The following is a recap of Trasa's address to the Tarrant Star Republican Women —
Hi, I'm Trasa Robertson Cobern, and I would love to tell you a little bit more about me and my background, my education, and my family values. I'd love to tell you more about my conservative beliefs, and I would absolutely love to tell you about my work as Chairperson of the Outreach Committee for the Tarrant County GOP.
But what I want to talk about right now is the Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector and, why me? There are three important reasons why I am the strongest candidate for this job.
First, experience. I am a City Councilmember, and in that capacity, I deal with budgets the size of corporations. Despite the rising cost of running a city, I still voted to reduce property tax rates each year in Hurst.
Second, strict budgeting. I was a stay-at-home mom with four kids, and I was able to live within our means and our budget on a single salary. Even today, on the paychecks of two public school teachers, we're raising four teenage boys, one of whom is in college. I absolutely understand the value of every dollar, and I will take that same frugal approach into the county tax office.
Third, responsibility as the voice of the Tax Office. While this is traditionally an administrative role, I will use the power of the Tax Assessor-Collector to reduce any excessive spending within the scope of my office. And equally important, I will utilize the position as a strong platform to encourage the state legislature to seek real-world solutions to our ever-increasing property tax issues.
There's a lot of talk about how the Tax Office should be run like a business. I want to point out that it's very different from a business. In a business, when you need more money, you can open new product lines or borrow. In the Tax Office, your available money is finite, and you can't get more. I believe the Tax Office's budget is more like that of a stay-at-home mom who's budgeting on one salary…the money is finite, and you can't get any more, so you have to make hard choices about what is done with that money.
Thinking of the Tax Office as a business reveals a fundamental flaw in thinking about taxes. The purpose of a business is to get more money from customers. It's about profit. But the Tax Office should be about working to minimize the money it takes in from people, not trying to maximize it. That's a core perspective on how the job should be done.
Those are the three main reasons I know I'm the strongest candidate for Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector, and now I'm asking for your vote and for your support. In return I will give you the hardest working, most conscientious Tax Assessor-Collector you could possibly ever elect.
Again, thank you to the Tarrant Star Republican Woman for holding the candidate forum and thank you to Anna Tinsley of the Star-Telegram for her great report on the event. Click Here to see Anna’s article.
I would love to hear from anyone who still has questions, so please email me with those. And I would encourage you to check out the “Meet Trasa and Her Family” link on my website. It will give you an insight into who I am, where I came from, and where I'm going.
