The two of you can do that by following the example set by Cagle and Ramsy a few years ago.
The two Republican members of the Harris County Commissioners Court boycotted Tuesday’s meeting, blocking passage of the proposed budget.
By not showing up to Tuesday’s meeting, Jack Cagle and Tom Ramsey triggered a state law that requires the county’s tax rate revert to the “no new revenue rate,” which is lower than the proposed rate by the county administrator.
In a press release, Cagle said that he used a “longstanding state law today to force some badly needed property tax relief through Commissioners Court.”
Communities face difficult decisions about how to continue paying for private police protection, maintain swimming pools, or preserve the neighborhood as it has been for decades.
The community pool in a Meyerland-area neighborhood has served as a refuge from Houston’s oppressive summer heat and a gathering space for the community since first opening in the 1960s. But the rising cost of Barkley Square’s additional constable patrols might soon force its closure, according to members of the civic club.
Constables and deputy constables are getting raises soon, and the amount neighborhoods pay for extra patrols could rise by as much as 24% to help cover the cost, Harris County leaders have said. Residents of the 200-home neighborhood near Meyerland are in a heated debate – should the neighborhood’s civic club continue upkeep on the pool, or should they tear it up and sell the land to afford rising contract costs with Precinct 5?
The reason that many of those neighborhoods can keep those private patrols is that neighborhoods like where I live pay county taxes just like those neighborhoods, but either cannot afford or do not want to pay for something that should be provided for the money we pay in taxes.
So, Hidalgo and Ellis do the right thing for the community on the day that the budget will be voted on; they don’t show up, following the example of Ramsey and Cagle. The constables and other police agencies already hate you, so you will not be changing that hate to love by showing up.