City bonds
Houston’s future depends on passage of the bonds, especially the pension fix.
We Houstonians have a lot on our plates right now. We’re struggling to recover from the worst natural disaster in our history. The Astros are making a dazzling run at the World Series. And our most beloved defensive end —“Say it ain’t so, J.J.” — is out for the season.
With all these distractions, it’s easy to forget one of the most important Election Days in our city’s history is less than a month away. Voters will pass judgment on a series of critical bond issues, and if they fail, Houston will be in very big trouble.
The key referendum, Proposition A, is a solution to Houston’s potentially disastrous pension problem. A complex deal ushered through the Texas Legislature by Mayor Sylvester Turner would reduce the $8.2 billion unfunded pension burden now carried by Houston taxpayers to $5.2 billion. Union leaders representing police officers and municipal employees have agreed to sacrifice benefits worth roughly $1.8 billion. But the whole arrangement depends upon voters approving a $1 billion bond issuance, one of five city bonds on the ballot.
The pension bond wouldn’t raise taxes, nor would it increase the public debt. Houston already owes this money to its retired employees; this deal will take care of a debt that’s already on the books. The bonds will be paid off over the course of three decades. By coincidence, this happens to be a good time for the city to borrow money. This is like refinancing your mortgage when interest rates are low.
On the other hand, Turner bluntly and accurately told the Chronicle’s editorial board, if the pension obligation bonds go down, “it’s worse than the financial impact of Harvey.” Before this deal was struck, our city government was staring at the grim prospect of laying off more than 2,000 employees, about 10 percent of its workforce, a cut that would almost certainly impact police and firefighters.
This bipartisan solution would finally put a cap on the city government’s pension liability. That’s the main reason it has been endorsed by staunch fiscal conservatives like state Sen. Paul Bettencourt.
Meanwhile, four other bond proposals would pay for facilities and equipment at everything from police and fire stations to city parks and libraries. At a time when our police officers are driving around in cars that are more than a decade old, we voters need to pass these capital improvement bonds.
Early voting begins in a little less than two weeks on Oct. 23. Election Day is Nov. 7. Right now, thousands of Houstonians are living in hotels and temporary housing far away from their usual polling places, so it’s doubly important we all remember to cast our ballots. Houston’s future literally depends on it.