September 08, 2011 06:12 PM UTC

"All Of Texas Is Burning"

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• by: Colorado Pols

We expect that Texas Gov. Rick Perry will avoid former Colorado Gov. (and fellow Texan) Bill Owens’ infamous exaggeration of Colorado wildfires at the height of tourism season a few years ago. But the unfolding story of the latest tragic wildfires in Texas could very well go political, as the Los Angeles Times reports:

President Obama called Perry to assure the governor that requests for additional assistance would be quickly assessed, the White House said. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency were in Texas preparing financial assessments to help pay the cost of fighting the fires.

It is unclear what the federal government’s share of the cost will be. In the last week, FEMA agreed to cover 75% of the expenses of fighting eight fires across the state.

The Texas Forest Service has been spending about $1.5 million a day on fighting the fires this week, agency spokesman Gary Lacox said. That does not include spending by local fire districts and volunteer fire departments…

Texas fire district funding is capped by the state at 10 cents per $100 valuation in property taxes. Linardos said that in Lake Tahoe, Nev., where he served as fire chief, he had five times the funding. State Sen. Kirk Watson, an Austin Democrat, has proposed doubling the state funding cap.

Volunteer fire departments, which cover much of the state, have also faced a 75% state budget cut this year under Perry and the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Perry had not taken a position on whether to increase the cap on funding fire districts. She defended the budget cuts to volunteer departments…

It’s a lot like Medicare. Or Colorado Springs shutting off the streetlights. Slashing budgets with pride and fanfare is popular…until it’s your house burning down.

On the upside, we know where Eric Cantor can start with those “matching cuts” for disaster relief, don’t we? Texas gets a lot of federal dollars, folks. Embrace the “crisitunity!”