Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, June 22, 2010,
Item 20
20. Consider and take appropriate action on local tax policy working group recommendations on group's charge, membership and reporting schedule. In the backup it seems this team has gotten straight to work
>> [laughter] considerable information here.
>> the court has the backup that we got to you last week on the suggestion -- the court asked us to come back today and -- and make a recommendation on -- on members of -- of the working group. The committee did meet and we did come up with -- with four additional -- four additional outside participants being billy hamilton, joe trash, dick lavine, bryan rodgers. Since that time that we turned in the -- in the -- in the backup, there had been a suggestion by one of the working member that's perhaps we ought to include a representative from the hospital district since the commissioners court actually has -- has -- has jurisdiction over those exemptions, also. I did -- i did contact the hospital district, and john stevens said that in the event the commissioners court would like a representative to serve on this working group, that he would be glad to serve. So ... With the potential addition of a representative from the hospital district, the working group would -- would submit those four names that i have -- that i have listed in the backup. To join us as a working group.
>> mr. Hamilton, mr. Thrash, mr. Rodgers have all expressed their willingness to serve. Mr. La screen is out of the -- la vine is out of the office in the end of the month, but i think it's highly probable that he would be wanting to participate.
>> okay. On the charge i have had some comments, i must admit that -- that we met very quickly during lunch or our meeting and the turn around time on comments on the working charge of the committee, there have been a couple of comments come in after i submitted the backup and we had met with the suggestion that perhaps we could delay the finalization of the charge. Until our next meeting when we have the outside -- the outside experts come in and -- and kind of look at the charge. I know at the meeting we had some comments and we have tried to incorporate those, but there have been some comments since that and it -- it's the pleasure of the court -- at the pleasure of the court i will be glad to bring it back after the next meeting or --
>> when is the next meeting?
>> when is our next meeting?
>> yeah.
>> the next meeting is july the 15th, i believe it is.
>> july 15th.
>> this -- this, as you are aware, this working group is right in the middle of the heaviest session of planning budget's, you know, dropping the preliminary budget on july the -- 26th. However, the committee was -- was optimistic that we could get you back a report on the proposed charges 1 through 3 by september the 15th and then charge 4 by november the 1st and charge 5 by february the 1st. So -- so i -- i apologize this -- that the timing on some of this right now is -- is the time that -- that i can -- work on it. Is cfer limited until we -- kind of limited until we drop the preliminary budget on july the 26th, at which time my schedule will open up more. I don't know if in fact we need -- if the court would like a faster -- the time frames, i would be willing to have a co-chair that could run it in the event that i couldn't be at the -- at the committee meetings. So -- so that's up to -- to the court. I guess the -- the items that i would like you to take -- to take action on today would be actually formalizing the working group, including -- including at your pleasure adding potentially john stevens from the hospital district. Or you could say add a representative from the hospital district, i did not have a chance to talk with trish, but did i talk with john.
>> [one moment please for change in captioners] the local tax policy 2010 is very enlightening.
>> and the tax -- dusty and his staff have been working diligently on that and we will continue to report to the court as we have draft documents prior to the timelines that we've established. I think they've done an outstanding job in a very short period of time of identifying those elements that can mitigate some of the tax burden on low income people.
>> it's really an -- it really does represent an outstanding amount of work, particularly breaking out the demographics on those who are 30% or more burdened in housing costs between renters and homeowners. Really tremendous work.
>> thank you.
>> your request is that we approve the recommended membership including the addition of john stevens. Hold off on the charge?
>> i would ask that you hold off until we have one more meeting, just to clarify some issues that have come up since then.
>> okay. Commissioner eckhardt?
>> i would move that we formally approve the establishment of the team with the inclusion of the four names and a health care district representative after speaking with trish young to make sure that john can serve. And that we reset the consideration of the charge until after the july 15th meeting.
>> second. Discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Thank y'all very much.
>> very exciting.
>> leroy, that co-chair idea, i guess we ought to address it at the next opportunity also.
>> that's fine. Okay.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 1:35 PM
