Houston now has a real financial problem. The city's budget deficit has now jumped up to $330 million, all part of the mess left behind by the former mayor and his administration.
"These are all things that Mayor John Whitmire ended up inheriting" said former mayoral candidate Bill King, now a writer and fellow at the Baker Institute. "It certainly was plenty, and it was covered up with a bunch of federal money. And so all that was used to fill the gaps, well all that stuff is running out. So it's going to be some tough times, some real belt tightening I think."
Add to that, last week's ruling from the Texas Supreme Court that refused to hear an appeal on a charter amendment that was approved by voters twice, to spend $100 million on streets and drainage.
That prompted City Controller Chris Hollins to call for an emergency task force to try and solve the budget crisis, which then prompted Mayor Whitmire to call out Collins to "stop playing politics".
So, just how long is it going to take to fix?
"I think it's going to take a long time" King told KTRH, "Houston is in a difficult situation. People like Hollins think we ought to raise property taxes, I don't agree with that. I think people are paying enough property taxes."
Mayor Whitmire and the city just spent $585,000 for a 'citywide efficiency study' done by Ernst & Young, which recommendations could cut 15% off of the budget. We shall see.