Props G and H may be illegal in that they both seek to change and/or are in conflict with the Prop 2 Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) amendment to the City charter that was approved by voters in November 2004. Supposedly a City charter amendment cannot be changed or amended while it is still in litigation. Mayor Bill White and city council still have under appeal the lower court judge’s ruling granting Bruce Hotze et al’s request for a summary judgment that the November 2004 Props 1 and 2 are not in conflict.

Prop H may be illegal also due to being presented to the voters solely as an ordinance proposal when, in fact, it appears to be a charter amendment. In order for a charter amendment to become law it must be presented to the voters specifically as a proposed charter amendment.

Prop H is, in fact, an attempted charter amendment, in that the ordinance authorizing Prop H (but not the ballot language, which is all that the voters will see) provides that the additional $90 million will be forever imbedded in revenue base amounts for future years. Encumbering general fund operating budgets past one year is not provided for by the city charter or by the state local government code.

Prop H also is in violation of the 2004 Prop 2 TABOR amendment to the City charter in that the Prop 2 TABOR requires that each budget year stands on its own. That is, voter approval for exceeding the Prop 2 TABOR cap does not carry over into the base computation for the following year.

Following are the exact ordinance and ballot languages pertaining to both Prop G and Prop H.

The City Charter of the City of Houston shall be amended by adding a new Section 21 to Article IX to read as follows:

Section 21. Exclusions from limits on City revenues.

1. Revenues of enterprise funds are not included in revenues limited by this Charter. The preceding provisions do not affect Charter limitations on the growth of property taxes or water and sewer rates contained in Article III, Section 1, and Article IX, Section 20, of this Charter.

Enterprise funds (e.g., the Airport System) are all those largely self-sufficient activities not funded with property tax revenues. To maintain the self-sufficiency of the Water and Sewer System, the revenues of that System can only be used for the purposes of that System, and limited drainage purposes, as set forth in the existing debt covenants of that System. Those revenues cannot be used for any other purpose.

2. For the purposes of calculating any revenue limitation in this Charter, amounts relating to termination of or reduced participation in a tax increment reinvestment zone shall be treated in the same manner as revenues from annexed areas in Article III, Section 1.
3. City Council may prescribe methods for complying with limits on revenues in this Charter to account for changes in accounting standards or practices.

Shall the City Charter of the City of Houston be amended, while preserving limitations on the growth of property tax revenues and water and sewer rates, to exclude from Charter limitations revenues of enterprise funds not funded with property taxes (e.g., the Airport System), and to make other adjustments allowing revenues to be treated consistently from one year to the next?

To pay for the public safety needs of an increased population, the City of Houston may collect revenues of $90 million for police, fire and emergency medical services and related communications and dispatch costs, so long as the Fiscal Year 2007 (Tax Year 2006) combined property tax rate is at or below the combined property tax rate in Fiscal Year 2006 (Tax Year 2005), notwithstanding any applicable revenue limitations in the Charter. Any amount collected under this authority must be spent on police, fire and emergency medical services and related communications and dispatch costs. This amount shall be added to any applicable revenue limitations in Fiscal Year 2007 (Tax Year 2006) and any base used to calculate revenue limitations in following budget years.” (Underlining added.)

Ballot Language Specified By The Ordinance:

Shall the City of Houston be authorized to collect and spend $90 million for increased police, fire and emergency medical services, without raising the tax rate?

VOTE NO TO ALL 8 CITY PROPOSITIONS A THROUGH H!