Nueces County commissioners unanimously oppose House Bill 19, authorize judge to sign joint opposition letter

The Nueces County Commissioners Court voted unanimously May 5 to oppose Texas House Bill 19 and authorized the county judge to sign a joint letter with the City of Corpus Christi opposing the bill.

County officials and outside advisors told the court the bill could curtail local borrowing and narrow options used for emergency and infrastructure financing. During public comment, Ernest Garza, a local CPA, urged the court to oppose the bill, saying, "I'm here to support you again for this opposition house bill 19" and warning that "This bill will limit your payments to 20% over the average tax collections of the past 3 years." Garza said the cap would compound pressure on maintenance-and-operations budgets already constrained by the 3.5% property-tax rate limit on the operations portion of the tax.

Court-appointed advisers and outside…