Getting its money's worth from storms

May 31, 2007

The City of Houston is slowly but surely recovering costs from its assistance in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to the monthly financial report presented in yesterday’s city council meeting.
City Controller Annise Parker, along with Finance and Administration Director Judy Johnson, have increased their projection for Intergovernmental revenue by $8.8 million cased on recovery costs from the Federal Emergency Management Association for the hurricanes expenditures made out of the General Fund.
However, additional reimbursements are still underway. Johnson said that while the City has received roughly $2 million for Fire Department EMS labor expenses, an additional $1 million has been requested for EMS equipment expenses.
“This request is currently in the FEMA review process,” said Johnson. “We should receive notice soon.”
Overall, Parker’s office is currently projecting that the General Fund will experience an increase of $33 million over the ending unreserved fund balance for 2006. These changes, Parker said, are the net result of a $13 million increase in projected revenues and a decrease of $1.9 million in expenditures over the prior month.
“We are seeing good, solid growth,” said Parker, also adding that next year’s fiscal budget is up another $5 million than projected in the proposal a few weeks ago.
With regard to expenditure projections, the city transferred $2.9 million of increased spending for computers and other information technology from the general government to various departments so that the bookkeeping accurately reflects the final appropriations ordinance approved by the council earlier this month.
Parker said there was also an additional net decrease of $2.8 million, resulting from a $1.1 million increase in claims and judgments, decreases of $2.4 million in contingency’s, and $1.5 million offset in elections due to Harris County’s participation in the election.
In other city news, there were concerns among council members as to when they will be able to view the annual report for 2006.
Councilmember Addie Wiseman’s concerns particularly arose due to the upcoming public hearings on next year’s budget.
“Who is responsible for the delay?” said Wiseman. “This is an issue of state law.”
In response, Parker explained that untimely closings from various departments led to unmet deadlines.
“The reports are still in the hands of the auditors,” she said, adding that her office should receive it in the mail immediately.
While there were a number of reasons for the delays, Parker assured council members no laws are being broken, explaining that a new law just went into effect that extends the deadline to September.
The upcoming hearing for next year’s fiscal budget will be held June 12 at 1:30 p.m. For more information contact the City’s Secretary’s office at 713-837-0311 or log on to www.houstontx.gov/citysec/index.html.