Tag Archives: deficit

Does it count if it’s a TIRZ?

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Well, this is interesting. As the city of Houston seeks to close a $21 million budget gap in the next eight weeks, it is counting on selling a public building to one of its own redevelopment agencies. And while the … Continue reading →

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Senate passes its budget

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Once the rules were suspended to allow the budget bill CSHB1 to come to the floor, this became a mere formality. The Texas Senate took minutes to tentatively approve a proposed $176.5 billion, two-year state budget Wednesday in a party-line … Continue reading →

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Senate fails to bring the budget to the floor

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It started Monday when Senate Finance Chair Sen. Steve Ogden said he might pull same Rainy Day funds out of the budget in order to get more Republican (read: Dan Patrick) support for it. After some discussion about alternate ways … Continue reading →

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Property values decline again

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Oddly, this is good budget news in the “we were expecting it to be worse” category. Local governments and school districts this year will suffer a second-straight year of sliding property tax revenues — their main source of revenue — … Continue reading →

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Senate makes progress on the budget

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

They still haven’t gotten to the actual budget yet, but they’ve passed a bill that allows for some extra “non-tax revenue” plus a bunch of accounting gimmicks, which makes their less-penurious-than-the-House budget possible. The Texas Senate, digging publicly for money … Continue reading →

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City layoffs begin

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

With more to follow later. Expressing faith that the “brighter tomorrow we wait for is just around the corner,” the Parker administration on Thursday began pink-slipping municipal workers in hope of easing an expected $80 million budget shortfall in the … Continue reading →

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What we need right now

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Is a tax cut on yachts. As some lawmakers look high and low for money to ease cutbacks in education and human services, the House Ways and Means Committee has approved a tax break for big yachts. The committee voted … Continue reading →

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Fight over family planning funds coming

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a small piece of the difference between the House and Senate budgets, but it will surely be a big part of the fight over how the two are reconciled. The Senate budget approved by the Finance Committee would spend … Continue reading →

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Dewhurst flips, then flops, on using rainy day funds

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

First he says he’s against it. [Lt. Gov. David] Dewhurst sounded supportive of the overall level of spending in the Senate plan, but voiced a preference for using what he calls nontax revenue items instead of the rainy day fund. … Continue reading →

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In Perry’s world

Posted on April 27, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Rick Perry creates his own reality. You got a problem with that? Gov. Rick Perry, sticking to his guns against further use of the state’s rainy day fund, dismissed a question Tuesday about whether he’s planning for dislocation of tens … Continue reading →

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A better idea than suspending the sales tax holiday

Posted on April 27, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I’ll go along with this. State Sen. Rodney Ellis said Monday he will fight the proposed suspension of the state’s August school supplies sales tax holiday he created in 1999 unless lawmakers also consider ending tax breaks “for those who … Continue reading →

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From the “When you’re in a hole, go ahead and keep digging” files

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Deficit, schmeficit. Texas lawmakers voted on Thursday to extend a tax break for businesses with revenues of less than $1 million a year at a time the state is facing a massive budget shortfall. The House Ways and Means Committee … Continue reading →

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The mental health catastrophe is coming

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s yet another story about the forthcoming disaster in mental health care that is about to be perpetuated by the Legislature. It starts with one of the best analogies I’ve seen: Dr. Steven B. Schnee, executive director of the Mental … Continue reading →

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Federal education funds officially on their way

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

That’s $830 million that the Senate was counting on for education funds that it will now officially have. Just two weeks after a bipartisan federal budget deal ended an eight-month impasse over $830 million in federal education funding, the U.S. … Continue reading →

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Agricultural tax breaks

Posted on April 24, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

There’s been a fair amount of talk this session about examining different types of tax exemptions, all of which combine to cost Texas billions in revenue, but there’s one type of exemption for which I have not seen any discussion: … Continue reading →

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Council will vote on SafeClear changes

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Back in March, the city announced that it would be removing most of the subsidies for SafeClear as a cost-saving measure. The details have now been finalized and will be ready for Council action in June. Roadside services, such as … Continue reading →

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Soda tax

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

There are three things you can say about a soda tax for Texas: 1. It would raise some revenue. 2. It would make people drink less soda, which would likely have some modest health benefit. 3. It ain’t gonna happen. … Continue reading →

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Senate Finance Committee passes its budget

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The fight over the Rainy Day Fund is now officially on. A $176.5 billion budget for the 2012-13 biennium — 5.9 percent smaller than the current budget but almost $12 billion larger than the version passed earlier by the House … Continue reading →

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Feeling the Love

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Good news for at least one previously endangered school in HISD. Four elementary schools in the Houston Independent School District could close under a proposal Superintendent Terry Grier revealed this morning. Under the plan, which the school board must approve, … Continue reading →

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Is it time to fix school finance?

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s pretty much always time to fix school finance, since school finance is always broken, so here goes the Senate. Maybe. State Senate leaders want to end the much-despised public education funding system by 2017, although they disagree on how … Continue reading →

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House approves a little more money, Senate readies its budget

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Just a little. Texas House budget-writers voted Monday to free up an additional $3 billion for key state services through such moves as speeding up tax collections, delaying payments and suspending the back-to-school sales tax holiday. The bills next go … Continue reading →

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Here comes the Senate budget

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We know that the Senate budget will spend more money than the House budget, not that this is a high bar to clear. We know that the Senate has searched high and low for the funds to support the higher … Continue reading →

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The State of the City 2011

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s getting a little better, but we’re still not close to being in good times. The city of Houston’s budget deficit for the coming fiscal year has been whittled to roughly $80 million from $130 million, Mayor Annise Parker said … Continue reading →

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Senate Education Committee passes furlough bill

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This is still better than layoffs, but not by much. School districts would be able to reduce salaries and furlough teachers for up to six days – with layoffs used only as a last resort – under a compromise bill … Continue reading →

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West Texas

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Not many people want to live in West Texas any more. The 2010 Census confirmed what anyone passing through the scrublands of West Texas already knew: People are leaving, and no one is taking their place, even with oil at … Continue reading →

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House moves forward on school fund money

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Last week, I noted a bill filed by Rep. Rob Orr that would direct some money from the Available School Fund into the public schools. His legislation has now been approved by committee and is likely on its way to … Continue reading →

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When you find yourself in a hole, go ahead and keep digging

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

So Texas has this big budget shortfall. You’ve probably heard about it. A big part of that shortfall is structural, thanks to the 2006 property tax cut that was supposed to be funded primarily by the business margins tax. Unfortunately, … Continue reading →

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HISD lays off teachers, discusses school closures

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We knew this was coming. There may yet be more of it to come. Officials with the Houston Independent School District announced Tuesday that about 730 teachers have been notified they won’t have jobs next year — because of budget … Continue reading →

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More on the effects of cuts to health and human services

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Most of this should be familiar to us by now. Deep spending cuts in the recently passed House budget would profoundly change the state’s medical system, placing tens of thousands of Texans in the difficult position of finding alternate care … Continue reading →

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Doggett Amendment repealed as part of budget-shutdown deal

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Oh, the things that can happen in the dark of night. In a victory for Gov. Rick Perry, the most recent Congressional budgetary stopgap — passed Friday night to avoid closing the federal government — contains language that repeals the … Continue reading →

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Do we have an opponent yet for the Mayor?

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Probably not. Houston Fire Department Deputy Chief Fernando Herrera has filed papers appointing a treasurer for a mayoral campaign fund-raising committee. He was the Republican candidate for District 148 state representative in 2010. He lost to incumbent Jessica Farrar. However, … Continue reading →

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Cancelling constables

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Like Grits, I see this as an opportunity, not a loss. Budget cuts have led two Harris County constables to cancel their security contracts with several area school districts, leaving the districts scrambling for a fix to cover the end … Continue reading →

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The House finds a few extra bucks

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Where has this been all along? State Rep. Rob Orr, R-Burleson, introduced two bills to the House Appropriations Committee that could add several million dollars to the public schools budget over the next two years. HB 2646 proposes allowing the … Continue reading →

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A matter of perspective

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib’s Thursday morning brief begins as follows: Competing rallies on Wednesday provided a stark backdrop to the House vs. Senate tug-of-war playing out in the Capitol. While one group of protesters called on the Legislature to roll back its … Continue reading →

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