily on local property taxes, is unconstitutional.
Although the proposed nursing home fee proposal died in a previous session after Gov. Rick Perry opposed it, Isett said waivers such as those granted in other states to keep the cost from being passed on to private-pay patients might make the idea more acceptable.
He also said the fee would be used to draw more Medicaid funding, which would go back to nursing homes paying the fee.
Another proposal would save $1.2 million by increasing the number of prison inmates eligible for medically recommended intensive supervision, or parole of offenders who are no longer considered a threat.
It includes a change that would allow sex offenders — who currently can't be considered for such parole — to be eligible if they are permanently incapacitated either mentally or physically.
The list includes elimination of a "teaching experience supplement" for higher education, which would save $70.5 million. The supplement was approved in 1997 as a way to get more tenured and tenure-track faculty to teach undergraduate classes, but Isett said the percentage of such faculty teaching classes instead has gone down.
"I'm going to say that some of those will be proposed to the full Legislature," Pitts said. "All of them, or most of them, I wouldn't say that."
Some lawmakers were skeptical that enough money can be found in savings and fees.
"It's very difficult," said Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, an Appropriations member, noting lawmakers must look at the effect of cuts or spending shifts.
"We're going to have to do it by raising additional revenue," she concluded. "It goes back to, 'Which tax do you like best?'"
Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, the Ways and Means vice chairman, said, "I do believe it's important to turn over every rock and stone to find savings and efficiencies that we can then redirect into making a meaningful investment in our schools."
But Villarreal said he believes the court ruling will require more than $3 billion in new school funding, and that kind of investment will require lawmakers to "come up with bigger, bolder ideas."