Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is launching a statewide investigation into nearly 1,000 cities (yes, that’s basically all of them), including Lubbock, to make sure nobody is daring to raise property taxes without following the state’s brand-new transparency rules. The review is tied to Senate Bill 1851, which hand-delivered Paxton a fresh excuse to demand paperwork and hold dramatic press conferences.
Here’s the fun part: Paxton hasn’t accused any of these cities of wrongdoing. Not Lubbock, not Houston, not Dallas, not Waco. This is just a giant “please send us every document you already publish every single year” situation. A bunch of cities responded by basically saying, “Sure, here’s the paperwork we already posted publicly, but have fun pretending this is Watergate.”
Lubbock raised its tax rate slightly this year—about $15 per average household—to cover silly things like maintenance and operations. The City Council even debated whether they could go lower, because potholes don’t fix themselves and we can only duct-tape infrastructure for so long. Meanwhile, the city already posts comprehensive audits on its own website.
Several cities around Texas proudly announced they’d already sent Paxton everything he asked for, some practically waving their transparency trophies in the press release. Experts say Paxton’s office probably doesn’t even have the staff to review all this, but hey—you can’t let logistics get in the way of a statewide conservative flex. If there’s political theater to be done, Paxton is absolutely auditioning for lead role.
All this over fifteen bucks—should Lubbock mail Paxton the money now, or is there a processing fee for statewide grandstanding?