Governor Greg Abbott Aims to Freeze Property Taxes in Cities that Defund Their Police Departments
You have probably heard the phrase defund the police in past few months. Governor Abbott is clearly not a fan and in a press conference today had a plan of his own.
Governor Greg Abbott was joined by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Speaker Dennis Bonnen and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price for the press conference addressing the defunding of police departments in cities across the state. Last week, the Austin City Council voted to take 21 million dollars from the police department and move it to other social service programs in their city.
The defund the police department movement has grown throughout the past couple of months and it's clear that Governor Abbott does not want it growing anymore in Texas. “To maintain the safety that our communities deserve today we are announcing a legislative proposal that will discourage defunding law enforcement in Texas,” he said during the afternoon press conference. “Any city that defunds police departments will have its property tax revenue frozen at the current level. They will never be able to increase property tax revenue again if they defund police.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said, “When I think about what Austin has done… had any other mayor of any other city in Texas been as irresponsible as they have been they would have chaos and their citizens would be in danger. It is only because of our DPS force of state troopers, hundreds that came to the aid and recuse of APD, that Austin didn’t turn into a potential Seattle or Portland.”
We will see if any other cities decide to defund their police departments after Governor Abbott's press conference today.