Subject:

Public Finance

  • Blogs

    February 23, 2012

    HISD Takes Another Run at Standardizing School-Day Start and End Times

    Could be required reading in all of HISD next year.​Superintendent Terry Grier is making another run at cutting Houston ISD expenses by standardizing school schedules throughout the district, after last year's narrow rejection of the measure by board trustees. His administration says that by ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 21, 2011

    TCEQ Says No to Millions of Dollars in Tax Breaks for Valero

    ​Area school districts and cities had to be breathing a big sigh of relief today as news came out that the executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said "no" to handing out large tax breaks to Valero that would have made things even worse for cash-strapped government ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 6, 2011

    HISD: Searches For Ways To Stanch Bleeding Budget, Mentions Taxes

    Photo by Mandy OaklanderPaula Harris helmed an emergency HISD meeting this morning.​This morning, an emergency meeting was called by HISD officials who are growing more desperate as severe budget cuts looms closer. About 10 parents sat in Pin Oak Middle School's cafeteria and listened to board ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 27, 2011

    UH Student Senate Supports Gays In The "Family Values Centers" Budget Fight

    Coogs embrace the unchaste​The student senate at the University of Houston has decided that even if some Aggies are wailing about "unchaste" gay sex, UH students oppose the bill mandating "Family Values" Centers on any Texas campuses that have gay resource groups. (Maybe the Coogs just don't ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 13, 2010

    Ron Paul: This Is Your Moment, The New York Times Says

    Ron Paul's time to shine​The New York Times has officially announced it is time to stop laughing at Ron Paul, the Sage of Brazoria County, and pay attention to his vindication. The paper writes that Paul's detractors must eat crow now that the Tea Party and Libertarians have raised him up as ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 3, 2010

    Tea Party Congressmen From Texas Love Their Earmarks

    Damn those earmarks!! Except mine​Brave, insightful, brilliant, not-at-all-crazy U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann founded the Congressional Tea Party Caucus to save America from Muslim presidents and stop federal spending by stopping earmarks, the modern term for pork-barrel projects. Republicans i ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 21, 2010

    Terry Grier Sticks HISD Principals With $19 Million Bill (Updated)

    UPDATE: News flash from Houston ISD: Summer School will go on, just maybe not in the way it previously operated. And the $19 million shortfall may not be quite that high. See end of post. Photo by Margaret Downing Terry Grier: you're on your own, principals​Houston ISD principals are going ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 18, 2010

    Mario Gallegos Continues His Anti-Terry Grier Letter Writing Campaign

    Gallegos is writing, but he's not hearing back from Grier​State Senator Mario Gallegos has continued to dictate letters since calling for Houston ISD superintendent Terry Grier to leave in an earlier letter, saying Grier was going to ruin the lives of students here.In his latest set of letters -- ... More >>

  • News

    May 13, 2010

    Blowing Smoke

    Could Valero empty the coffers of Texas schools?

  • Blogs

    May 12, 2010

    Valero's Tax Ploy: Is It Really Doomsday For Schools And Cities?

    Are cities and school districts panicking?​Until the day comes when people jump for joy over paying taxes, they will look under every nook and cranny for loopholes that let them save as much as they can. It works the same way for businesses, and you generally never hear about it. But in the past f ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 28, 2010

    Frank Wilson Survival Watch, Day 3: Spanish Bombs

    ​How long will the embattled Metro president last? Hair Balls presents today's installment of the Frank Wilson Survival Watch. 1. The Federal Transit Administration sends Frank Wilson a damning letter. Dorval Carter, the FTA's chief counsel, alerted Wilson at the end of last week that the feds are ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 1, 2010

    HISD's Very Own Blackboard Jungle

    ​Fondren Middle School is "a blackboard jungle. The efforts that are required there are Herculean...The kids at Fondren have to learn how to come to school and where the school is located."Trustee Larry Marshall, not known for mincing words when he considers something unacceptable (famous Larr ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 25, 2010

    HISD Employs Shazam-You're-a-Magnet Strategy In Effort To Save Schools

    Photo by Margaret Downing​Under a proposal unveiled today by Superintendent Terry Grier and his staff, Jones High School, for years now one of the most academically troubled schools in the Houston school district, will be turned into a science, technology, engineering and math magnet with a specia ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 16, 2010

    Fort Bend ISD Pulls Back From The Brink (A Little) With Its Expensive New Science Center

    Illustration courtesy FBISD​We've noted before the Fort Bend school district's plans to build a very expensive but not overly needed "Science Center" that will take the place of all those labs in individual schools.The price tag is around $24 million, the plans are by an architectural firm that sp ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 15, 2009

    Down Payment Blues: Musicians With Tax Trouble

    Finished that tax return yet? Not to worry: you've still got a few hours until midnight, and the post offices are open late. Over the years, these musicians have gotten in hot water with their countries' internal-revenue collectors as well... Bono Forever a proponent of all things charitable, ... More >>

  • Calendar

    February 19, 2009
  • Blogs

    February 11, 2009

    The City Of Houston Takes On Orbitz And Priceline

    The City of Houston and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority are currently suing multiple travel websites such as Orbitz and Priceline over tax revenues it claims the sites owe it. Online travel sites pay wholesale prices to hotels for rooms and then customers book those rooms at a mark-up fro ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 10, 2008

    Finally, Someone Who Wasn't Bitching About The High Price Of Gas

    The City of Houston and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority are currently suing multiple travel websites such as Orbitz and Priceline over tax revenues it claims the sites owe it. Online travel sites pay wholesale prices to hotels for rooms and then customers book those rooms at a mark-up fro ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 30, 2007

    Dead Voucher Walking

    The City of Houston and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority are currently suing multiple travel websites such as Orbitz and Priceline over tax revenues it claims the sites owe it. Online travel sites pay wholesale prices to hotels for rooms and then customers book those rooms at a mark-up fro ... More >>

  • News

    January 13, 2005

    Double-Wide Divide

    Critics say Perry's turnpike plans will take a terrible toll on Texans

  • News

    June 24, 2004

    Tax Cuts for Some

    Bugged about property taxes? Buy a skyscraper.

  • News

    January 15, 2004

    Moving Target

    The city is rolling out the welcome mat for CITGO. But many workers want the company to get lost.

  • News

    June 12, 2003

    Bill's Bargain Tax Bill

    The county says a candidate's home value is no White lie

  • News

    May 29, 2003

    Glass Houses

    Mayoral candidate Michael Berry might want to vet his own supporters' bill-paying histories

  • News

    October 18, 2001

    Fine Arts Fallout

    Will local groups get hammered by the post-terrorist hotel tax dive?

  • News

    September 27, 2001

    Close Quarters

    Questions about conflicts of interest and motives cloud a $77 million city housing deal

  • News

    July 26, 2001

    Tax Rebate Waste?

    Lest tax payers forget about the rebate, U.S. Rep John Culberson drives the message home with $36,000 worth of mailings

  • News

    July 12, 2001

    Beating the Bush

    Take one tax rebate, a Houston man advises, and apply liberally

  • News

    October 12, 2000

    The Mod Squad

    With Brown adrift, can this trio carry the ball?

  • News

    September 28, 2000

    Taxing Tales

    Two trustees didn't pay their bills, even if HCCS wants yours to go higher

  • News

    August 3, 2000

    Tax Lean

    Want a subsidy for your corporate expansion? Local governments are ready with millions in property-tax abatements -- and very little oversight.

  • News

    December 30, 1999

    Houston's Big Experiment

    The city's first TIRZ set many precedents -- not all of them good

  • News

    December 16, 1999

    Zoned Out

    An A.G.'s opinion only adds to the questions over Houston's special tax districts

  • News

    September 9, 1999

    Working Every Angle

    The city of Houston is exploiting loopholes in state law to lavish big bucks on private developers

  • News

    August 5, 1999

    Dubious Deal

    Special tax zones are already stimulating growth-a thriving cottage industry of attorneys, lobbyists, high paid consultants, developers and questionable financial projections

  • News

    July 29, 1999

    Landrush

    The city of Houston is being carved into special taxing districts, promising windfalls for some, financial burdens for others

  • News

    June 10, 1999

    Campaign Appearances

    For Bush, the legislative session shows it's better to look good than do good

  • News

    March 25, 1999

    More Payne for the IRS

    Prolonged agency abuses bring a Houston attorney $1.5 million

  • News

    October 29, 1998

    Easygoing George W. Bush

    With help from Democrats Pete Laney and Bob Bullock, Bush has been a Republican governor Texans love. But who'll be his pals if he sets his sights on the presidency?

  • News

    June 18, 1998

    Attacking the Taxman

    James Farmer and Cliff Williams do their best to irk the IRS

  • News

    June 4, 1998

    No Relief in Sight

    Traffic congestion will remain a problem for westside streets as the Westpark Tollroad and the HOV-lane projects are stalled

  • News

    February 26, 1998

    What a deal!

    Joe Fuentes has no staff, no office, no documentation of the people he says he's helped, but hey, he's a good guy. Let's give him half a million dollars-plus.

  • News

    November 6, 1997

    The Mall That Ate Katy

    Big money, big lobbyists, big tax breaks. The Mills Corporation is bringing one of its "megamalls" to Katy, and it's hardly business as usual in the little town on the prairie.

  • News

    February 20, 1997

    Sportin' Life

    Big money, big lobbyists, big tax breaks. The Mills Corporation is bringing one of its "megamalls" to Katy, and it's hardly business as usual in the little town on the prairie.

  • News

    April 11, 1996

    Archer's Way

    Don't like the IRS? Neither does Bill Archer. And now the mild-mannered Houston congressman is pushing a radical plan to shut it down.

  • News

    March 21, 1996

    A Taxing Situation

    What are the penalties in Harris County's tax collection deal with Heard, Goggan?

  • News

    June 1, 1995
  • News

    June 16, 1994

    Passing the Budget Buck

    The hospital district gives the county $30 million, it gets a budget back. Good deal.

  • News

    May 12, 1994

    A Taxing Situation

    When the tax assessor raises the value of one house on a block through the roof, the question is: Who's next?

  • More >>

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