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City controller sounds alarm on Houston's looming budget shortfall
Houston faces a substantial budget shortfall, potentially resulting in over 2,000 layoffs, as City Controller Chris Brown and the Greater Houston Partnership express concerns.
Houston - Houston City Controller Chris Brown: " The facts remain we have a structurally imbalanced budget - we agree, we have always agreed -so what is the plan to address that, because two hundred million in fund balance is probably going to get the next administration through Christmas and then there is going to have to be cuts."
City controller Chris Brown telling a somber council that the current administration has left the next - with a looming budget hole so profound it may require the lay-off of more than two thousand municipal employees to fill.
Brown's analysis underscores that of the Greater Houston Partnership - which also identified billions of dollars worth of pending liabilities.
HOUSTON BUDGET "UNBALANCED" and "UNSUSTAINABLE"
Chris Brown told City Council and Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin, "We spent a lot of time arguing about the report, we are arguing about the speed at which the car is heading to the cliff."
City Budget Director Will Jones publicly acknowledged the structural imbalance...but suggested the Houston partnership exaggerated the severity.
For its part GHP, issued revisions to the report Friday but emphasized the fundamental conclusion of the city's dangerous financial shortfall remained unchanged.
Mayor Turner says he will address these serious concerns at the next council meeting.
Mayor defends city's financial position