We’re not out of the woods
After discussing budget cuts such as a hiring freeze and delaying a planned software update, Pearland City Council on Monday approved the city staff’s plan for dealing with a recent budget mistake that resulted in a $10 million shortfall.
The budget amendment approved on Monday does not call for a hiring freeze or staff cuts.
“We’re not out of the woods, but this helps stabilize us,” Mayor Kevin Cole said regarding the plan that uses city reserve funds, lowers transfers into the city’s motor pool fund and cuts a planned $300,000 update to the Unified Development Code.
The council on Monday approved a second reading of the budget amendment to address immediate impacts of the shortfall. Uncovered in November, the mistake reportedly happened when data provided by the Harris County Appraisal District was incorrectly input on a tax rate calculation worksheet in Brazoria County, and the worksheet was used by Pearland city staff to create the city’s budget and tax rate.
“Staff has put together a plan that shores that up,” Cole said, adding that more will be known in a few months after an assessment and recommendations are completed by an outside firm.
Councilman Alex Kamkar motioned to amend the plan by cutting more general operating expenses, including a hiring freeze and requesting each department cut just over 1 percent of its budget. That motion failed 4-2, with only Kamkar and Councilman Woody Owens supporting it.
“I’m not comfortable making those cuts from the dais at the 11th hour,” Councilman Tony Carbone said.
“There’s about 23 positions available today,” Cole said. “Eleven of those are in police; three are telecommunications officers.”
“We’ve got a clearer picture of our budget’s future,” Councilman Adrian Hernandez said. “It may not be the future that we wanted, but it’s the future that we got.”
More information regarding the City of Pearland’s budget shortfall can be found at pearlandtx.gov.
