There were quite a few bills in the second special legislative session for the state House, one of them was Senate Bill 10. Due to many items within it, the Lubbock Professional Firefighter’s Association spoke out about Senate Bill 10.
One of the items in Senate Bill 10 focused on reducing city and county property taxes, and the president of the Lubbock Professional Firefighter’s Association, Joseph Wallace, explained this would cut public safety costs. This cut would make it more difficult to fund essential services like fire and police.
“The problem is how do you how do you fund essential services especially public safety like fire and police, um, if you have to continue to go to the voter and you can’t just make that call as an elected official,” Wallace said.
According to Wallace, SB10 would change the voter approved tax rate from 3.5 percent to 2.5 percent, which would hurt first responders down the road.
“At some point, if the well runs dry, if we run out of funds, you’re going to have city leaders They’re going to force to have to make some decisions on what what’s essential and what they’re going to keep,” Wallace said.
Wallace believed this was not just something affecting firefighters, but also residents.
“We have what’s called an ISO 1 rating. what that does, it helps bring lower insurance ratings,” Wallace said. “I can tell you if you start making cuts on what we’re able to do and how we’re able to cover the city, um it jeopardizes that that rating.”
SB10 passed the Senate on an 18-12 vote, it now heads to the House for committee hearing and eventually a vote. State Senator Charles Perry voted for SB10.
