by David Rosen
Daily Court Review
Houston City Controller Annise Parker on Wednesday called the city’s budget “approximately balanced” as of December, thanks to a $3.6 million increase in city revenue and $600,000 decrease in departmental spending.
Parker, giving her monthly financial report at yesterday’s city council meeting, said the increase in revenue was largely because of an increase in franchise fees, solid waste hauler fees and decorative lighting fees. The savings in departmental spending, Parker said, was due to management of sick time and vacation time from within the Houston Fire Department.
Meanwhile, water and sewer sales were expected to decrease $3 million in January, in part due to heavy rainfall, Parker said.
Parker also said the city’s $1.9 billion investment pool — up $131 million from a year prior — is safe from fallout from the subprime mortgage meltdown that has recently hurt financial markets and prompted the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates last week and again yesterday.
“I want to stress the volatility will continue, but I want to again assure council that there has been no impact on our investment, and while the city does invest in mortgages and commercial paper, our investments are of a very high quality and don’t expect any losses on those types of investments,” Parker said.
The city has stopped investing in commercial paper from broker dealers like UBS and Citigroup, which recently has seen a slew of financial woes, Parker said.
But while the subprime crisis is unlikely to affect the city’s investments, local officials will closely monitor the fate of bond insurers, which are under increasing strain. Parker said if groups like MBIA get into financial trouble, it could affect the way the city does business because Houston uses insurers to guarantee the bonds it issues. “We believe these insurance agencies will receive capital infusions,” Parker said.
Mayor Bill White told council he expected next year’s city budget to grow, driven by expanding health benefits for city employees, an increase in salaries for firefighters and police officers after collective bargaining agreements with both unions, an increase in salaries for civilian employees and reducing the amount the city borrows to pay its pension debt.
Council also passed an ordinance regulating the construction of electric fences within city limits after an hour and a half long debate.
District A Councilmember Toni Lawrence attempted to assuage the concerns of her colleagues regarding safety by amending the ordinance to require a six foot tall non-electrified fence to be built around any electrified fence, and by keeping electrified fences from within five feet of public right-of-ways. Her amendment, and the ordinance itself, passed by identical 9-5 margins.
At-Large Councilmember Melissa Noreiga attempted to amend the motion to prevent electric fences from being built adjacent to a residential lot, but withdrew her amendment after District C Councilmember Anne Clutterbuck and others claimed the amendment would effectively prevent some of the most vulnerable businesses from protecting themselves from crime.
District F Councilmember M.J. Khan also made an amendment to bar electrical fences from being built within 25 feet of an existing residential lot, but eventually withdrew his motion as well after other members pointed out that many lots in the city are only 50 feet wide.
The motion on the fences had previously been “tagged” a week ago by eight members of the Council — Noriega, Khan, At-Large Councilmember Peter Brown, At-Large Councilmember Jolanda Jones, District H Councilmember Adrian Garcia, District B Councilmember Jarvis Johnson, District I Councilmember James Rodriguez and District D Councilmember Wanda Adams.
A tag is when a motion is tabled for one week, and is normally placed either to get more information on a measure or to delay a vote long enough to lobby other members to support or shoot down a bill. Only one member needs to tag a bill to take it off the agenda.
White, Lawrence, Johnson, Clutterbuck, Rodriguez, Jones, District G Councilmember Pam Holm, At-Large Councilmember Sue Lovell and At-Large Councilmember Ronald Green ended up voting for the ordinance. Adams, Khan, Garcia, Brown and Noriega voted against the measure.
In other business, Council appropriated $6.4 million to buy 80 acres of land near Texas 288 and turn it into an amateur sports complex as a public works project, in what Brown called a “savvy investment for the city.”
Wednesday’s meeting was the first time council met since the death of former Mayor Louie Welch, who served from 1964-73 and died Sunday. Garcia used a point of personal privilege to hold a moment of silence in the chamber in remembrance of Welch.
“We should be extremely proud and honored that Louie Welch was Mayor of the city when he was,” Garcia said.