LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Gov. Greg Abbott brought his pitch for the future of the Texas economy to Lubbock on Friday.
Abbott hosted a roundtable discussion with local business owners in southwest Lubbock. While affordability was the main subject, the governor started off highlighting his guidelines for AI data centers. He said Texas now has the most strict requirements for them to protect rural communities.
“Rural Texas is different than other parts of Texas. People live in rural Texas for a lot of different reasons. One thing most people in rural Texas don’t want is a data center popping up in their back yard. One of my conditions for these AI data centers is they cannot build them in neighborhoods or rural communities that do not want them,” Abbott said.
Abbott also addressed property taxes.
“We have to limit the spending of any property taxing jurisdiction. Number two: your property taxes should never go up without you having a say in it. Anytime there’s an attempt to raise your property taxes there must be a vote on that and require a two-thirds vote margin before your taxes can go up,” Abbott said.
Gov. Abbott called for a lower cap on how much property values can rise each year and suggested reducing how often homes are appraised.
Abbott suggested one appraisal every five years to reduce how frequently a home’s value changes.
After the meeting, the head of economic development for the city of Wolfforth said the state has to find a balance between growth and affordability.
Danielle Sweat, city of Wolfforth(KCBD Video)
“Municipalities really do depend on property tax and sales tax, that’s how we fund our police and fire, how we have public works to make sure your water mains are not breaking, so we know the citizens want lower cost, so whatever happens, whatever decisions are made, we have to figure out how to work with it,” said Danielle Sweat, city of Wolfforth.
Budget shortfalls cited
City and county leaders, as well as school districts, are facing budget shortfalls. They attribute many of those losses to the Legislature’s work to lower property taxes for homes and businesses.
Abbott highlighted the state’s $8 billion investment in public education last year. Schools say it’s not nearly enough.
The legislative session starts in January.
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