Did fiscal conservatism block plans for a new flood warning system in Kerr County?

[Cypress]

Did fiscal conservatism block plans for a new flood warning system in Kerr County?​

In the week after the tragic July 4 flooding in Kerr County, several officials have blamed taxpayer pressure as the reason flood warning sirens were never installed along the Guadalupe River.

“The public reeled at the cost,” Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly told reporters one day after the rain pushed Guadalupe River levels more than 32 feet, resulting in nearly 100 deaths in the county, as of Thursday.

A community that overwhelmingly voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024, Kerr County constructed an economic engine on the allure of the Guadalupe River. Government leaders acknowledged the need for more disaster mitigation, including a $1 million flood warning system that would better alert the public to emergencies, to sustain that growth, but they were hamstrung by a small and tightfisted tax base.

An examination of transcripts since 2016 from Kerr County’s governing body, the commissioners court, offers a peek into a small Texas county paralyzed by two competing interests: to make one of the country’s most dangerous region for flash flooding safer and to heed to near constant calls from constituents to reduce property taxes and government waste.

“This is a pretty conservative county,” said former Kerr County Judge Tom Pollard, 86. “Politically, of course, and financially as well.”

Did fiscal conservatism block plans for a new flood warning system in Kerr County?

In the last nine years, federal funding for a system has been denied to the county as it contends with a tax base hostile to government overspending.

www.texastribune.org

 

[Guno צְבִי]

As soon as the river started rising the alarms could have gone off

 

[Cypress]

As soon as the river started rising the alarms could have gone off

The article makes it sound like the fiscally conservative local constituency loved the economic benefits river recreation and river development brought to the county, but they hated the idea of spending tax money to make the river safer.

 

[T. A. Gardner]

The article makes it sound like the fiscally conservative local constituency loved the economic benefits river recreation and river development brought to the county, but they hated the idea of spending tax money to make the river safer.

Then that's on them and Trump had nothing to do with it. They had decades upon decades to fix flood issues along this river and didn't do it. That's on the locals first and foremost.

 

[Cypress]

Then that's on them and Trump had nothing to do with it.

You, Trump, and the fiscally conservative voters of Kerr County share exactly the same fiscal policies: gut the funding and staffing of government agencies, programs, and grants.

The attitude you, Trump, and Kerr County share will raise the risks of future tragedies like this.

 

[T. A. Gardner]

You, Trump, and the fiscally conservative voters of Kerr County share exactly the same fiscal policies: gut the funding and staffing of government agencies, programs, and grants.

The attitude you, Trump, and Kerr County share will raise the risks of future tragedies like this.

Since when is it the responsibility of government to look out for people rather than they do it themselves?