Raise Taxes in Austin for UT

Paul Burka writes the Burka Blog for Texas Monthly. He is a very well known journalist and I stumbled across this article he wrote called "Taxes for UT?" about the possibility of taxes being raised in austin for the expansion of its new medical school. He is obviously speaking to the general population of Austin that is eligible to pay taxes because he discusses how the University of Texas is wanting to have local property taxes raised $107.40 per household (this being an average number) in order to pay for their medical school. Reading this, I just think it is outrageous, but then I was comforted to find that Burka tends to agree that this might not be so easy to pass in Austin.

Burka suggests that UT should have done some major fundraising efforts as soon as they knew they were going to have to expand this school. I have to agree with him. Property taxes in Texas are so unstable anyway, without even taking this into consideration. I have been told story after story about people's property taxes/mortgage increasing $300 a month or $600 and without warning and there is nothing you can really do about it. Fortunately, I was informed by a friend in real estate that it looks like they have begun to change some of those laws and add more restrictions, but STILL. And in a situation like this, for the University of Texas to know they want to expand or update this department and not have it in the budget to do so, to have the gaul to even propose an increase in property taxes- and of such an extravagant amount- without even trying to pull some weight on their end with fundraising efforts is just absurd. In my opinion it's insulting to the community that they would try to "sneak one passed us". They are a very prestigious school and they are fully capable of doing fundraisers and finding different means of bringing in extra funds. Taxing the community is not the way to go about it. Especially when the vast majority of the Texas population couldn't or wouldn't be accepted to the school if they wanted to (because of being land locked and the top 10% rule in the state of Texas).