Voters to revisit Prop 2 revenue cap in fall

[WestHoustonDem]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4137750.html

Aug. 24, 2006, 7:40AM
Voters to revisit Prop 2 revenue cap in fall
Ballot to include measure to amend it, request for more public safety funds

By MATT STILES
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

A measure asking voters to reconsider a broad city revenue cap they passed in 2004 will be on this fall's ballot because of City Council action Wednesday.

The panel agreed to put measures on the Nov. 7 ballot that would amend the cap and raise more public safety money. The decision ended a lengthy meeting that included an extraordinary three-hour delay so Mayor Bill White could meet with critics of the plan.

Voters will decide whether to alter the revenue cap known as Proposition 2, which limits annual growth in all city revenue to the combined rate of population increase plus inflation.

White wants voters to remove the cap from the city's mostly self-sustaining "enterprise funds," which pay for airports, the water and sewer system and convention facilities without using property taxes.

Property and sales taxes produce revenues in the general fund, which pays for core city operations such as police and fire protection, libraries and parks. Growth in the general fund is capped under a White-backed measure known as Proposition 1 that voters also approved two years ago.

"I want to run this city in a way that respects the basic intent of Prop 1 and Prop 2 and also allows us to remove any impediments in those propositions that mess up our ability to deliver basic public services," the mayor said. "People can find common ground where we run the city in a fiscally conservative position."

Voters also will be asked Nov. 7 to approve a second measure that would let the city raise $90 million in additional revenue that the mayor says might be needed to hire more police officers and fund a recent firefighter raise.

Wednesday's council action came after a flurry of votes on proposed amendments and procedural moves by council members Shelley Sekula-Gibbs and Addie Wiseman that could have delayed passage of the overall measure past Monday — the deadline for getting the measures on the ballot.

In an unusual move, the council postponed its final vote to 4 p.m., so White could meet with key Proposition 2 backers to build consensus.

The Proposition 2 proponents in the meeting — former Councilman Carroll Robinson, Republican state Senate candidate Dan Patrick, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt and local businessman Bruce Hotze — emerged disappointed that they only met with White on Wednesday.

Robinson said the group was heartened that White agreed in recent weeks to let the council scale back some of the proposed revisions. They also hoped the council might hold an emergency meeting Monday — the last time the panel could alter the ballot language by law — to address other concerns.

White said such an emergency meeting still is possible.

"He has come a long way down the road, but we didn't make it all the way home," Robinson said. "We're willing to wait and hear what the mayor has to say."

Specifics of the dispute
Prop 2 backers dubbed their cap a taxpayer's bill of rights, intended to curb city spending.

White has said Proposition 2 could have unpredictable effects on city finances. It requires, for example, that city funds collected in a given year from water and sewer fees not increase the next year more than the rate of inflation and population. The problem, White has said, is that water use fluctuates widely with the weather, and a rainy year could produce lower revenues. If a drought followed the next year, and more money flowed in, the city might have to cut water service to stay under the cap.

Voters approved both propositions in 2004. Proposition 1 received more votes, and the city contended that meant only it would take effect. Proposition 2 backers won a court order forcing the city to recognize both. That ruling is on appeal.

After it reconvened, council approved the two measures for the ballot, with Wiseman and Sekula-Gibbs voting "no."

Councilman Michael Berry, who won passage of an amendment stating that water and sewer revenues can be spent only on that system, said the vote would let the city know precisely what voters wanted two years ago. Wiseman said voters had spoken on the cap in 2004 and that White's rationale for the changes was overblown.

"To suggest that we have any impending doom is a misrepresentation," she said.

But Berry said he doesn't think most voters really wanted to cap airport and convention revenues, which some argue would stymie development of those systems.

"I feel comfortable and confident that we are capturing the essence of what voters intended, or at least the vast majority," said Berry, who was initially skeptical of White's plan.

Sekula-Gibbs unsuccessfully sought to retain the cap for water and sewer revenue so the city, she said, could "keep control" of that money.

[PDittie]

1. Why do we get a picture of your car

with this? :P

(I think you'll have to edit down to the standard four paragraphs, anyway...)

[WestHoustonDem]

2. That's not my car - do you see any DVO magnets?

Somehow the cut & paste managed to include the ad. Fixed.

Hey - those are tiny little paragraphs anyway.

[Lisa0825]

3. I hate one-sentence paragraphs!

I usually squish them into multiple sentence paragraphs so I can get a dozen or so in without getting dinged!