Can successfully kicked down the road.
Mayor John Whitmire
Mayor John Whitmire and plaintiffs in Houston’s drainage lawsuit have reached a deal on how the city will fund future street and drainage projects, slashing a third of its $330 million budget deficit.
The news was first reported late Tuesday evening by ABC13.
The Texas Supreme Court in January struck down the city’s appeal in the case, which requires Houston to put millions more toward street and drainage projects each year. Bob Jones and Allen Watson, two engineers who helped pioneer a city ordinance to put a certain percentage of property taxes aside for such projects, had sued the city arguing it was shortchanging the drainage fund.
The case pinged back and forth between courts before the city accepted the denial in January. Whitmire has said previously the city intended to comply with the court’s decision.
The dropped appeal ballooned what was once a deficit of $230 million to $330 million for this fiscal year alone. Houston would have had to shell out $100 million to fund projects before the end of June. Members of Whitmire’s team have been in talks with Jones and Watson about phasing in the expenditures to soften the blow to this year’s budget.
ABC13 reported that the deal reached with the plaintiffs will allow Houston to give $16 million to the fund this fiscal year and $48 million the following year. Houston should have the full amount paid by 2028, ABC13 reported.
Chris Newport, the mayor’s chief of staff, said funding will come from three main pots — Metro, ad valorem taxes and the drainage charge. City leaders plan to incrementally charge a percentage of the 11.8 cents per $100 of property tax evaluation required by the city law for the next two years, then charging the full 11.8 cents from 2028 onward to fully stock the drainage fund.
That math will get Houston $490 million in its drainage fund in 2026, $525 million in 2027, $540 million in 2028 and $585 million in 2029, Newport said.
See here and here for the background. Can-kicking jokes aside, this is good. It takes some of the pressure off for this year, and it gives us time to repeal or revise the stupid revenue cap so that we can better absorb the extra costs in future years. Kudos to all for hammering this out. Houston Public Media has more.
Why do today what can be put off till tomorrow? Whitmire is doing exactly what he accuses Turner of doing.
I am glad that he did it. Let us see if his budget also helps.
“Eliminating waste, fraud, and inefficiency” is a nice slogan to run on, but as actual conservatives keep finding out (at least since the time of St. Ronald of Santa Barbara) it’s not enough actual money to balance a budget.
Metro is amazing. It can fund everything in the city of Houston but actual Metro projects.