Abbott: Proposes cities that de-fund police have property tax revenues frozen

FORT WORTH — Gov. Greg Abbott announced a legislative proposal Tuesday, where any city that defunds police departments will have its property tax revenue frozen at its current rate. Abbott, House Speaker Dennis Bonnen and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick spoke out against the Austin City Council’s decision to chop $150 million from the police budget during the news conference in Fort Worth. Speaker Bonnen spoke to KTBB after the news conference, “What it simply goes back to is the horrific-ness that is going on in our country today. We have socialist politicians who believe that police are to be used for political cannon fire. And the Governor, and the Lieutenant Governor, and I stood up today [Tuesday] and said we will not stand by and watch that happen in Texas.”

Bonnen continued, “I think it’s extraordinary leadership by Governor Abbott, because it is unprecedented. It’s unprecedented for the liberal insanity coming out of Austin to cut 150 million dollars out of their police budget and then for the Governor to so quickly and rapidly to step into that issue and lay out a proposal to disincentives any city in the future from wanting to defund their police. It’s very offensive. Mayor Adler, the Mayor of Austin in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 made different statements in trying to kill property tax reform so that tax payers would be better protected from cities hiding behind increased values in their tax rate to get more revenues; said the would be forced to reduce their police force and that would be ‘risky, dangerous and unsafe.’ So all he sees in the police department is a political ploy for whatever aggressive agenda he is pushing for that day. In 16′, 17′, and 18′ his police department is what he hid behind, so that he could keep raising property taxes and getting as much revenue off of them without anyone ever raising the question. Now, he wants to have this socialist, liberal, agenda of de-funding the police, he is using them for that mechanism.”