Prioritizing what is and is not a city function is nuanced. One focus of mine would be to strive to minimize the increase in taxes from the City. Currently, the City passed a budget that would increase the average homeowner taxes by $77.

An intellectually honest conversation on property taxes must include a discussion surrounding school district taxes. Individuals in AISD jurisdiction, will collectively send over $500 million back to Texas to go to other school district’s public education. These taxes have been the biggest driver of increased taxes.

In addition to looking at what is and is not a city function, I will also see if others can do certain tasks done by the police department and other departments. As an example, mental health calls that the police respond to. I want to see look into a way to possibly have someone else respond to these calls and have the police department focus on more essential police functions. This could result in savings in the budget.