Guest Commentary Archives - Page 2 of 5

Noteware: How do we rate? Not good, but better than the rating agencies

July 1, 2017 Jim Noteware

Recently a concerned reader asked: “If Houston’s finances are so atrocious, then why does the City still have a credit rating of AA?” I answered him, “You should call and ask them; please let me

Noteware: The firefighters agreement: What the city should do instead

July 1, 2017 Jim Noteware

My previous column presented my reasons why the City should not approve the agreement with the Firefighters regarding deferring payments into its pension fund. What City leaders should do, however, is at least two new

Noteware: The City: Fighting fire with firefighters?

July 1, 2017 Jim Noteware

On Friday the 13th (March 13, that is), I was invited to testify before a special meeting of City Council, called by four brave members to hold public discussion on an “agreement” that Mayor Parker,

Noteware: Why the City of Houston Should Want No Part of BANKRUPTCY

July 1, 2017 Jim Noteware

The City of Houston has not been paying all its bills. It has funded its deficits by borrowing — from its employees’ pension funds, from bondholders and others. Meanwhile, the City’s Long Term Financial Management

Noteware: Preparing for Pension Reform in Houston is as Easy as 1-2-3

July 1, 2017 Jim Noteware

Over the past few weeks, many of Houston’s leaders – members of City Council, business executives, journalists, etc. – have posed the question to me: “What can we do to fix the City’s pension problems?”

Noteware: What the CAFR Does Not Say: When Your Head’s in the Sand, There’s a Lot Still Exposed

July 1, 2017 Jim Noteware

The previous article demonstrated that the City of Houston is in deep financial trouble, losing population and jobs, while expenses grow faster than record revenues and while the pension problem (the greatest issue confronting the

Noteware: What Does the CAFR Say? – “When You’re in a Hole, Quit Digging”

July 1, 2017 Jim Noteware

Late in the afternoon of December 26, 2014 — a post-Christmas Friday holiday for many — the City of Houston released its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for fiscal year 2014, just meeting the legal

Noteware: Best to Bust: What Happens if Oil Prices Stay Down and Interest Rates Don’t?

July 1, 2017 Jim Noteware

For the past several months, the international press has been fixated with reporting on the unexpected but dramatic slide in world oil prices – from a high of $107 per barrel in June 2014 to

Noteware: Pension reform can no longer be postponed

July 1, 2017 Jim Noteware

In previous articles, I discussed the explosive growth of City of Houston expenditures over the past twelve years. The per capita cost of City government has risen 46% over that time, and the City projects

Noteware: Eliminating Prop 1 will not solve, and may exacerbate, Houston’s systemic fiscal problems

July 1, 2017 Jim Noteware

To address the City of Houston’s unsustainable fiscal trajectory, several current (and aspiring) elected officials have proposed increasing property taxes. They seem to view the City’s chronic deficits of more than a decade as a