{"id":32627,"date":"2025-11-03T02:48:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T02:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/32627\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T02:48:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T02:48:13","slug":"craddick-highlights-transparency-west-texas-growth-in-comptroller-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/32627\/","title":{"rendered":"Craddick highlights transparency, West Texas growth in comptroller bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

BIG COUNTRY, Texas (KTAB\/KRBC<\/a>) \u2013 Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick<\/a> is one of three candidates running for Texas Comptroller. She says transparency and local growth are key to empowering the next wave of progress across West Texas.<\/p>\n

Energy fuels Abilene\u2019s future \u2014 and it\u2019s just the beginning <\/a><\/p>\n

Craddick, who began serving as railroad commissioner in 2012, says the challenges she\u2019s faced in that role have prepared her for the position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the oil and gas piece, and we\u2019re learning more and more about the rest of the state, and that\u2019s been an exciting piece for me,\u201d Craddick shared. \u201cOne of the things I started talking about that I think is really important. We pay taxes to the state, like sales taxes, but we also pay taxes locally. For the last 20 years, we haven\u2019t done what I\u2019m getting ready to tell you. I think we should do it again, which is, go in if you\u2019re getting ready to have a school board bond election, for instance, and audit your school district fiscally, financially, and say, \u2018these are where your dollars are going. This is how the dollars are being spent.\u2019 That\u2019s a lot of money you\u2019re asking us for a bond election, for instance, to spend. We want to make sure that local voters have transparency. Know where the dollars are being spent, and then they get to make the decision whether they vote for that bond or not. But I think people want to know where their dollars are going.\u201d<\/p>\n

With major developments underway in West Texas, such as a nuclear reactor project at Abilene Christian University and new AI infrastructure, Craddick said keeping communities informed is key.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s finding and making sure that there are good numbers available from the comptroller\u2019s office. If local communities want to give those tax incentives, we can help them understand how that\u2019ll affect their communities. Give them good information, and if we need to walk those communities through the process,\u201d Craddick explained. \u201cOne of the things the comptroller does that people forget. We train at that agency, the appraisers in this state. So we all get frustrated when your taxes come out, the appraisals come out. But sometimes those appraisers need better training as well, but making sure that there are good numbers available to all entities so they know how your taxes are going to be affected and what it does to you locally, I think, is very, very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abilene positioned for national role in nuclear innovation after House vote <\/a><\/p>\n

Craddick said projects like these have great potential, but success depends on building a strong foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we might get nuclear done sitting in Abilene right now as well. Real opportunity for these micro nuclear plants coming up in the next few years, too. Texas needs to continue to grow, and we want to make sure that we continue to be strong as a state. Energy is a big piece of that, but it\u2019s not the only part. We need to make sure our electricity grid is still online and that we\u2019re continuing not just to bring businesses in, but to make sure that once they get here, they want to stay here too,\u201d Craddick shared.<\/p>\n

If elected, Craddick said her first priority would be to give lawmakers a clear picture of the state\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat way they can start the budget, have a budget process, but really, even before that, we need to make sure that we\u2019re getting good budget estimates to the legislature,\u201d Craddick shared.<\/p>\n

She also plans to strengthen and streamline the audit division.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mentioned earlier that our audit division probably needs some streamlining, some training, and so that\u2019d be a division I\u2019d focus on. Look at every single piece of the agency first, because I think it\u2019s hard to audit anybody else until you\u2019ve audited yourself. But audit the agency. See who we\u2019ve got. Do we have people that we need to promote? Do we have some people that we need? Where are dollars being spent?\u201d Craddick added.<\/p>\n

An Inside Look: Abilene data center opens doors for facility tour <\/a><\/p>\n

Craddick also proposes forming a Local Government Efficiency Task Force to review budgets for cities, school districts, and special-purpose entities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe comptroller already has the authority to audit local groups, local entities, as well as state agencies. We used to do this 20 years ago. We just haven\u2019t done it in a while, and I think it\u2019s a good thing as another layer to figure out where your tax dollars are going,\u201d Craddick explained. \u201cI don\u2019t think that we should, as an agent of this statewide agency, come in and tell you what to do. I think we ought to make recommendations if there are\u2026 Do an audit of where your dollars are being spent, and how you can be more efficient? Are you buying 20 trucks when you really only need 10? Are you spending your dollars in the classroom, or are you spending them on administration? You, the local taxpayer, ought to know where your dollars are going. Once you understand, we will then post that. It\u2019s about transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Comptroller, Craddick said she would keep transparency at the forefront.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely, you disclose everything. That\u2019s part of the reality; you look at where your dollars are going. It\u2019s a policy issue for the legislature,\u201d Craddick said. \u201cThe advocacy piece from any kind of agency is, look, this is where we are. This is how your policies, that you\u2019ve that you voted on, are being implemented. This is what we are doing. Are we doing what you intended, first and foremost? If we aren\u2019t, we need help here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can Proposition 1 power the Big Country\u2019s next wave of job growth? <\/a><\/p>\n

Reflecting on her years as Railroad Commissioner, Craddick said the most important lessons she\u2019s learned are the value of a strong team and open communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to train good people and have good people, because you\u2019re only as good as the people around you, I think, first and foremost. And two, being more transparent. We have upgraded an IT program at the railroad commission very deliberately, so everybody can tell where the wells are by them or the pipelines. So being more transparent with the tax dollars you\u2019ve been given to spend is, I think, the other priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick, current Comptroller Kelly Hancock, and former State Senator Don Huffines are in the Republican primary race for Texas Comptroller.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTAB – BigCountryHomepage.com. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BIG COUNTRY, Texas (KTAB\/KRBC) \u2013 Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick is one of three candidates running for Texas Comptroller.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[21061,21059,21060,7558,27,5622,29,28,4509,375],"class_list":["post-32627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-abilene-christian-university","tag-christi-craddick","tag-railroad-commissioner","tag-tax-dollars","tag-texas","tag-texas-comptroller","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-transparency","tag-west-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}