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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRes 18-45 Adopting Town's Legislative Priorites for 2019 Session TOWN OF WESTLAKE RESOLUTION 18-45 A RESOLUTION BY THE TOWN COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF WESTLAKE, TEXAS, APPROVING THE TOWN'S LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES FOR THE 2019 TEXAS LEGISLATIVE SESSION. WHEREAS, the Texas Legislative will convene in regular session in January 2019; and, WHEREAS, the Westlake Town Council (Town Council) recognizes its role as a local government governing body includes monitoring and providing input to our legislative delegation and other legislators regarding the numerous bills filed during this session as to how they may impact the Town of Westlake (Town); and, WHEREAS, the Town Council has determined that preparing legislative priorities is useful in achieving that end, as well as providing guidance to Town Staff on proposed legislation as it pertains to positions the Town may wish to take on various proposed bills; and, WHEREAS, the Town Council also recognizes that sharing these legislative priorities with our Legislative Delegation and other legislators (as deemed appropriate) is helpful in establishing dialogue and communication with them during the Legislative Session; and WHEREAS, the Town Council finds that the passage of this Resolution is in the best interest of the citizens of Westlake. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE TOWN COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF WESTLAKE,TEXAS: SECTION 1: That, all matters stated in the Recitals hereinabove are found to be true and correct and are incorporated herein by reference as if copied in their entirety. SECTION 2: That, the Town Council of the Town of Westlake, Texas, by approval of this resolution, hereby approves the attached Exhibit "A" to this resolution setting out the Town's legislative priorities for the 2019 Texas Legislative Session. SECTION 3: If any portion of this Resolution shall, for any reason, be declared invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall not affect the remaining provisions hereof and the Council hereby determines that it would have adopted this Resolution without the invalid provision. Resolution 18-45 Page 1 of 6 SECTION 4: That this resolution shall become effective from and after its date of passage. PASSED AND APPROVED ON THIS 26TH DAY OF NOVEMBER,2018. ATTEST: Z", Lailra L. Wheat, Mayor �h�dwa '771 n--S7e,k iL z,a KelO Edw , Town Secretar OF WES Thomas E. Bremer, own Manager APPROVED AS TO FO ♦r y L. tanto o , To Attorney Resolution 18-45 Page 2 of 6 Exhibit A TOWN OF WESTLAKE LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES FOR THE 2019 TEXAS STATE LEGISLATIVE SESSION The Town of Westlake (Town) recognizes that as a local government, it is subordinate to the Texas State Government (State) and, as a general law city, may only operate in the manner permitted by State law. The Town further recognizes that its role as a local government must be one of effective service delivery and local regulation in order to meet the responsibilities delegated and entrusted to it by the State. This delegation by the State is decades old and represents a trust between State and local government. In addition, it reflects the long held understanding between State and local governments,that local government plays a key role in complimenting and advancing the State's quality of life, progress, and economic well-being. To provide guidance to Town Staff, who on behalf of the Town monitors bill filings during a legislative session(the Session), the Town Council provides the following positions to take with our legislative delegation regarding legislation proposed during the 2019 Session: Support Education • The Town supports legislation which further strengthens and empowers the State to additionally fund charter schools and to continue to allow Texans to choose charter schools as the preferred public school option for their child. • The Town supports legislation which increases State funding of teacher pay in Texas. • The Town supports legislation which increases State public education funding on a per student basis through State public education funding programs such as the Foundation School Program (FSP) and the CET. • The Town supports legislation that would require any proposed public education policy, initiative, and/or legislation to be first rigorously reviewed by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Legislature's Budget Board. This review must identify, prior to filing of said legislation or pursuit of said policy, specific quantifiable, demonstrable, and measurable gains that will be achieved in students' educational outcomes by the imposition of any new public education policy, initiative, and/or legislation, nor should it impose additional administrative burdens on school faculty and administrators. Finance • The Town supports the State's current"Truth-in-Taxation Law" as it represents a time- tested and effective balance between transparency in property taxation, stewardship of property taxes, the ability to limit property tax increases, as well as a city's ability to target new property tax revenues for projects that have been identified as a local priority. • Simplifies the effective tax rate calculation for notice purposes only,provided the legislation would have no effect on the underlying effective tax rate and rollback tax rate calculations themselves. Resolution 18-45 Page 3 of 6 • The Town supports legislation preventing the State from imposing new unfunded mandates. • The Town supports legislation that provides additional tools to local authorities for providing tax relief to the community, as appropriate for local conditions. Governance • The Town supports bills that strengthen local governance and high quality municipal service delivery. • The Town supports legislation that improves transparency to its citizens, including use of electronic media for public notices and other types of legal notices in lieu of print media. • The Town supports legislation that would provide municipalities with a mechanism to deal with dissolution of special districts in their boundaries. Transportation • The Town supports legislation that enhances transportation funding, and thus mobility, State-wide. • The Town supports legislation that provides for required improvement to contract administration by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) that would create savings for additional transportation projects (incentive contracts versus calendar day contracts), as well as reduce project construction time, thus reducing adverse impact on businesses located adjacent to TxDOT construction projects. • The Town supports legislation that requires TxDOT to notify any local government in which it has a planned or actual construction project to provide that local government with the opportunity to review and provide input on said project plans prior to completion of said plans and bid letting, and, to further provide to the local government in which the project is located, notice of bid dates for that project as well as the date and place of the pre-construction conference. Oppose Education • The Town opposes legislation which reduces funding for public schools in Texas. • The Town opposes legislation tying State funding to school performance goals. • The Town opposes legislation that reduces, through new State imposed limitations, a charter Board's ability to make decisions for the charter school it governs. Finance • The Town opposes any legislations which moves to replace or alter the current property tax system including, but not limited to, placing a cap on property tax rates, capping appraisal value increases, or lowers the rollback threshold or the rollback rate at which an election is triggered; Resolution 18-45 Page 4 of 6 • The Town opposes any legislation which inhibits a local governments current ability to issue debt or modifies the current ad valorem system. • The Town opposes legislation limiting local government's current economic development options. o This includes restricting funds from stadiums. o This includes restricting tax abatements. • The Town opposes legislation that requires local government to serve as the collection point and remitter (to the State) of new State fees and permits, and it opposes legislation that eliminates or reduces existing local government funding sources without providing a replacement funding source. • The Town opposes legislation that restricts a municipality's ability to impose and collect municipal impact fees from new developments. • The Town opposes legislation that imposes any requirement to raise current State fees on local fines. • The Town opposes legislation that imposes new fees that result in the City collecting funds on behalf of the State. • The Town opposes legislation that lowers the rollback threshold or the rollback rate at which an election is triggered. • The Town opposes legislation that establishes new exemptions from or diminishes the City's ability to collect sales or property taxes, or municipal fees, results in a significant reduction to the City's tax base; or, restricts the City's ability to issue debt as a means of funding its capital improvement program, or imposes unnecessary and costly burdens on the taxpayers to issue debt. Governance • The Town opposes legislation which dictates which sex can use which bathroom, as this is a local, not State issue. • The Town opposes legislation dictating what can be done with local property, including but not limited to any monuments, statues, lights, or other technology. • The Town opposes legislation pre-empting local governments on tree preservation. • The Town opposes legislation pre-empting local governments ability to regulate short term rentals. • The Town opposes legislation combining the roles of appraisal district directors with that of locally elected officials. • The Town opposes legislation transferring municipal elections onto a partisan basis. • The Town opposes legislation further restricting local government tree preservation ordinances. • The Town opposes legislation further preempting municipalities ability to regulate or not regulate small cell nodes. • The Town opposes legislation or rulings from the State or federal agencies that further preempts cities' abilities to make decisions for themselves. Resolution 18-45 Page 5 of 6 • Erodes local land use authority by restricting the ability of cities to zone or rezone properties within its boundaries; • Restricts a city's ability to adopt or amend zoning regulations, or otherwise creates a property right in a zoning classification; • Preempts the city from adopting development regulations it deems necessary for the preservation of the city's quality of life (e.g., tree preservation); and/or, Transportation • The Town opposes any legislation which restricts local autonomy for transportation decisions, especially toll roads. • The Town opposes legislation which prevents cities from adopting red light camera ordinances. • The Town opposes legislation that further weakens the ability of a local government, on behalf of its residents and taxpayers, to control its rights-of-ways, streets, alleys, and easements. Resolution 18-45 Page 6 of 6