North Texas leaders are increasingly worried that millions in proposed state budget cuts ordered by leaders in Austin will undercut one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s top priorities: law and order.
Officials in Dallas and Tarrant counties believe that without public safety grants they have long relied on to supplement their sheriffs' departments, court systems and jail, they’ll be forced to scale back.
Or worse, they say, it could mean tax increases.
The proposed cuts are part of an effort by Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen to right-size the state’s budget after it was hit by the economic downturn from the coronavirus pandemic. State departments are also in the midst of preparing their budget proposals for the state Legislature to consider next year. The 2021 legislative session, still months away, is already forecast to be one of the most unusual and high-stakes in modern memory.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who has sparred with Abbott over several issues this year, said the cuts to public safety grants are disingenuous after the governor has threatened to penalize cities that slash police spending.
“The governor is threatening to freeze city and county revenues while simultaneously demanding 5% cuts at the state level,” Jenkins said. “How is that not defunding police? My question is whether the governor is committed to keeping those grants. If he won’t, will he support property tax increases so we don’t defund the police — so that he doesn’t defund the police?”
Abbott, echoing a nationwide effort by Republican leaders, has aggressively pushed back against the rallying call to “defund the police.”
Abbott’s office suggested the local panic about specific cuts was premature. In a statement, his spokeswoman reiterated the state’s commitment to public safety.
“The government’s top priority must always be the health and safety of our communities,” said Nan Tolson, Abbott’s deputy press secretary. “That is why Gov. Abbott and leaders of the Legislature have instructed all agencies to ensure public health and safety are not compromised by any proposed budget reductions.”
The debate over police funding was cast in a new light this summer after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed after Minneapolis police kneeled on him for nearly eight minutes. City councils in large cities across the county — including Dallas, Austin and San Antonio — have wrestled with how to respond.
Activists and police critics have pushed for cities to shift money from police and invest it in other services and programs that would improve the quality of life for Black and Latino communities, which have historically been underserved by cities.
Abbott said he’ll support legislation expected to be introduced in January that would punish cities if they cut police funding, including freezing property taxes — forever.
Despite signaling an openness to reduce police funding, the Dallas City Council this week passed a budget that sent the department more money. And while Jenkins created a countywide committee to develop alternatives to policing, no city that participated has moved to cut its law enforcement budgets.
Only one of the grants highlighted by Dallas or Tarrant counties would directly impact funding for law enforcement officers. Grants under consideration for cuts would hurt other parts of the criminal justice system.
Among the proposed cuts local officials are worried about:
- Department of Motor Vehicles grants that that help pay for law enforcement officers conducting border and port security operations and combating use of stolen vehicles in human trafficking.
- Texas Juvenile Justice Department grants that aim to keep children out of the justice system, and treatment and rehabilitation programs for those who are in the system.
- A grant from Texas A&M Forest Service that helps pay for rural volunteer firefighters.
Worry over the unintended consequences of the state budget cuts is bipartisan.
Republican Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley echoed Jenkins' concern and said he was incensed over the governor’s rhetoric.
“My frustration is he’s spending a lot of time and effort talking about things he can’t accomplish and telling local elected officials how to represent their folks,” Whitley said. “He could be giving money to those local governments to help small businesses hurt by the shutdown.”
Whitley said between proposed cuts to the state’s indigent defense program and a surge in state prisoners being held at the county jail, Tarrant County stands to lose $42 million alone.
That money, he said, could be used to prop up more mental health services or a slight tax cut.
“We could spend it on a whole lot more mental health so that these folks don’t end up in jail in the first place,” he said.
Concern over these grants opens a new front in criticism over how Abbott has handled the coronavirus pandemic, economic downturn and racial reckoning. Democratic state lawmakers earlier this month raised concern that Abbott is sitting on billions of federal dollars meant to help the state fight the pandemic — money that must be used by the end of the year or returned to Washington.
And it is yet another episode in an ongoing feud between Austin and local leaders over local control.
“I don’t understand why they think the citizens of Texas are idiots when they elect us, but geniuses when they elect them,” Whitley said. “The voters can turn us out of office if they don’t like what we’re doing.”
Tolson, in her statement, said Abbott believes now is the time for the government to share in the economic burden Texans feel.
“Apparently, these two judges disagree and believe they are exempt from making the same tough decisions that many of their constituents are making,” she said. “Regardless, both Dallas and Tarrant counties have received hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government that can be used for small business grants, among other things."
