It seems many important people don’t like what the voters said a couple of years ago, so Mayor White wants to make the voters say something different. KHOU-11’s Jeremy Desel has the story:
Houston voters will decide in November whether to basically roll back part of Proposition 2, a limited government city charter change supported by anti-tax activists.
Mayor Bill White, who spent much of Tuesday afternoon meeting privately with conservative backers of Proposition 2, passed through city council a measure that will put a new proposition on the ballot this year.
The council vote came during an unusual meeting at Houston City Hall. White, backed by a majority of councilmembers, basically split the usual Wednesday meeting into two parts. As councilmembers wandered off to lunch and other business, the mayor talked privately with conservative anti-tax activists. The council reconvened late in the afternoon and, following White’s lead, voted to put his proposition on the November ballot.
Proposition 2 basically restricts the growth of city government, establishing a complicated formula tying city revenue increases to population growth and economic inflation. If the city’s revenues exceed the formula’s restrictions, Proposition 2 requires the city government to somehow refund money to taxpayers.
Do you think when Jeremy Desel discovers he has overpaid for something, he expects a refund of the amount he overpaid? Do you think Mayor White expects a refund when his insurance company overcharges him? Or a utility company? What about when he looks at his bill from a store and sees he has paid too much for something? Does he expect to be refunded what he overpaid or does he just tell the company to keep the money?
White’s plan would exclude from the formula so-called “enterprise funds,” such as the Aviation Department, which generate their own streams of income. The mayor argued that Proposition 2 could needlessly force cuts in essential city services that aren’t linked to the “enterprise funds.” For example, the mayor suggested, after a good year at the airports, Houston might be forced to cut public safety expenses.
Continental Airlines actively supported White’s position, arguing that Proposition 2 could restrict the growth of Houston’s airports and eventually cost airline employees their jobs.
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In addition, a separate proposition will allow the city government to spend up to $90-million beyond Proposition 2’s limits, provided the money is spent on public safety.
So, what’s Mayor White doing with that big surplus the city is sitting on? Is it going to public safety? Or is it going to an African-American Cultural Museum? Maybe it’s going to pay for anti-panhandling ads. What else has the city been wasting money on lately that just can’t possibly be refunded back to taxpayers? I doubt much has gone toward road repair or graffiti abatement.
RELATED COVERAGE: Chronicle.
