Seliger visits Odessa
Texas should be prepared for cutbacks after the state legislature reconvenes in 2011, State Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, said at his Wednesday visit to Odessa.
While Texans shouldn’t expect anything on the level of California’s economic crisis, an $11 million budget shortfall is currently expected, he said before a crowd of about 40 at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. And that means many state agencies will hear “no” when making budget requests.
“The recession affects all the revenue streams,” he said. “It’s going to be a very, very challenging time. It’s going to have to be addressed very, very aggressively.”
Seliger, who had visited Midland and Andrews earlier Wednesday, compared the budget situation to that of 2003, the year before he was elected. That’s when the Legislature came into its session facing a $10 billion shortfall. That led to numerous budget cuts to avoid tax increases.
Among the changes in that session was the deregulation of college tuition, which has led to large increases in payments to places like UTPB. But Seliger said UTPB is still among the best higher education values in Texas.
“We’re working at that,” he said. “Does that mean that a college education is going to be cheap? No.” In this year’s session, the Legislature put over $200 million toward higher education, he said.
He added that, in this year’s session, the Legislature put over $200 million toward higher education.
Seliger said it’s important for money to be available for career and technical training.
“We will have a skilled workforce,” he said. “Some will have college educations, some will not. But they will be productive.”
Despite potential cuts, not all the news was bad for the area, as Seliger and State Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, got a chance to celebrate their work in putting together a bill that will give up to $100 million in incentives to the first three companies to build coal gasification power plants that generate at least 200 megawatts of power and capture at least 70 percent of the carbon dioxide they produce.
In the Permian Basin, the incentives are designed to help lure a project by Summit Power Group, a Bainbridge Island, Wash. company that is looking to build a plant in Ector County.
The bill could bring Odessa to the forefront of technology and environmental circles, Seliger said.
“It’s going to be huge for this area,” he said. “It is going to be this area’s contribution to the future of energy generation.”
Lewis credited Seliger with his work in getting the bill through the Senate. He said CO2 sequestered from a “clean coal” plant would help the Permian Basin retrieve 10 billion barrels of oil, twice as much as has been drilled to date.
“It’s a huge win for us,” he said. “It’s a win for this country.”
Other action Seliger said important for the 82nd Legislature will be reorganizing the Texas Department of Transportation and helping groundwater conservation districts.
Though the event took place on a college campus, the handful of students in the audience were outnumbered by community heavyweights like Odessa City Manager Richard Morton and Bill Webster and Mike George, chief executive officers of Medical Center Hospital and the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, respectively.
One person at the event said there were too many organizations there asking for money from the state. Cliff Goddard of Midland said he’s had enough of legislators compromising.
“They kind of said they’re doing a good job with what they have, but I don’t think they are doing a good job,” he said, “because our taxes are going up and I don’t think they’re addressing the social issues.”
