Eckhardt touts her first budget

Several weeks after passing her first budget as Travis County judge, Sarah Eckhardt held a press conference on Monday to tout the benefits taxpayers are getting out of their investment. She explained that the core services of county government are parks and conservation, roads, courts, public safety and emergency services, and “a social safety net that raises the floor so that everyone can reach their full potential.” Eckhardt highlighted several parks and roads projects as well as signature policy achievements, such as the restoration of in-person visits at county jail facilities. She also noted that the tax rate is the lowest it has been since 2008 and pledged to keep it low. Eckhardt laid out a strategy for doing that, which interestingly included a swipe at a highly controversial project. “We must enlist more of our Central Texas partners in protecting our fragile environment against threats from current projects like (State) Highway 45 Southwest,” Eckhardt said. She also called for the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority to set aside some of its toll revenues to be used for construction of park-and-ride facilities and the deployment of rapid buses on CTRMA toll roads.