OPINION
By HC Pct. 2 Commissioner ADRIAN GARCIA
In a recent media interview, Commissioner Garcia expressed opposition to Judge Hidalgo’s Proposal for a 1 cent tax increase to pay for child care programs in Harris County.
Harris County, TX — An interview this week with Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Garcia revealed why he will not be supporting Judge Lina Hidalgo’s proposed tax increase. In addition to his comments featured in the article, Garcia said the following:
Video clips of the quotes below can be found here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/
1tZadfZGyeUFLfJ_4pu6piczcm3VWOnjL/view).
Why Garcia is a “no” on this plan: “Before I go to the taxpayers, to ask them for any more of their money out of their pocketbooks, to ask them to strain their household checkbooks and their budgets. I have to have a plan. And just because the Judge thinks she has an idea and thinks we ought to fall in line with it – that’s not governance. That’s not how it works.” “This is not what you go to the taxpayers with when you’re asking them to strain their pocketbooks
even more.”
On the need for childcare in Harris County: “Everybody knows that I talk about the need to support public education and the need to support early childhood education. And that’s why I constructed a model that could be something that we could build on. Something that didn’t cost the taxpayers any more money and something that has had an impact in my precinct.”
Why this “plan” is not right now: “You don’t do this with a few months before you go to taxpayers. You know, Travis County, I think, worked for two years, to put their package together, to think through their process, to listen to
their stakeholders and to their respective community. “It takes Months to try to propose a brand-new tax for a new system that currently does not exist and is currently not a part of Harris County government. This is not the way to do it. This is not the time to do it.”
Critiques of the lack of a thorough plan put forth by the Judge’s Office: “The most glaring thing is that there’s a bunch of X’s, where the dollar amounts should be. So, there again, this seems to be a half-baked idea without a whole lot of research and study.”
Garcia’s suggestion for how to move forward: “We want to make sure that we ever do something like this, that we do it, that it’s done right. That it does have an impact and that everybody can be proud of.”
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