Economic development is a major concern to Milam County, especially with the shutdown of most of Alcoa’s Rockdale operations.
Ginger Watkins, Cameron’s economic development director, said given the current economic environment and the recent historic loss of jobs in this county, programs that target rural counties and municipalities in the areas of workforce development, small business/entrepreneurship and industrial development are fundamental.
“We must be able to provide the resources to individuals and businesses to develop the job skills needed to both enable the retention, expansion and attraction of businesses,” Mrs. Watkins said.
Workforce development resources in Texas are excellent and Milam County is blessed with the best staffed work force center in the state, Mrs. Watkins said.
“The local workforce office and its staff are essential to the future of our economy as are the programs and resources available for skills development through our partnership with Temple College,” she said. “Legislation to continue and enhance these services will be critical to our economic wellbeing.”
Small-business and entrepreneurial support is another area where legislative action specific to rural areas is key, Mrs. Watkins said.
For example, dedicating some part of the Texas Enterprise Fund to benefit small business development in rural areas could have a significant impact. Likewise, providing dedicated resources to attract and retain industry in rural counties would be indispensable, she said.
In support of attracting industry, as well as small business, programs that will enable rural counties to expand and enhance telecommunications infrastructure could directly impact the area’s ability to attract many industries, she said. It is common to see industry prospects require redundancy in many services from power to telecommunications.
To be competitive in efforts to attract business and existing, robust infrastructure would be a differentiating factor, Mrs. Watkins said.
Milam County Judge Frank Summers said he would like the Legislature to stop mandating programs the state is not willing to fund, meaning local governments must pick up the tab.
“There needs to be some way that the state is prevented from passing costs of programs they implement down to the local level,” Summers said.
“Indigent health is one. Milam County spends around $500,000 per year on the state-mandated program.”
Additionally, the state utilizes county tax dollars to supplement the state budget such as the 10 percent requirement of right-of-way purchase for state highways, Summers said.
“If you look at the schools they would have benefited from an unfunded-mandate amendment as well,” Summers said. “Since the 1950s state funds for education have dropped from around 65 percent of the total to 35 percent and the local land owners that pay taxes have picked up the tab.”
County officials will be spending a lot of time through May working with counterparts from across the state “to see that we get legislation passed that will work for the counties and work to prevent legislation that will not work for the counties,” Summers said.
One of the big issues during the upcoming session will be taxes, Summers said.
“I am not sure what the state will, or for that matter is willing to do about the taxes, but we do want to be sure that it does not further increase the tax burden on local taxpayers,” Summers said. “The upcoming year could cause havoc with the ad valorem tax system in Texas.”
Decreased housing values will result in decreased funding for schools cities and counties across the state. With a depressed economy the state will also be looking at decreased revenue for the next biennium. If there was ever a time or stimulus for our state leaders to come to an agreement on tax reform, this is it, Summers said.
Cameron Mayor David Barkemeyer’s also is concerned with well-meaning, but impractical state mandates that could cause budgetary problems for municipalities. For example, one proposal would require cities to install diesel-powered pumps at all sewerage lift stations across town so waste water services would continue in the event of a power failure.
Additionally, Milam County residents should keep track of water issues. The Texas Water Development Board is expected to pursue state funding to begin condemnation of land at several sites in the state to develop surface water resources. Two Milam County reservoirs are on the list, Barkemeyer said.
