Houston's Pension Woes Dominate Lege Hearing

Houston City Council now qualifies as a place so dysfunctional that even a Texas House committee can get a laugh out of it.

Ray Hunt, speaking on behalf of the Houston Police Officers Union, was a high level of frustrated as he strode to the podium in the House Pensions Committee at the Legislature last night, lambasting city leaders and claiming they've pulled police officers and city workers into their fight with the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association.

Mayor Annise Parker wants to stanch the hemorrhage that is the mounting liability of the firefighters pension plan, now up to $1.8 billion. But Hunt argued it was hard to trust the decisions of a Council that he claims is incapable of controlling its own spending.

When Houston declared a $13 million surplus at the end of its last budget, Houston City Council could have taken that money to pay down debt. Instead, the money was divvied up 13 ways so each Council member had $1 million in additional discretionary spending. Hunt was flummoxed by the decision.

Read more: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/news/2015/04/houstons_pension_woes_dominate_lege_hearing.php