Continental pushes for Prop G

You've probably seen some billboards championing City Proposition G around town. One big supporter of Proposition G is Continental Airlines.

"If Prop G does not pass, our ability to grow at Intercontinental will be hurt," Larry Kellner, chairman and chief executive of the carrier, told employees in his weekly taped message.

If passed, the ballot proposal would remove the city's enterprise funds from the cap known as Proposition 2 that was voted in by Houstonians in 2004.

Continental maintains that the cap should be eliminated because as landing fees and gate fees grow, there should be no limit on the city's ability to invest that money to maintain and expand the airports to bring in additional visitors and businesses.

The ballot item would have an effect on funding Houston's other airports. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, which carries more than 80 percent of the passengers at Houston's Hobby Airport, also supports the measure.

Kellner and Southwest CEO Gary Kelly have signed a letter urging support for Prop G. You can read more about it here.

Propositions A through H propose issuing bonds to fund more police and to improve neighborhood drainage, parks and libraries. City officials say taxes will not be increased to pay for those programs.

Proposition G applies to the city's enterprise funds, which rely on user fees, not property taxes, to pay for airports, water and sewer service and convention facilities.

Those against Proposition G contend the changes would impose economic burdens on residents. Among the opponents are former Councilman Carroll Robinson and local businessman Bruce Hotze. "Prop G is bad for taxpayers," Hotze said. "It will mean higher water and sewer rates and higher property taxes because much of the revenue will be excluded under Proposition G."

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Continental said in a notice to employees that the exclusion of airport revenues from the 2004 ceiling is important because that money comes from airlines and their passengers, not property taxes, so it said that limits shouldn't be placed on them.

"An airport is an economic engine underpinning the community," Continental spokesman Dave Messing said. "So it is bad for the city to cap revenues like that. It is an engine for creating jobs and business activity."

I don't support revenue caps in general, so I definitely favor Prop G. It's not the only proposition on the ballot, though.

White is pushing for passage of Proposition G, and his political action committee, called Citizens to Keep Houston Strong, also is working on it and propositions A through H.

The political action committee, which is run by the mayor, has by far outpaced a group opposed to the propositions in both fundraising and spending, according to the latest campaign filings.

White's group raised $421,000 from July 1 to Sept. 28 and spent $699,000, much of it on television advertising. As of the filing deadline this week, the committee still had $677,000 on hand, thanks to a $750,000 loan from Redstone Bank.

Continental, which this week began handing out thousands of yard signs, said its political action committee called the Committee to Save Houston Airport Jobs has spent $184,000 as of Sept. 28 on the campaign. It has contributions of $782,000, which include in-kind contributions such as billboards carrying its message.

The opposition committee, "Let the People Vote, Houston," raised just $500, but spent about $58,000 after $64,500 in loans by Hotze, its treasurer.

Heh. So in other words, it's Bruce Hotze Versus The World. A good rule of thumb is that if Bruce Hotze opposes something, it's probably worth supporting. In this case, that's certainly true.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 13, 2006 to Local politics | TrackBack