TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION
Policy Brief
The Liberty City: A New Concept for Self-Governance
by Jess Fields Senior Policy Analyst
What if it were possible to use government at the local level to protect, instead of infringe upon, the liberty of the people?
A new concept is emerging in Texas that could do just that. It’s called the Liberty City. This simple, yet powerful idea has the potential to transform government’s relation to the people it is supposed to serve, and empower average citizens with a robust mechanism for defending their Constitutional rights. What is a Liberty City? A Liberty City is a town that incorporates for the express purpose of maintaining limited government, pro-free market policies, and protecting the rights of its citizens. The Liberty City stands in stark contrast to many local governments that attempt to manage their economies and regulate the lives of their citizens. Liberty Cities also protect their citizens from being annexed into higher-tax and higher-regulation larger cities, because in Texas, no municipality can forcefully annex another municipality. The Recent History of Liberty Cities in Texas Although the concept of protecting citizens’ rights at the local level is not new, its history in Texas certainly is. Von Ormy, Texas, a small suburb of San Antonio, is the first town in recent memory that could be fairly labeled a Liberty City. Von Ormy incorporated in 2008 to protect the rights of its citizens from the higher tax and regulatory burden of San Antonio.1 Von Ormy also incorporated to provide basic, but important city services to its citizens, such as police coverage and infrastructure maintenance. It decided to do this without instituting high taxes or excessive spending, and after years of tax reductions, completely eliminated its property tax in 2014. Von Ormy has avoided debt entirely. The city also avoided instituting many of the regulations that are commonly seen in cities. For example, there is no permitting fee, or significant delays of any kind in the permitting process. In 2014, the residents of Sandy Oaks, Texas, another small community south of San Antonio and located east of Von Ormy on Interstate 37, successfully incorporated. Remarkably, Sandy Oaks decided against instituting a property tax for tax year 2015, instead holding an election to institute a sales tax. Like Von Ormy, Sandy Oaks was not only interested in providing better local services for their community—they also wanted to avoid the possibility of annexation from San Antonio.2 As of early 2015, residents in numerous other unincorporated communities were exploring the possibility of incorporating their own Liberty Cities. The Policies of Liberty Cities The Liberty City does not represent a rigid set of guidelines, but does hold to certain principles that mark it as distinct from other municipalities. To that end, there are several clear areas in which a Liberty City differs and stands out from other incorporated cities:
