Parker Administration's fiscal priorities take shape
VARIOUS MEDIA OUTLETS report that the Parker Administration is planning large increases in water/sewer rates to offset ongoing deficits in the city's Combined Utility System. The Chronicle ran this telling exchange:
Councilman Oliver Pennington asked why the city did not raise rates sooner, when deficits were apparent.
“I just wonder what you guys were thinking,” he said.
Marcotte noted that when the system was restructured in 2004, prompting what at the time was the largest rate increase in the city's history, another major rate increase was contemplated for 2010....
“We can't just keep kicking the proverbial can down the road,” Councilmember Ed Gonzalez said.
Politically, it's always wise to get these sorts of painful fiscal moves out of the way early and leave the next round to the next mayor. Perhaps the Parker Administration will treat the issue in a more *ahem* businesslike fashion than Mayor Bill White before her, but we do seem to have these sorts of discussions every six years.
The Chronicle story also contained this helpful comparison:
For single-family residential consumers, the increase would make Houston's water and sewer rates higher than those in San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth and slightly lower than those of Los Angeles and Austin, according to city documents.
In other budget news, the Chronicle reports that Mayor Parker says the City of Houston might be willing to "give back" General Mobility funds to METRO, but only after METRO re-establishes "credibility" with the public. Given the rogue organization's ongoing disregard for the public in the form of violating the 2003 referendum (by planning to take on more debt than was approved, changing the location of lines, ignoring the requirement to expand bus service by 50%, etc.), that could take a while. And there is that pesky detail -- from our understanding -- that the public will have to approve forgoing those General Mobility funds.
Indeed, with water/sewer rates increasing, city contributions to retiree benefit packages decreasing, and a big hole in the budget, we'd like to see Mayor Parker working more aggressively to collect the $160+ million in general mobility funds owed by METRO to the City (the Mayor's preference for quarterly General Mobility payments from METRO instead of vague future promises is a small step in the right direction), and less aggressively to spend $10 million on the soccer stadium boondoggle. We are of the quaint notion that smart fiscal priorities and keeping promises made to the public go a long ways towards establishing/maintaining credibility.
BLOGVERSATION: Harris County Almanac (and more).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/07/10 09:09 AM | Print |
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