Abbott Vows To Freeze Austin Property Rates After Police Cuts

AUSTIN, TX — The governor on Tuesday threatened to cap property tax revenue at current levels in a forceful rebuke of the Austin City Council's recent move to cut $150 million from the police budget.

"Under my plan any city that defunds police will have their property tax revenue capped at current levels," Gov. Greg Abbott wrote on his personal Twitter page after announcing the legislative plans during a press conference in Fort Worth, Texas. "Cities can’t cut law enforcement & then turn around and increase taxes on the residents they just endangered."

Flanked by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, the governor also was joined by Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, Sen. Jane Nelson, and Representatives Giovanni Capriglione, Charlie Geren, Craig Goldman and Stephanie Klick during his announcement.

Flanked by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (left) and Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen (right), Gov. Greg Abbott announces his plan to cap property tax rates in cities that make cuts to police funding on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020. Photo provided by the governor's office.

"Part of our job as state leaders is to ensure the safety and security of all Texans, and we will not allow this core function to be undermined by cities that seek to defund and dismantle law enforcement agencies that have a sworn duty to protect our communities," Abbott said in a subsequent statement. "Defunding the police puts Texans in danger and invites lawlessness into our cities, and cities that endanger their residents should not be able to turn around and raise more taxes from those same Texans."

He rallied the conservative troops to take up the matter during the next legislative session: "I strongly urge the Texas Legislature to take up this important issue next session to protect their constituents and ensure law enforcement have the resources and support they need to protect their communities."

On Twitter, Abbott said more details on his plan would be released soon. Under the governor's plan, cities that lower police budgets would not be able to increase property taxes again, he explained.

In response to a growing call to "defund police" — a movement responding to police abuse calling not for dismantling of police departments but stripping them of certain roles such as dealing with the homeless or interacting with suspects in the throes of mental crises — the Austin City Council agreed to cut $150 million in police funding on Thursday.

Related story: Austin City Council Approves $150M Cut To Police Budget

The council action comes in the midst of ongoing protests calling for police reform that were sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 after an officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. In Austin, activists calling for law enforcement changes already were galvanized a full month before following the fatal police shooting of Michael Ramos, 42, who was killed despite being unarmed after a brief confrontation with police outside a South Austin apartment complex.

Even while other major Texas cities have increased police funding despite the growing calls for defunding from members of Black Lives Matter and other groups, Austin last week voted to slash the $442 million police budget with cuts, including:

• $20 million primarily taken from cadet classes and overtime in a move to reinvest in permanent supportive housing and services, EMS for COVID-19 response, family violence shelter and protection, violence prevention, workforce development and a range of other programs.

• Transfer of police functions (and related funding of nearly $80 million) out of the department over the course of the fiscal year. These include Forensics Sciences, Communications/911 call center, strategic support, and internal affairs.

• Create a Reimagine Safety Fund to divert almost $50 million from APD toward alternative forms of public safety and community support, to be delivered from outside APD, as determined through the year-long reimagining process.

Greg Casar was the first Austin City Council member reacting to Abbott's plan: “Today, a group of all-white members of our state government, including Gov. Greg Abbott, attacked the Black Lives Matter movement," Casar said in a prepared statement. "Gov. Abbott could have held a press conference to express his support for the George Floyd Act. Instead, he held a press conference to fear-monger and lie in order to distract from the fact that 10,000 Texans have now died from COVID-19."

Casar noted Abbott's actions on other matters heightened in urgency amid the coronavirus:

"Abbott has failed to expand Medicaid and provide healthcare to those who need it most. He is putting teachers and families at great risk by forcing schools to re-open without adequate protections and support. Abbott can’t even be bothered to call a special session to provide much-needed economic relief to millions of Texans who are being neglected by his administration during COVID-19."

Casar noted the irony of Abbott's stance on the Austin City Council budget moves after his own recent cuts to the Texas Department of Public Safety during the fiscal year 2018-19 budget process: "In his press conference today, Abbott said 'defunding law enforcement is never the answer,' yet the governor himself requested a 4 percent cut to DPS recently, which amounts to some $50 million — more than double that of Austin’s own immediate reallocation last week," Casar said.

Casar noted the moves made by the council were in direct response to calls from its citizenry. During each council session mulling the police budget, council members first heard from hundreds of residents who signed up to voice support for police budget cuts — a process taking several hours before the body was able to proceed with action items well into the night or wee hours the following morning.

"The message from the tens of thousands of Austinites who made their voices heard in this year’s budget process was clear: We must decrease our over-reliance on police to handle all of our complex public safety challenges and instead reinvest in domestic violence shelters, mental health first responders, and more," Casar said. "That’s what our city council did — and it’s exactly the work we’re committed to continue."

Austin Mayor Steve Adler responded to Abbott's threat during a 4 p.m. news conference. He insisted the budget cuts were not punitive or rebuke of the local police force that he praised, but a redefining of the law enforcement function. He accused the governor of "trading in fear," and rejected the characterization that $150 million was cut from the police budget.

The $49 million "bucket" taken from the Austin Police Department constitutes tasks that can be viewed in a reimagined way, Adler said. Graphic provided by the mayor's office.

Instead, Adler said the cuts amounted to $20 million, or 4 percent of the budget — roughly the same amount Abbott slashed from the Texas Department of Public Safety in the last fiscal year. The council reductions — in "buckets" holding $20 million, $80 million and $49 million in budgeted police funds — affect unfilled positions without the need for layoffs and transfers some tasks historically handled by police to civilian-led functions in a move valued at $80 million. He said the third, $50 million bucket also should not be characterized as cuts.

Another $80 million reduction falls under the "decoupling" category examining functions that could be transferred to civilian-led departments. Graphic courtesy of the mayor's office.

"These are not things removed from the police department," Adler said. "In fact, there was no decision made as to if, whether or not, these functions should be changed. But we have started the work already taking a look at those functions. Does it need to be a sworn officer with a gun who's taking noise and sound measurements downtown outside of clubs?" he said in referencing one task undertaken by police. No function was ended, no function was reduced. The concil voted to not take a penny from any of these functions."

Genuine budget cuts of roughly $21 million call for bolstering other city functions currently under police oversight. Graphic courtesy of the mayor's office.

The reductions made will not compromise safety, Adler assured. Police response time also would not be affected by concil's directives, Adler added, noting one move that would integrate 9-1-1 services with the city's 3-1-1 information line.

"Safety is our primary concern, keeping our community safe, and that means safety for all," the mayor continued. "It's not just about reforming and then changing and training, because Minneapolis was doing a lot of both," he said, referencing the city where Floyd died while in police custody that served as the catalyst for protests. "It's about redefining public safety into a conversation that centers on the safety of the most marginalized. It's recognizing that public safety is also about health care delivery and delivery of opportunity."

All told, the reductions in police expenditures represent some 34 percent of the department's overall budget. That funds will be channeled into other functions, such as the hiring of additional paramedics and mental health response team members. The transferred monies also would be used to bolster social services, housing for victims of violence and resources for the city's homeless population.

"It's about reimagining," Adler said. "It's about trust. Its about Black Lives Matter," he added, using the reference to make an analogy with the disproportionate rate of Hispanics afflicted with the new coronavirus in Austin in alerting to needed fixes in the way things are done by the city. "If this virus taught us anything as we have stayed at home watching the disproporaionate impact is that we have been doing something wrong for a long period of time and we need to fix it."

Contrasting Abbott's perceived vision of Austin, Adler noted the city's successes — landing a huge Tesla automaking plant and the coveted U.S. Army Futures Command to name two big economic development plums — as evidence of municipal exceptionalism, he suggested as he categorized the state capital as "...a beautiful city that takes care of its people. We need not all be the same," he said of cities often pitted as obstacles to state machinations or dominant political ideology. "Our state should be celebrating and learning from our cities," Adler said, calling municipalities as incubators for innovation. "Together, our cities help make the state stronger."

This article originally appeared on the Austin Patch