County commissioners approve tax rate election to raise $75M for child care

The Travis County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to place a tax rate increase on the November ballot that could generate $75 million per year to improve child care services throughout the area.

If approved, the money would be used to increase access to child care and after-school and summer programming activities, which have been found to be severely lacking in roughly a dozen child care “deserts” around Austin. Strategies developed by the Children’s Funding Project Work Group and Andy Roddick Foundation forecast the money would create nearly 1,900 new slots for infants and toddlers up to age 3 from low-income households, and nearly 3,900 new after-school and summer programming slots for school-age youth.

The funding would also increase the number and quality of providers for those services.

The unanimous approval will allow voters to decide on the proposed levy of 2.5 cents per $100 of taxable property value, which would increase the county’s total tax rate to $0.344445 cents per $100.

Commissioners began discussing the possible tax rate election in May with the passage of the CARES Resolution that initiated research into how child care options could be expanded and improved. With federal COVID relief funding winding down, county staff found there are only 3,000 state-funded slots available locally and a two-year waitlist containing 4,500 people.

Other actions that could be tied to the proposed funding include expanding care availability to nontraditional hours, building training and education for child care after-school and summer providers, and creating a business-government alliance to facilitate employers’ contributions to child care costs for their employees with the county providing matching funding.

Commissioner Margaret Gómez said the county needs to support the needs of local children and low-income families while also being mindful of the potential cost of the initiative, which is projected to add about $120 to the annual tax bill of a typical local homeowner.

“This is an attempt to try to really set the future in a very positive way for (children),” she said, noting the tax exemptions available for seniors, veterans and disabled homeowners. “I hear from elderly citizens as well who say, ‘You talk about affordability and yet you keep raising taxes, programs that will raise taxes.’ … We have an understanding that, yes, we also want to take care of elderly citizens. That’s why we also look at the exemption for over 65 and disabled and veterans as well, all of whom are elderly citizens in many cases.”

Commissioner Jeff Travillion said by helping to soften the cost of child care, many families will have new opportunities to pursue education and higher-paying jobs that previously might have been out of reach.

“It’s critically important that we also invest in making sure that we are continuing to train child care workers. A lot of times, we understand that many of our waiting lists stay large because we don’t have enough teachers prepared to deal with the students,” he said. “(Child care) has historically been a problem in East Austin, and unfortunately, in many instances, by design. I think it is one of the most important things that we do as a court to make sure that we are addressing the needs of our community, particularly those who are living around the poverty line, but have the capacity to do more and better for their families, and that we keep their children in a learning and growth environment while they are becoming more engaged with the 30 Fortune 500 companies that we’ve recruited to do business in this community.”

The county’s action is another major local policy move related to child care, with Austin City Council voting in January to approve an ordinance change that eliminated the city’s property tax levy for eligible child care facilities.

Council Member Alison Alter spoke ahead of the commissioners’ vote, praising the help of local educators and other stakeholders in designing the programs that could be funded if the tax increase is approved.

“We came to you with this very audacious idea, with lots of moving parts, with lots of questions that need to be answered. You asked all the right questions, and you stepped up,” she said. “You made it a better policy, you owned it, and you’re moving forward with it. I’m here to speak with you today because I want you to know that we’re here to walk with you. We still have to have the community come behind us and say, yes, this is something we want to do.”

Photo by Harrison Keely, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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