July 31, 2025      4:44 PM

During Hill Country disaster response hearing, local leaders say funding should be more flexible than the state has allowed

“Counties should not be faced with the funding of alert systems through local property taxes, which is basically our only form of income, and which have been capped or reduced through property tax relief over the years”

Legislators on the Select Disaster Preparedness & Flooding Committee traveled to Kerrville today to hear from elected officials and others who were at the center of the storm when the July 4^th Central Texas floods killed 180 people, ripping apart families and calling local and state leadership into question.

Despite the brow beating of local officials, one clear takeaway was that flooding simply happens, and emergency response infrastructure is woefully lacking in rural Texas. There was also ample pushback to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Speaker Dustin Burrows’ policy priority over the years of restricting the way local governments can raise and spend revenue. That’s just as the Senate prepares – as we told you first yesterday at Quorum Report – to further rein in cities and counties with a tighter tax cap under the proposed language in Senate Bill 9.

Among the most common solutions proposed by lawmakers has been installing louder -and more – sirens in those areas.

By James Russell

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