Local officials applaud parts of governor's address

Speech cites variety of goals that would affect Crossroads region

Several of the goals mapped out in Texas Gov. Rick Perry's 2009 "State of the State" address make some local officials happy.

Perry delivered the address Tuesday morning to a joint session of the state Legislature in Austin. His speech cited a variety of goals from creating a disaster contingency fund to freezing college tuitions.

The proposed disaster contingency fund has the support of Jeb Lacey, Victoria's emergency management coordinator. Under the plan, the state would provide funding to local communities to prepare for and respond to disasters. This would ease the burden on communities that are waiting for federal assistance.

"I think that any emergency manager would agree that funding needs to be allocated to assist smaller jurisdictions in meeting their federal match," Lacey said.

The fund is also meant to assist communities that experience disasters that are "really important to the state of Texas, but maybe aren't as visible on a national scale," Lacey said. This may include a disaster like the current drought in South Texas, he added.

The governor also asked the state to continue supporting the Texas Enterprise Fund, which offers incentives to businesses interested in coming to the state.

Victoria has not yet asked for enterprise funds, said Dale Fowler, president of the Victoria Economic Development Corporation. But he expects the city to do so at some point in the future.

"Some people in a downturn economy tend to quit marketing," he said. "I believe that this is an opportunity for Texas to market even harder."

Perry's emphasis on secondary and higher education in the speech impressed Fowler.

"Increasingly, economic development projects are most concerned with workforce and workforce availability," Fowler said. "The better trained and better educated our workforce is in Texas, the higher paying jobs we will be able to recruit."

Among other proposals, the governor asked the state to freeze college tuition at the rate a student pays during his or her freshman year. This would apply to four years of undergraduate education.

Since the University of Houston - Victoria is a two-year, upper-level university it probably would not be "obligated" to go along with a tuition freeze that begins during the freshman year, said Wayne Beran, vice president of administration and finance at UHV. However, Beran expected the university would enact the freeze anyway.

Freezing tuition is a "great thing to do," Beran said. But the state needs to step in and help if a resulting funding gap arises.

"We want to partner with the state and have them do their share," he said. "We'll do our part. I guarantee it."

UHV announced Tuesday that it was working on a tuition freeze of its own for the upcoming fiscal year.

Perry's tuition freeze also earned the praise of state Sen. Glenn Hegar who watched the governor give the address Tuesday in the House Chambers.

"When someone enters into college, they know what the tuition rate is going to be so there is no sticker shock in one, two, or four years," he said.

The Katy Republican added that the law would encourage students to finish their education in four years, making everyone, including their parents, happy.