Houston controller Chris Brown writes that as COVID recovery funding wanes, the city is...
, I sounded the alarm to bring attention to the city’s growing unfunded retiree health benefit liabilities, the natural progression of an aging workforce and rising health care costs. Each year since elected, I’ve sounded the alarm to warm against the habitual passage of structurally imbalanced budgets.between $160 million and $200 million. Traditionally these shortfalls were plugged by the sale of land, capital assets or pulling from savings. We consider these “nonrecurring” funding sources.
However, in recent years the administration has used federal COVID recovery funding — also nonrecurring — to plug this deficit.I believe that the robust sales tax receipts seen in recent months are buoyed by the waning federal stimulus are temporary and bound to taper off as the inflationary effects felt by residents depresses household discretionary spending.My office isexpenditures will increase by 4.32 percent, compared to the prior year, while revenues are only expected to increase by 2.
Houston City Controller Chris Brown and his wife, Divya Brown, acknowledge the crowd after he was sworn-in during the City of Houston inauguration day event held at the Wortham Center Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020.City Council will enjoy the largest fund balance — or “savings” — in recent history. My office projects to be $204.8 million.
But despite this healthy fund balance, the consequences of years of inaction in narrowing our structural deficit will force the next mayor to exhaust a fund balance anticipated to be smaller than our projected deficit before returning to the practice of selling assets or land to balance the budget.
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