The city got some good financial news at the end of last week — a boost in its financial rating — but there was this ominous tidbit tucked away at the end of Matt Stiles’ story for the Chronicle:
The Moody’s assessment also includes “challenges” that could negatively affect the city’s position, including large long-term liabilities in the pension funds and a pending legal challenge of the revenue-cap measure.
Many Houstonians are probably under the mistaken impression that the problems with the municipal employees pension fund were solved some time ago. In reality, the massive long-term liability was reduced slightly — and then Mayor White promptly moved on to other priorities. Unfortunately, the long-term problem remains, and will no doubt be revisited after Bill White has moved on and Houston has a new mayor.
