There’s a lot less of them than there used to be. Between 2001 and 2010, Texas added only 2,578 drivers age 16 to 21 while the age group grew by more than 238,000 statewide, dropping the percentage with a license from 62.4 percent to 55.9 percent. Young adults who drive are doing so less often, [...]
Posts Tagged ‘economy’
Cornyn says relax, we won’t do it
Texas’ senior Senator reassures us that Republicans won’t destroy the global economy in order to gain political leverage. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the Republican whip, said in Houston Thursday that Congress will not allow an impasse over raising the debt ceiling to result in the federal government defaulting on its spending obligations. “We will [...]
City pension funds make their case
This deserves more visibility than it’s gotten. Representatives of Houston’s three employee pension boards told a Houston City Council committee Monday that the sky is not falling and pleaded with council members to be patient in examining the city’s pension obligations. The presentations from the firefighters’ pension, the municipal employees’ pension and the police pension [...]
The Sports Authority’s finances are back in the news
I still have no idea whether this is something we need to worry about or not. The firm that insures the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority’s $1 billion in bonds – sold to finance the homes of the Texans, Rockets and Astros – is calling on the cash-strapped authority to bolster its depleted reserves and warning [...]
Your other one-minute real estate update
Basically, real estate good in Houston. Inventory of homes for sale has fallen to a level not seen in more than a decade. Builders are trying to keep up with a growing demand from buyers relocating here for jobs. Realtors are going to new lengths to find properties for their buyer clients. A letter from [...]
The Houston Food Bank could use your help
Times are tough, y’all. Despite a growing demand, food banks, charities and pantries face a dwindling supply of products to distribute to Houston’s hungry this holiday season. Food banks in Houston and across the country have less to give away because the federal government is purchasing fewer excess farm products to stabilize agricultural prices. At [...]
The hospitality industry industry’s effect on the economy
I had the opportunity recently to attend a presentation by the Greater Houston Restaurant Association (GHRA) of a study they sponsored of the economic impact of the hospitality industry in Harris County. Here’s the high level view: The study found Houston’s hotels, restaurants and drinking establishments make significant annual contributions to the local economy. The [...]
Beer is still a job creator
We really owe a debt of gratitude to beer, in particular to microbrewers. Saint Arnold Brewing Co., the city’s oldest craft, has 43 employees and is in the midst of hiring at least three more, founder Brock Wagner said. That is about double the staff before production shifted to a new brewery with more capacity [...]
Cutting spending is always good for job creation
It must be true. A study by the University of Texas at San Antonio estimated that 20 counties in the Eagle Ford Shale supported 47,097 full-time jobs in 2011, a number that’s expected to grow to 116,972 full-time jobs by 2021. For now, many of the jobs in demand are for truckers. And a pay [...]
Regent Square gets off the ground
This has been a long time coming. More than five years after announcing plans for the 24-acre Regent Square project off Allen Parkway, GID Development Group has begun construction on the first building, a 21-story apartment tower called The Sovereign. [...] GID said it remains committed to Regent Square, which is to go up in [...]
What will the excuse for austerity be now?
We’re in the money, as it were. Comptroller Susan Combs on Wednesday released updated details of how much money Texas is expected to collect in taxes and fees in fiscal year 2013, which begins on Sept. 1. The report, prepared as Texas seeks $9.8 billion in short-term loans, indicated that the state will bring in [...]
Revenues rise, but reality recognition doesn’t
Good news and bad news, because we can’t have one without the other. The latest bit of positive fiscal news came Tuesday when the state comptroller released numbers showing that business tax collections in Texas had exceeded projections. Comptroller Susan Combs had estimated that the franchise tax paid by businesses would bring in about $4 [...]
The Mayor’s 2013 budget
What a difference a year – and better sales tax receipts and a better real estate market – makes. Mayor Parker has unveiled her budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, and it promises no service cuts, no layoffs, and no tax increase. Last year, the city issued 764 pink slips and cut services as budget [...]
A good year for real estate
Good news. Area housing prices will rise this year amid a strong local economy and a limited supply, economist Ted C. Jones said Tuesday at an annual symposium on real estate and the economy. Apartment rents could go up as much as 10 percent, which will encourage more people to become homeowners. The median price [...]
A deluxe efficiency in the sky
The hot trend in real estate is small apartments. Apartments in Houston are shrinking. As rents have gone up, developers have been building smaller units and a lot more of them to meet growing demand from apartment dwellers who want to live in cool new complexes but can’t afford larger units. In many new properties, [...]
It’s not so easy being green
For cities, anyway, at this time. College Station, the maroon-hued home of Texas A&M University, is finding it is not easy being green. Four years after launching an ambitious local effort to fight global warming, city leaders say their high hopes have fallen to hard economic realities, forcing them to abandon their green-at-all-costs approach. The [...]
Better budget news
For the city. The city of Houston may have $21 million more in income in the coming fiscal year than it had planned on before Wednesday. That’s when it got the news that the Harris County Appraisal District projects that taxable values in the city — and by extension, the amount of taxes it collects [...]
Property tax revenues still a year away
Getting better, but not quite there yet. Local governments should not expect an influx of property taxes to solve their budget woes this year, Harris County Appraisal District officials said Tuesday. Assistant Chief Appraiser Guy Griscom estimated the countywide tax base, based on a Jan. 1 snapshot that will be finalized this summer, will see [...]
Let’s party like it’s 2007!
Good news: The improving economy and steadily increasing sales tax receipts may mean that we won’t have another budget apocalypse in 2013. Bad news: The Republicans in the Lege will use this as an excuse to avoid fixing the state’s underlying revenue problems. The state’s rebounding economy should help Texas avoid another draconian budget session [...]
The Long-Range Financial Management Task Force report is out
A little light reading for your Sunday. The report generated criticism before the figurative ink was dry on it. Union leaders criticized the report before it was even delivered to the mayor, with Houston Organization of Public Employees President Melvin Hughes declaring the report an attack on employees. “It’s not about balancing the budget,” Hughes [...]
Doing business downtown
I have three things to say about this. Despite public and private attempts to revive a shopping scene downtown, the retail market has struggled. Some stores like Forever 21 and Books-A-Million have opened, but most of the activity in recent years has come from restaurants and bars. Turnover has been high. Last year, 16 street-level [...]
More thinking about growth
Since I’ve been carping about not enough talk about growth as a long-term financial management strategy for the city, I am compelled to note this op-ed in the Chron by newly elected HCC Trustee Carroll Robinson and Todd Clark, who are singing from my hymnal. We have to support and grow more local small businesses [...]
We’re #9!
Number Nine on The Street’s list of “10 Cities Poised For Greatness In 2012″. Which places us one behind Austin, and one ahead of…Rochester, NY? Whatever. Here’s what they say about our fair city. Houston Throughout the economic crisis, Houston has been the buttoned-down older brother to Austin’s hippie slacker. While college-boy Austin coasts by [...]
Thinking outside the box on the city’s finances
We’ve seen the ideas generated by the Long Term Financial Management Task Force, which I thought lacked a certain amount of breadth to its perspective. Here’s a taste of what else might be out there to think about. Good Jobs Great Houston, of which the Houston Organization of Public Employees is a member, held a [...]
Area job growth in 2012
We’ve seen a prediction for job growth in Texas for this year, now here’s some soothsaying about job growth in the Houston area for the year. The Greater Houston Partnership predicts the Houston area will add 84,600 jobs this year. Some economic observers are speculating the estimate may be conservative – especially since the most [...]
Job growth in 2012
Depending on how you look at it, there’s good news, or fair-to-middling news for the Texas job market next year. Texas job growth in 2012 will reach about 2 percent for the third consecutive year, Federal Reserve Senior Economist Keith Phillips said Tuesday. Two percent equates to a net increase of 200,000 jobs statewide, Phillips [...]
Real estate optimism
I’m glad to see that real estate experts are optimistic about the new year, but there are a couple of key questions left unanswered. While uncertainty in the global economy could hinder the nation’s (and Houston’s) recovery, those who work in the real estate business here remain optimistic going into 2012. Several offered forecasts for [...]
Who needs flood control?
Not Harris County, apparently. Harris County, despite a history of costly floods, appears likely to scale back its flood control work in the coming years in the face of declining federal funding. In a typical year, the county gets about $30 million in flood control work from the Army Corps of Engineers, Harris County Flood [...]