Early Childcare

This just dropped. See this from the Chron:

Judge Lina Hidalgo has the lowest net approval rating of any Harris County elected official, according to a study released Wednesday by the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs. 

The study polled 2,300 registered voters on their opinions of elected officials and potential candidates for the 2026 Harris County judge election. It also collected voter input on the direction the county is headed, potential solutions to the county’s projected $270 million budget deficit and several other quality-of-life issues. 

Hidalgo’s net favorability — calculated as the percentage of voters who approve of her leadership minus the percentage who disapprove — was just 4%, with 45% of respondents indicating they supported Hidalgo while 41% disapproved. The remaining 14% of surveyed voters said they didn’t know enough about her to have an opinion, making her the most well-known officeholder in Harris County. 

Here is the entire Chron read: Lina Hidalgo has lowest approval rating of any Harris County official.

Here is from the Hobby School of Public Affairs poll summary:

Among Harris County Democrats, 66% have a favorable opinion of Hidalgo and 17% an unfavorable opinion, while 46% have a favorable opinion of (Annise) Parker and 17% an unfavorable opinion. 27% have a favorable opinion of (Leticia) Plummer and 7% an unfavorable opinion.

Commentary has no idea what Judge Hidalgo has planned. Considering all the incoming she has sustained – fairly and unfairly – she should be satisfied with the poll numbers. She also looks like a solid frontrunner in the Harris County Democratic Primary. Stay tuned.

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Again, on Judge Hidalgo, see this from the Chron:

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo plans to ask commissioners to approve a small tax hike to support the county’s early childcare programs. 

If approved, the proposed increase would go before voters as a ballot initiative in November. The “penny tax” would add roughly $10 in property taxes for every $100,000 in assessed value, Hidalgo told the Houston Chronicle. 

“The proposal is a penny tax on the ballot in November to be able to continue and expand three specific programs on early childhood education,” Hidalgo said. “Within all of these, there’s special attention given to kids who are homeless, kids who are in foster care, or those who are victims of domestic violence … The sense is that if there’s a good investment, it’s this one.” 

Among the initiatives is the Early Raising Educational Access for Children in Harris County program, or Early REACH, which provides free childcare for children ages 4 and under. The proposed hike would also fund a program aimed at improving the quality of early education county-wide, and one that provides summer camp programming. 

The proposal came amid concerns over the county’s expected $270 million budget deficit for the coming fiscal year. Initially projected to be around $130 million, the deficit ballooned to more than twice that number following commissioners’ commitment to raise county law enforcement’s compensation to match that of the Houston Police Department. 

The City of Houston in May approved raises for its more than 5,000 police officers, which sparked fears of a mass exodus from county law enforcement agencies, such as the sheriff’s office and eight constable precincts, if Harris County did not match the newly set pay scale. 

Commissioners Court created Early REACH in 2022 and launched the program in June of the following year with around $26 million in COVID-era relief funds. The program, according to its website, was intended to create a “new approach to funding child care” and provide some fiscal relief for centers impacted by the pandemic. 

Here is the entire Chron read: Lina Hidalgo floats Harris County tax hike for childcare programs.

Some of the panelists on “What’s Your Point” on Sunday were critical of Judge Hidalgo’s proposal. They said there were other agencies that could deal with this issue. There are very few. Early childcare assistance should always be a priority. If the federal and state government and non-profits are falling short, Harris County should be able to offer assistance.

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They own it. Commentary is talking about the lack of preparedness. See this from the Chron:

The headline:

Exclusive: Kerr County river authority chose tax cuts over alert system upgrades before deadly floods

From the story:

In 1988, a year after a devastating flood killed 10 teenagers trying to evacuate from a riverside summer camp in Kerr County, leaders at the local river authority made a difficult decision: They raised their tax rate by nearly 50% to help pay for an early flood warning system. 

The rate hike was controversial at the time. But the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, which levies property taxes in order to manage the river that flows through Kerr County, decided it was worth the political fallout. 

“If it saves one life down the road, it will be worth it,” Dick Eastland, who was a member of UGRA’s board of directors and also ran the riverside Camp Mystic, told the Associated Press that summer. 

The river authority initially spent $225,000, about half a million in today’s dollars, on what was then described as a “world-class” warning system. Local officials said it was a crucial way to save motorists from being swept away on low-lying roadways, which is what had happened to the teen campers. 

Yet nearly three decades later, when an engineering study determined that the system needed a $1 million upgrade, a tax increase was not on the table. 

That didn’t change in subsequent years, even as local officials failed to secure significant funds from federal and state officials. It held true even after UGRA built up a $3.4 million reserve fund for an unrelated project that later fell through, leaving the river authority with so much extra money that it lowered taxes. 

And so the region was left without a modern flood warning system on July 4, when flash flooding along the Guadalupe killed more than 100 people in Kerr County alone, including 27 children and counselors at Camp Mystic. Eastland was among the dead. 

County officials have faced pointed questions about their hesitancy to pay for a flood warning system, and state leaders have promised to step in. But experts say the spotlight also belongs on the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, one of dozens of obscure governmental agencies that manage Texas waterways.

“Obviously, they felt like it needed to be done in the 80s, so why is that not relevant 30 years later?” said Mark Rose, former general manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority, which serves the Austin region and dozens more communities downstream. “That’s not a lack of resources, that’s a lack of willpower.” 

Here is the entire read: Kerr County river authority chose tax cuts over flood alert upgrades.

All the river authority board members are Gov. Greg Abbott appointees. Abbott likes to talk tough.  It looks like his appointees screwed up big time. It is sad and another glaring example of how Texas and many local communities have dropped the ball on the issue of preparedness.

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The featured photo is the current MLB standings by won and loss records. The Astros won last night and are tied for the fourth best MLB record and one game behind the best record. Not bad at all. We wrap up the roadie in Arizona this afternoon.