Why is Austin ISD considering a near double-digit budget increase while student enrollment is declining and property tax bills are soaring?
Spending one-time monies — like those in the reserve fund, on recurring expenses — like salaries, is never a good approach.
Contrary to the article, local debt is a major problem in the Bayou City.
There’s a wave of dystopia infecting cities across Texas that one-size-fits-all wages will solve workers cries for a “living wage.” It’s not what you think though. Their proposals are to increase only municipal worker wages, they leave out private sector workers who apparently don’t matter as much. Or, maybe city officials understand the costs that...
Will [San Antonio] residents see a 13.3 percent increase in the value of their city service [after raising the minimum wage]? Probably not.
Broadly speaking, policies enacted by [Texan] cities, counties, and school districts tend to favor government-centric solutions that often corrode individual liberty and economic freedom.
Once local pension control has been restored, then Texans in each of the affected communities, including Houston, can have a candid conversation about the best way to fix the problem.
When evaluating the financial health and well-being of Texas’ public pension systems, the Pension Review Board (PRB), the state agency charged with overseeing state and local retirement systems, considers a plan’s amortization period to be best measure.
Over the last few decades, a majority of private sector employers have abandoned defined benefit (DB) pension plans, which guarantee beneficiaries a lifetime of monthly benefits irrespective of the fund’s fiscal health, in favor of defined contribution (DC) plans, which are individual accounts that employers and employees can make contributions into.
With the City of Houston facing such large and growing problems, now is the time to make bold and lasting reforms.
Enshrined within the founding documents of both the United States and Texas is the belief that government derives its power from the consent of the governed.
In the last six months, unfunded liabilities for all state and local retirement systems have grown by nearly $500 million, or about $40 million every month.