That seems to be the Mayor’s plan for fixing our finances.
Mayor John Whitmire
Mayor John Whitmire and City Council members on Wednesday opted to keep Houston’s property tax rate flat as calls for more revenue reach an inflection point at City Hall.
While the move means an unchanged tax rate for Houstonians, it also means the city will have to draw down another $53 million from its savings to cover its $7 billion budget this year, in turn creating a $128.5 million deficit to start off the fiscal year.
The decision came down to a 12-3 vote with Council Member Tiffany D. Thomas absent. Council Members Abbie Kamin, Edward Pollard and Sallie Alcorn – the council’s budget chair and one of the most trusted voices in Houston government on the city’s finances – were among the no votes.
“It’s a swing and a miss to not bring in the revenue we need to cover our budget,” Alcorn said ahead of the vote. “What I know with certainty is that dipping further into our fund balance by $53 million weakens the city’s financial position, and it deepens future deficits.”
Whitmire has said time and time again he will not go to voters to introduce new fees or increased taxes until his team does the work to root out “waste, fraud and abuse” from city government. Some of that work has already begun, with the administration commissioning a study that pointed out ways in which the city could be more efficient.
The study’s recommendations led to consolidations in city departments, sliced department budgets that impacted city services, a hiring freeze and a voluntary retirement program that cost the city more than 24,000 years of experience.
But the city has long had a spending problem, and while Whitmire has not raised taxes, he has raised costs and has yet to present a plan for how he will bring more revenue into city government as it faces a $227 million deficit heading into the next fiscal year. That deficit could grow to $463 million by 2030 should the city continue spending as is without a plan to keep its wallet stocked. Meanwhile, residents continue to complain about inadequate city services like trash pickup.
Whitmire doubled down on his plan to root out corruption and waste at the start of the meeting and said a plan for revenue did exist, but he did not elaborate on what that plan included. In the past, he’s alluded to getting more money from METRO, collaborating on services with Harris County and joining forces with other cities and going to the state.
“We do have a plan. Do our critics really think that we’d be sitting up here without a plan for how we’re going to fund the city?” Whitmire said. “It’s in its final consideration, but we’ll do it without raising taxes, because I understand the pain that our residents have over affordability. Taxes harm affordability.”
Houston differs from other major cities across the state with its lack of fees for residents’ services. While Houston boasts the lowest tax rate of all the major Texas cities, it does not have a trash, utility transfer or environmental fee that adds a boost to other municipalities’ general funds, which covers city services.
See here for some background, and here for a preview story. I don’t know what the Mayor’s plan is. CM Alcorn doesn’t know what the Mayor’s plan is. The Chron editorial board, which notes that the city has foregone $2.2 billion in revenue since the stupid cap kicked in a decade ago, doesn’t know what the Mayor’s plan is. At this point it’s more a concept of a plan than a plan. I hate to be a nag, but what we have here is a revenue problem. We would not be in this position now if not for the stupid revenue cap. Artificial constraints based on bad metrics pushed by ideologues make for unsuccessful public policy. I don’t know what else to tell you.