Tag Archives: economy

Sales taxes still sliding

Posted on January 9, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Still no sign of a turnaround in many Texas cities. Municipal sales tax collections across Texas fell 11.4 percent in November, raising new economic worries amid signs of recovery in housing and other industries. The declines are discouraging to city … Continue reading →

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Cash for clunky appliances

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose at some point that “Cash for X” construction will get old, but until then, here come some more eeeeevil federal stimulus dollars, this time for trading in energy-hogging appliances. Many of the details of the plan are still … Continue reading →

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Budget cuts coming for Rice

Posted on December 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

It’s going to be a tough budget year for Rice University. Rice President David Leebron set the stage for the coming year in an address to faculty this fall, warning that coping with endowment losses is one of the most … Continue reading →

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It’s almost as if the answer were staring us right in the face

Posted on December 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Same song, I forget which verse. As compared with a year earlier, sales tax collections were down 14.4 percent in November, and those kinds of returns have hastened budget-cutting talk. But what’s really driving the conversation is a decision that … Continue reading →

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Tax cuts have consequences

Posted on December 15, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We’re all familiar with the financial constraints that the city of Houston is operating under. Harris County is experiencing similar problems. “As best we can tell appraisals are going to be flat, if not down a little, so that means … Continue reading →

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Mayor Parker hits the ground running

Posted on December 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Mayor-Elect Annise Parker talks to the Chron and tells us again what she intends to do after she’s sworn in. “One of the reasons I’m not having that big, excited, happy feeling is that there is a lot of work … Continue reading →

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How others are viewing the election

Posted on December 13, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

This AP story about the Mayoral runoff election contains a paragraph you won’t see very often. Houston became the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor, with voters handing a solid victory to City Controller Annise Parker after … Continue reading →

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Unemployment taxes triple

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here comes the Rick Perry unemployment tax increase that we’ve been waiting for. Nearly two-thirds of Texas businesses will see the unemployment taxes they pay per employee per year nearly triple – from $23.40 to $64.80 – under rates announced … Continue reading →

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The Speaker knows what we’re up against

Posted on December 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure House Speaker Joe Straus is looking ahead to the 2011 session and stockpiling the Maalox and Excedrin. Among the “interim charges” to 31 committees handed out by Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio – issues for lawmakers to study … Continue reading →

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Did I mention that we’re facing a revenue shortfall?

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

In case I haven’t beaten this horse beyond recognition yet, the stimulus money really saved our budgetary bacon this year, and without something equally dramatic, we are so screwed in 2011. “It was a deficit budget as written,” said Scott … Continue reading →

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No check for you!

Posted on November 28, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Nice little bit of holiday cheer for Texas’ retired public employees this week. Retired public employees discovered yesterday that they would not receive additional $500 checks this year. According to Senator Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, they shouldn’t hold their breath for … Continue reading →

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School districts feeling the crunch

Posted on November 27, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The state’s budget problems, which are caused to some degree by the economic slowdown, aren’t just problems for the state. They’re local problems as well, and the entities that have been hardest hit are those that had been given short … Continue reading →

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Thanksgiving travel

Posted on November 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

If you’re traveling this weekend, you’ll find the roads a bit more crowded than last year, but down from the norm. Americans shaken by last year’s economic crash may be regaining enough confidence to hit the roads in higher numbers … Continue reading →

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The budget mess that awaits the next Governor

Posted on November 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We already know that the next Legislative session will be a whole lot of no fun thanks to declining revenue estimates and our structural deficits. Here’s a further illustration of the problem. The current state budget is financed with $12 … Continue reading →

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State sales tax revenues way down

Posted on November 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The 2011 legislative session is going to be so much fun. Sales tax revenues have taken double-digit dives for five months running; in each of those months, the state’s income from those taxes has been more than 10 percent lower … Continue reading →

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State sales tax revenues plummet

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

No surprise here. Sales tax and natural gas tax collections fell more than $1 billion short of projections in the 2009 fiscal year, according to a state comptroller’s report, fueling questions about the financial heartburn that may be ahead for … Continue reading →

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The hole the Sports Authority is in

Posted on October 28, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Sure is a great time for stuff like this to happen, isn’t it? Harris County taxpayers may have to inject up to $7 million a year into the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority for the next two years due to a … Continue reading →

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School construction update

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As I read this story about the progress of school construction authorized by the 2007 bond referendum, it strikes me that we picked a heck of a good time to do this. Piney Point is one of about 160 campuses … Continue reading →

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From the “I hate you! Now give me some money!” files

Posted on October 7, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Republicans think the stimulus package was bad public policy and an ineffective waste of money, except for the money that comes to their districts, in which case it’s all good. Texas’ top lawmakers in Congress want President Barack Obama to … Continue reading →

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Kirby storm drain construction update

Posted on September 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Times are tough all over for retailers. They’re especially tough when the street you’re on is all torn up. The four-phase project to install new storm drainage along Kirby Drive started in 2004. The latest round peeled back the asphalt … Continue reading →

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UTMB’s comeback

Posted on September 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

This is great to see. A bigger and better University of Texas Medical Branch is rising from the debris of Hurricane Ike, with more than $1 billion in repair, refurbishing and new construction under way or being planned. The UT … Continue reading →

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My kind of judge

Posted on September 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

This guy is my new hero. The judge, Arthur M. Schack, 64, fashions himself a judicial Don Quixote, tilting at the phalanxes of bankers, foreclosure facilitators and lawyers who file motions by the bale. While national debate focuses on bank … Continue reading →

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The Mayorals talk about the economy

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Via Greg and KTRK: Annise Parker: Gene Locke: Peter Brown Roy Morales: I presume that each team was told they had up to two minutes to film themselves talking about the economy in whatever fashion suited them. Locke’s struck me … Continue reading →

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You can pay me now, or you can pay me later

Posted on August 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Odds are, we’ll opt for later to deal with the large deficit we’re facing with the unemployment insurance trust fund. Texas’ jobless-benefits fund is empty, and the state will probably borrow $1.5 billion from the federal government to pay benefits … Continue reading →

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More on food stamps lawsuit

Posted on August 13, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron now has a story about the lawsuit that has been filed over Texas’ inability to process food stamp applications in the federally-required 30 day time period. There’s not much in the story that we don’t already know, but … Continue reading →

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Your post office may close

Posted on August 6, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Look out. The Postal Service may register a loss of nearly $7 billion this fiscal year in spite of a 2-cent increase in the price of stamps in May, cuts in staff and removal of collection boxes. Post officials sent … Continue reading →

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HHSC sued over food stamp delays

Posted on August 5, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

This will definitely bear watching. Legal services lawyers for the poor have filed a class-action lawsuit demanding immediate repair of Texas’ much-criticized eligibility screening system for health and welfare programs. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Austin … Continue reading →

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KBH to vote against Sotomayor

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Nobody is surprised by this, right? Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison says she will vote against confirming Sonia Sotomayor to be a Supreme Court justice. She said Tuesday she is concerned about Sotomayor’s views on the Second Amendment on the … Continue reading →

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Our friend the stimulus package

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Jason Embry tells us just how much Texas relied on the stimulus package this year. A new report from the National Conference of State Legislatures shows that federal stimulus dollars played a large role in allowing Texas lawmakers to balance … Continue reading →

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Cities lose out in transportation stimulus funding

Posted on July 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

This is not a surprise, but it is a missed opportunity. Two-thirds of the country lives in large metropolitan areas, home to the nation’s worst traffic jams and some of its oldest roads and bridges. But cities and their surrounding … Continue reading →

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“Ghostboxes”

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Most people consider the opening of a big-box retail store in a community to be good news. But what happens when that store closes down? As the recession takes its toll on big-box retailers, more communities across the country are … Continue reading →

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More unemployed, fewer benefits

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Boy, no one could have predicted this. In a sign of lingering hardship, more than 15,000 Texans will lose their unemployment checks at the end of the month because they have exhausted their benefits after 59 weeks without a job. … Continue reading →

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Sales tax revenues drop

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The 2011 legislative session is going to be so much fun. Texas’ sales tax collections could fall $550 million short of budget projections for the current fiscal year, figures released Friday by Comptroller Susan Combs show. The $1.6 billion collected … Continue reading →

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The down side to a good economy

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Traffic congestion hasn’t gotten any better. Rising gasoline prices in the last half of 2007 produced less traffic, according to an annual study by researchers at Texas A&M University’s Texas Transportation Institute. The typical urban commuter spent one less hour … Continue reading →

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