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State Rep. Jared Patterson outlines major state budget items including $2.5B water appropriation and $51B in property tax relief
Summary
State Rep. Jared Patterson summarized highlights from the recent Texas legislative session for Prosper, citing large new appropriations for water, a record commitment to property tax relief, changes to school funding, and a new law restricting certain foreign purchases of Texas land.
State Rep. Jared Patterson, whose district covers the western third of Prosper, gave a legislative update to the Prosper Town Council on Sept. 23, summarizing major actions from the most recent session of the Texas Legislature.
Patterson said the session focused heavily on water and property-tax relief. "We added $2,500,000,000 in water for this biennium," he told the council, saying that amount is intended to leverage a proposed constitutional amendment that would authorize roughly $20,000,000,000 in water investment over the next 20 years if voters approve it in November. He said the session also devoted roughly $51,000,000,000 to property-tax relief, which he described as the largest state share for property-tax relief in U.S. history.
Patterson said the property-tax package would raise homestead exemptions for school taxes and increase exemptions for seniors and disabled homeowners if the ballot measures pass. He described other changes aimed at reducing school maintenance-and-operations (M&O) tax rates and increasing the business personal property exemption from $2,500 to $125,000.
The representative also listed education and school finance changes included in the budget. Patterson said the Legislature provided $8,500,000,000 in new annual money for public schools and that Prosper ISD received an estimated $17,200,000 per year in new funding. He described a new fixed-cost allotment that funds certain district costs based on enrollment rather than average daily attendance.
On security and land-ownership policy, Patterson said the Legislature appropriated about $3,300,000,000 for border security and passed a law that took effect Sept. 1 restricting purchases of Texas land by agents or citizens of certain foreign nations; he described authority for the governor to expand the list of restricted nations and said the law allows investigation and divestment to prevent hostile foreign ownership near military installations.
Patterson closed by describing his committee assignments and thanking the council. He answered brief procedural questions about the number of constitutional amendments on the November ballot and said there are 17 proposed amendments this cycle.
Patterson's remarks were a presentation and did not include any formal council action.
