Among measures expected to boost cycling are the new safe pass law, the B-Cycle bike rental program and plans for a trail system through the Bayou Greenways project.

Promoting bicycle commuting has become a priority, said Laura Spanjian, sustainability director with Mayor Annise Parker‘s office.

“It’s really important to give people transportation options,” she said. “We want to improve our major roadways to do that and improve air quality.

“There are more bicyclists on the street and they grow everyday,” Spanjian said. “The mayor is extremely interested in bicycle infrastructure. Her commitment, coupled with the public’s craving for bicycle commuting, is why you see this momentum, this explosion in biking.”

Signs of the city’s increasing friendliness to cyclists include bike racks outside some businesses and on Metropolitan Transit Authority buses.

Recent approval of Houston’s safe pass ordinance provided an assurance for Houston cyclists. The law requires vehicles to keep 3 feet away when passing cyclists. Trucks or commercial vehicles must keep a distance of 6 feet.

The penalty is $500 per violation.

“That’s a huge victory for us,” said Jay Blazek Crossley, who works in program development and research for Houston Tomorrow, a nonprofit dedicated to improving regional quality of life. “It immediately makes our streets safer for everybody.”

Spanjian said bicycle sharing through the B-Cycle program, which is sponsored by the city and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, has taken off since its establishment. She reports that there are 130,000 rides a week through the rental program.

“We’re giving people bikes to ride,” she said.

The program is expanding, thanks to a $750,000 commitment by Blue Cross and to U.S. Department of Energy funding. Residents throughout Downtown, the East End, Midtown, Montrose, the Museum District and Hermann Park will have access to the bike-rental stations.

Rental bikes are now available at 18 new locations including four located along the light rail line. The self-service stations are available from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.

Membership in the program is available by day, week or year. All bikes are equipped with lights, a lock and a basket. Riders can take the bike anywhere and lock it up, even if no kiosk is available.

Membership rates are $5 for 24 hours, $15 for seven days or $65 for a year. Usage fees for each checkout range from free for the first 60 minutes to $2 for each additional 30 minutes.

Usage is averaging 1,300 boardings a week, according to the mayor’s office.

A map showing locations for the bike rental docks is at http://houston.bcycle.com.

The Bayou Greenways project will create a system of trails around bayous, said Chelsea Young, pedestrian-bicycle coordinator for the Houston-Galveston Area Council, a regional planning entity working to improve cycling infrastructure in the region.

Bayou Greenways will be funded through a $100 million bond issue approved by city voters in 2012 and through private fundraising.

“That’s a big thing,” she said. “You’re looking at benefits across a huge area. The value applies to a lot more people.”

Young regularly rides a bike around her home in the Heights.

“It’s easy, and it’s fun,” she said. “You save money, and it’s social. Plus businesses are accommodating bicycles more.”

Young has noticed more cyclists in the neighborhood lately.

“I definitely feel there has been a major push,” she said. “The initiatives from the city have helped a lot.”

H-GAC is compiling statistics of bike path use in the city, Young said.

“The thought is that by counting walkers and bikers, you can have a baseline,” she said. “Then that can help validate funding for projects.”

There are automated counters at two locations in the Heights area.

“It’s good to know who is out there, so we can create better connections,” she said.

Ultimately, neighborhoods are key in the establishment of a successful bicycle commuting program, Crossley said.

Crossley’s dream is the development of a “neighborhood greenways program” – a grid of residential streets with low traffic volumes, giving cyclists and pedestrians priority.

“Neighborhood greenways are the missing link,” he said.

“It’s crucial. We need high quality hike-and-bike infrastructure, but all of that will be for naught if you can’t get out the door, if your neighborhood isn’t safe.”

Crossley is part of the Complete Streets movement, which works to make roadways safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

About 40 percent of Houstonians do not drive, whether it is because of age, disability, income or preference, he said.

“We should make our streets safe for all uses,” Crossley said. “We’ve actually seen some big wins lately.”

Crossley believes that helping bicyclists will improve the environment in the city and the health of its residents.

“We have terrible traffic problems,” he said. “All those have to do with the fact that we’re subsidizing sprawl. We need to turn that around.”

He said public interest in alternate forms of transportation has increased.

“I think we’re on the leading edge of change in Houston,” Crossley said. “We’re definitely taking the right steps now, but we have a ways to go.”

Below are synopses of the IT department and the Houston Airport System (click for video of the presentations). This, thankfully, covers all the budget hearings. For all the others, click here, here, here, here and here.

IT (click for budget presentation slides)

The city is stepping up investments in information technology in this budget, with many of those spread throughout the departments. But IT Director Charles Thompson also is seeing a budget bump, going from $52.6 million to $59.5 million ($21.3 million of that in the general fund).

The single largest chunk of the department’s 212.4 FTEs (66, to be precise) is devoted to infrastructure.

Part of the budget increase is driven by renewing software and other licenses, and a project to consolidate the city’s data centers from seven sites to one. It’s also driven by the addition of 17 staff to work with the new 700 MHz radio system that will let city and county public safety agencies more easily communicate (HFD went online April 29 and HPD joined on May 7). Here is some background.

The two largest pending projects that will be completed this fiscal year are a records management system for the police department, slated to be done in December, and a records management system for the Municipal Courts, which has an estimated delivery date of May 2014. Historic cost overruns in this CSMART program prompted a switch to a fixed-price contract earlier this year.

The only testy exchange at the hearing came when Thompson declined to confirm for Councilman C.O. Bradford, his main questioner, the total cost figures for those two projects; not because he didn’t know, he said, but because he didn’t want to provide inaccurate answers.

“The purpose of the meeting today is to discuss numbers,” an incredulous Bradford said.

For the record, CSMART is projected to cost $42.4 million, and the police records project is projected to cost $39.5 million.

Airport (click for budget presentation slides)

The airport system (Bush, Hobby, and Ellington Field) is funded entirely by fees, not taxes. Mainly these are collected from airlines, concessions, parking and car rentals. The airport system expects to collect $450.3 million in the coming fiscal year, and to spend $278.4 million of that, excluding debt service. Including debt service, the system will have $51.3 million left over to put toward capital projects.

Airport director Mario Diaz said a lot of effort in the coming fiscal year will go to planning the future of Terminal D, the international terminal, everything from the required width of gates (will they be docking A380s, Boeing 747s or 777s?), to the size of ticketing, baggage and security areas needed to process the projected passenger volume, to improving what Diaz admitted are lackluster restaurants not appetizing to travelers from Turkey and China.

At Ellington, Diaz’s team continues to study the feasibility of making the airfield into a commercial spaceport, not so much for vertical launches like SpaceX is examining in Brownsville, but for six- to eight-seat space tourism vehicles and other industry activities, he said. A study has shown making Ellington into such a hub is physically doable, Diaz said, and a commercial feasibility study is nearly done.

“What we’re looking to do is seize upon the opportunity to leverage the data and the experience and information NASA has and Johnson Space Center has, all the companies in aerospace in Houston have, to really attract these companies to come to Houston and assemble those aircraft in Houston at Ellington Airport,” Diaz said.

The airport’s goals for the coming year include establishing a baseline for overall customer satisfaction and then improving that score by two points (almost 5,000 people have been interviewed so far, with two more rounds of interviews planned).

To meet a strategic goal of restoring the facilities to “opening-day fresh,” the airport also will undertake a $4 million effort to analyze its runways and taxiways, water, sewer and HVAC systems, and buildings. Diaz said he already knows Bush’s main sewer line and the electrical systems in some terminals need replaced.

On security, Diaz said even before the Boston Marathon bombing and a recent gun suicide inside Terminal B (which HPD chief Charles McClelland called “game changers”), the airport was working with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to add 600 cameras, including some that can pan, to bring the system-wide total to 2,873.

Councilwoman Ellen Cohen asked how a recently added valet service is doing. After a long pause, airport finance head Mike Lee said, “It’s still early,” generating a chuckle from Cohen. Diaz acknowledged the service aims to generate revenue, and said he will pull the plug if it does not.

Diaz said the airport plans to add a lot on the Will Clayton entrance to Bush, where it currently offers no competing lot, and is working to implement a concierge service (particularly in Terminal D) that would arrange limos, rounds of golf, theater or sports tickets, all before arrivals leave the airport.

The most heat at the hearing was generated by Bradford and Councilman Dave Martin pushing Diaz on a proposed settlement with concessions vendors who allegedly owe the city $3 million in mixed beverage taxes (uncovered in an audit).

Diaz said two of several concession agreements would come before council in the coming months, with renegotiated terms extending the life of the contracts for 10 years. They had been slated to end in 2015, and have gone a decade without being re-bid, he said.

Martin said “it doesn’t smell right” to let firms who had not properly paid the city to put up $3 million in exchange for having their contracts extended. Councilman Larry Green wondered if the city would be “awarding bad behavior”; Bradford said he was concerned the contract would wind up being in place two decades without competing proposals having been sought from other vendors.

Diaz said the vendors don’t believe they owe the city anything and are willing to go to court over it. He said the city legal department favors a settlement. The contracts, rewritten and “modernized” as part of the deal, he added, could roughly double the revenues the airport collects through the contracts, in addition to any settlement payment.

“I am pleased that we continue to expand our recycling services. This is the first of two expansions this calendar year where we will double the number of homes with single stream recycling. Our recycling efforts show great financial responsibility in not paying to dispose of valuable commodities, as well as creates local jobs by appropriately managing resources,” said Mayor Annise Parker.

“Since first implementing the initiative in 2009, residents have overwhelmingly been asking to be included in this program. It’s convenient because participants can place their unsorted recyclables, including glass, in one city-provided container with wheels that makes it easy to roll to the curb,” said Harry Hayes, SWMD Director.

An additional expansion to 70,000 households is planned in the fall.

Recyclable items that can be placed in the containers include: newspapers, magazines, office paper, junk mail, cardboard, paperboard, paper bags, glass bottles and jars, aluminum cans, tin and steel cans and plastics 1 – 5 and 7.

Subdivisions included in the July 2013 expansion curbside Automated Recycling Program:

1. Almeda Plaza
2. Bayou Place
3. Braeburn Glen
4. Braeswood Place
5. Brooksmith
6. East Montrose
7. East Sunnyside
8. Epernay Sec 2
9. Fourth Ward/Freemen’s Town
10. Glen Iris
11. Glenshire
12. Golfview Manor
13. Gulf Freeway Oaks
14. Harris Court
15. Heights
16. Heights II
17. Hiram Clarke
18. Home Owned Estates
19. Huntington Patio
20. Huntington Village
21. Inwood Terrace
22. Kashmere Gardens area
23. Keegan’s Glen
24. Kempwood Villa T/H
25. Magnolia Park Sec 2
26. Monte Beach
27. New Meadow Brook
28. Nottingham Sec 4
29. Outpost Estates
30. Parkglen
31. Parkglen West
32. Proctor Plaza
33. South Park
34. Sunnylan
35. Sunset Heights
36. Sunset Terrace
37. Third Ward
38. Tropicana
39. Westbriar
40. Westbury West
41. Westwood Corner
42. Westwood Patio Homes
43. Wilson Court

The Solid Waste Management Department provides solid waste services to the residents of Houston through the collection, disposal and recycling of discarded material in a manner that is safe, efficient, environmentally sound and cost-effective.

For more information about the City of Houston Solid Waste Management Department and its services, please log on to www.houstonsolidwaste.org, follow us on twitter at houstontrash or like us on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/houstonsolidwaste.

Solid Waste Management Department Public Information Office
611 Walker, 12th floor, Houston, TX 713-837-9164 www.houstonsolidwaste.org

But she would like the area’s infrastructure to keep up with its growing population.

“With so many multifamily developments coming here, I hope it will be the impetus to bring the city to the table to talk about infrastructure,” said Savino, who also is a past president of the Washington on Westcott Roundabout Initiative.

The apartment complex project under construction at 230 T.C. Jester is a development of Houston-based Kaplan Cos. and is between Allen and Schuler streets. When District at Washington opens this summer, the four- and five-story complex will comprise about 396 units.

This particular complex probably will not have a major impact on the community, Savino said, but it is one of numerous projects in the area.

“The residential areas are redeveloping. We’re seeing lots of new types of businesses, including office space. Now we need the glue that holds this together, and that’s infrastructure,” she said. “This should be a call to the city to come out and look at the signs and markings and streets.”

District C City Councilwoman Ellen Cohen agreed that many residential development projects are proposed and in the works for the area.

Roadway improvements, including work on Washington Avenue and rehabilitation of the Yale Street Bridge over White Oak Bayou are proposed in the city’s Capital Improvement Plan for 2014-2017, she said.

Woodcrest resident Tom Dornbusch said the rising complex on T.C. Jester is a welcome signal that more people are attracted to the area, but added, “What concerns me is I have not seen a new traffic analysis for the area.”

Dornbusch, who is president of Super Neighborhood 22 that includes the Washington Avenue/Memorial Park area, also said the complex plans illustrates the need for improved pedestrian and bike accessibility in the area.

“If I lived that close to Memorial Park, I’d want to get to Memorial Park easily, by walking or biking, and there’s really not a good route to get to Memorial Park from that area by bicycle,” he said. “Allen Street would be a great hike-and-bike route. At this point, it has not been pursued.”

Cohen said the mayor’s office has plans to create an expanded, more connected bike-trail system for the city.

Traffic on T.C. Jester is not bad now, Dornbusch said, but the railroad that crosses T.C. Jester does cause regular backups.

“It carries – the last I heard – 24 trains a day, which is one an hour. The more traffic we have on T.C. Jester, the more desire we’ll have for grade separation on the railroad track,” he said. “That would mean a flyover. That’s not going to be an attractive situation for the apartment complex, and for our neighborhood it would mean more noise.”

The District at Washington complex’s amenities will include an 11,000-square-foot clubhouse, pool, a dog park and a fitness center with a studio for yoga and spinning. Monthly rent will range from $1,209 to $1,959.

Savino, who owns an architectural firm in the area, said she’s been watching the District at Washington construction.

She finds the project’s location on T.C. Jester, a wide esplanade, a good choice.

“The siting of that kind of multifamily structure is good, and that doesn’t always happen in our city,” she said.

Wayne White, who lives one block off Washington between T.C. Jester and Shepherd, has been frustrated with the conditions of the infrastructure in his community.

“You have all of these townhouses, and the streets looks like third-world countries,” he said.

Woodcrest resident Randy Haws said he thinks the apartment project on T.C. Jester could do the community good.

“Woodcrest is a neighborhood that has some of the older bungalows. Some are in poor repair. Anything that is new and nice – the first impression is that’s a good thing,” he said.

The increasing development in the area represents an important new chapter, Savino said.

“Even though it destroys the common solitude that was this neighborhood 10-12 years ago, fine. Let’s make something better.”

Mayor Parker and all City Council members attended the memorial service for 4 fallen Fire department officers at Reliant Stadium at 10:00 AM June 5, the time normally scheduled for City Council meetings.

Scheduled appointments to the Board of Directors East Downtown Development Authority and the Board of Directors of the Houston Downtown Park Corporation’s Board of Directors were postponed until next week so that the appointees could attend and be recognized.

The 35 matters on the consent agenda and 5 matters held were non-controversial expenditures, tabulations of bids, or matters held. Most were approved unanimously, and two were tagged, so the meeting lasted less than 30 minutes. Nevertheless, the combined expenditures of more than $20 million will fund important infrastructure projects, including:

• Accepting work and final contract payments of 4 sanitary sewer projects totaling over $12 million
• Over $800,000 in airport improvements from the Enterprise Fund
• Nearly 1 million for an aerial tower firefighting truck

The council also resorted to a rarely-used procedure to select one of two identical bidders. See item 35 on the docket concerning bids to purchase reflective and non-reflective materials from various departments. Avery Dennison and Nippon Carbide submitted identical bids. In these cases, the selection is made by drawing lots. Council Member Rodriguez drew Nippon Carbide.

Understandably, the Mayor’s press conference centered more on the Memorial Service and questions concerning the ongoing investigation of the tragic accident on May 31 that caused the death of 4 firefighters attempting to secure the Southwest Inn.

Solid Waste Department spokeswoman Sandra Jackson said the department plans to release the list of neighborhoods where the recycling carts will go after City Council approves the purchase.

Today, 26 percent of Houston homes have 18-gallon green tubs that take newspapers, magazines, cans, cardboard and plastic, and 28 percent have single-stream, which are larger, have wheels, and which accept glass in addition to those other items. About 46 percent of homes have no curbside recycling.

The $7.8 million expansion plan, which Mayor Annise Parker touted last month in announcing her proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, would expand single-stream service to about 55 percent of the city’s households (adding 35,000 in July and 70,000 in October), making some type of curbside recycling available to about 63 percent of homes, department Director Harry Hayes said.

As a result, Hayes said he expects the citywide recycling rate to increase from roughly 19 percent now to about 23 percent after the expansion. (By comparison, he said, the goal of waste diverted from landfills as part of the still-in-development One Bin For All proposal would be 55 percent in the first year and, eventually, 75 percent).

The black trash cans on the agenda tomorrow would replace broken and lost ones, as well as serve new customers and give some customers extra bins — for a price. Hayes expects to bring in $1.3 million in the coming fiscal year from selling residents extra trash cans, and another $480,000 from selling bins to businesses.

Solid Waste budget hearing

Those were just two details gleaned from Hayes’ budget presentation this morning, the latest in City Council’s two-week budget hearing process. (See below for details from the Houston Public Library budget presentation.)

Hayes proposes a $70.6 million budget, up from $69.4 million this year. In addition to expanding curbside recycling (Hayes said he hopes to expand single-stream service citywide in the next 2.5 fiscal years), his budget also calls for expanding or remodeling some neighborhood recycling centers in early 2014.

Landfill fees are projected at $13.5 million; as recently as fiscal year 2008, they were $23.6 million.

Library budget hearing

As for the Houston Public Library system (click for budget presentation), Director Rhea Lawson proposes a 15 percent budget increase, to $38.3 million. That added cost is thanks to the restoration of Saturday hours at 14 neighborhood library locations, (bringing the total number of branches open on Saturdays to 41 of 42) and restoring 7-day service at the central library downtown. That shows up mainly in personnel: FTEs would jump by 70.3, to 484.7.

The budget also increases funding for computers ($687,465, up from $545,360 in the current budget year), allowing the library system to replace all of its public computers that are six to eight years old, and some of the machines that are five years old, Lawson said.

Having entered the current budget year expecting to make $25,000 off a new Passport service, the library instead brought in $250,000. Lawson said she expects that to reach $300,000 this year (though that’s not entirely a profit: she had to use part of the revenues to hire six people to keep up).

Lawson also said the library has introduced performance measures for the first time. She hopes to maintain spending of $2.46 per capita on materials, to have 40 percent of Houstonians hold a library card, to circulate at least 10 items per cardholder annually (and to circulate 7.3 million items overall), and to keep average computer wait times to 5 minutes.

For those whose fingers gently weave the symbols of grief there is limited relief from the anguish of losing four firefighters and the real fear that a fifth could follow.

“Being a wife and they leave every day and you pray that they come home safe. Other wives understand,” said Shantelle Wichnezsk, an HFD wife.

At hard hit Station 51 heartfelt gestures of sadness, honor and gratitude have multiplied on the front lawn.

There and at nearly all Houston Fire Department locations 700 commissioned firefighters from across Texas will man the posts so that “Houston’s Bravest” can mourn the sister and brother officers lost.

“We go and do the same to pay it back. It’s paying forward the tradition. It means so much emotionally to the crews that they can go and pay their final respects,” said HFD Capt. Scott Wilkey.

At the fire scene investigators offered the public few new answers. The fire, they say, appears to have emerged from the Southwest Inn’s kitchen into the attic. Electrical and structural engineers were looking for clues explaining a roof collapse so rapid multiple lives were lost.

Investigators are asking the public for video taken during the early stages of the blaze.

At Local 341 firefighters from across the land steadily trickled in. On Wednesday at Reliant Stadium the outpouring of sorrow, loyalty and kinship promises to be profound.

“We are expecting about 5000 from across the nation. It’s very heartwarming, it’s very humbling to have the love and support from across the nation,” said Wilkey.

Departmental Budget Reviews Underway

Council has begun reviewing the budgets of each City department in advance of the new fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2013. Council Member Cohen and her colleagues received presentations this week from several departments, including Public Works & Engineering, Planning & Development, and the Department of Neighborhoods. Mayor Parker has unveiled a $4.9 billion proposed total city budget for the new fiscal year (FY2014) and there will be a public hearing to discuss the proposal on June 11, 2013, in Council Chambers at City Hall, at 9:00AM.

Drainage Design Manual to Be Upgraded

Following the recent changes to Houston’s development ordinance, Chapter 42, the City plans to update stormwater drainage requirements (Chapters 9 and 13 in the Public Works & Engineering Infrastructure Design Manual). Council’s Transportation, Technology & Infrastructure (TTI) Committee will host a public meeting to consider draft revisions for these rules. The meeting is set for Wednesday, June 12th, 2013, in Council Chambers at City Hall, at 5:00PM

On the Agenda

Council awarded the contract to replace aging water lines in Shepherd Forest, a small, friendly neighborhood located just north of the 610 Loop in District C. This will increase the availability of water for residents, as well as improve circulation and fire protection. Construction on this project is expected to begin over the summer.

In a move that had some council members and staff shaking their heads, council handled the city’s largest department, public works, and its $1.8 billion budget, in 24 minutes, and spent 80 minutes on the housing department, whose budget will draw just $1.3 million from local sources (and the rest from federal and state grants). Six of the 16 members were present for the public works talk; 11 showed up for housing.

Granted, just $35 million of the public works budget comes from the general fund (which is fed mainly by property and sales taxes and which gets the most scrutiny); most of the rest comes from the combined utility system, which is supported by customers paying their water bills, not taxes.

Public Works projects that it will treat 460 million gallons of water per day, collect and treat 239 million gallons of wastewater per day, manage 535,000 utility accounts, work on 3,600 miles of storm sewer, 2,750 miles of roadside ditches, 1,365 miles of bridges and 15,763 miles of streets, process 19,500 commercial building plans and 8,000 residential plans, and manage 110 construction projects and 65 professional services contracts.

Public Works Director Daniel Krueger got through his data-laden 24 slides in about 17 minutes, then took questions, all of them from Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee chairman Councilman Stephen Costello. Costello’s queries about the department’s projected deficit of $54 million led to a classic bureaucratic exchange between the two engineers that is best watched on video (start at 17:40).

Essentially, Krueger said the department has projected deficits in the past and has ended the year with a surplus, and he said the budget reflects the amount he is allowed to spend, not what actually will be spent, a comment he repeated in an interview today:

“We will be very careful as we operate through the year to make sure not only are we actually operating in a manner that our expenditures won’t exceed budget, but we will yet be mindful of how revenues are doing as we go through the year so that we operate with what we have to operate with in reality,” he said. “We are operating responsibly, we are operating as good stewards of public money, and I would tell you we wouldn’t be having this discussion if this department, as well as the city of Houston, didn’t operate transparently. But operating transparently means there’s a lot of numbers out there that can be misunderstood.”

Councilman Dave Martin, who has extensive accounting and budgeting experience as a managing director for Marsh, was absent on business during Krueger’s presentation, but repeatedly expressed frustration at public works’ numbers during Wednesday’s budget hearings. Krueger’s presentation showed revenues of $1.33 billion and expenses of $1.38 billion, but the budget book distributed to council and the media earlier this month lists the department’s budget at $1.8 billion.

Martin said in his 30 years of budget analysis he’s never seen two documents more confusing than the public works and health department presentations.

“Public works, I think we need to spend about 10 hours to get to their numbers, because they don’t match. I thought Health and Human Services was bad — that’s even worse,” he said.

In interviews Thursday, Krueger, finance department director Kelly Dowe and Public Works Deputy Director Susan Bandy  said the  gap between the numbers in the department’s presentation and in the budget book are explained by the absence of internal fund transfers, which were left out in order to show expenditures only once with the aim of decreasing confusion. If council members were confused anyway, Krueger said, the budget workshop is just one point of communication between the department and council.

“I would just say we presented it differently. It does correlate to what’s in that book. We’re not making up anything new here,” Krueger said. “It’s presented in a different form, and it’s presented in a different form because Kelly’s  page reflects the budgets by fund, and at budget workshop they want to hear from those who are responsible for one or more funds how you’re exercising your responsibility.”

As for the projected deficit, Krueger said several fund balances are projected to shrink at the end of the fiscal year by about $21 million (the rest of the projected deficit is covered by the general fund portion of the department’s budget). Key initiatives that will draw down those funds, Krueger said, include efforts to modernize computer systems that process permits, pushing as many capital projects as possible using Rebuild Houston funds, and completing a citywide survey of open ditches and culverts to get better data about how to maintain and repair them.

Wednesday’s budget hearings also sparked confusion over the health department‘s presentation. Director Stephen Williams said the confusion likely was due to his attempt to reflect the department’s full activities, including grant funds, which typically are not reflected during the city budget process. The main budget book shows the department with a $81.7 million budget (of which $55.8 million is general fund), but the presentation showed total costs of $145 million.

The largest increase in the health budget is $8.5 million related to the state’s Medicaid 1115 waiver program, an effort that is directing health care dollars to local governments that propose initiatives to deliver care in better ways. That cash contributes to a nominal 26 percent increase in the general fund budget over last year, Williams said, but the department is being given those dollars to spend.

Costello called the department’s slides “misleading,” and wondered if Williams could clean up the charts and present again.

“There’s a feeling I’m getting right now and that feeling is, ‘Trust me, our numbers are accurate, just pass the budget,’ and I don’t operate that way,” Martin said. “I want to do this the right way.”

Not all presentations provoked furrowed brows.

The planning department has a $11.7 million budget, $8 million of which comes from the general fund. As slide 4 in the above link shows, the department is seeing an increase in platting activity, and proposes to hire four positions to help handle the load, director Marlene Gafrick said, adding that additional reviews required by a recent reform of the city’s development rules also will require more staff time. Gafrick said the department also plans upgrades to the My City application in the coming fiscal year.

Controller Ron Green sailed through quickly, with his $8.4 million budget that, after contractual increases (union pay raises, pension and health insurance costs) is roughly flat compared to last year, other than the addition of two auditor positions.

Council members complimented the department of Administration and Regulatory Affairs and the Department of Neighborhoods on their presentations (click the links for the presentations).

ARA‘s budget is proposed at $55.8 million, $26 million of which is in the general fund.

Director Tina Paez said the department hopes to answer 311 calls in 90 seconds (down from actual answer times of 111 seconds in 2012 and 96 seconds in 2013), to keep wait times in the city permitting center at 15 minutes, to issue 41,183 commercial permits, 116,908 burglar alarm permits, and 206,240 parking tickets — up from 202,297 in the current fiscal year and 201,341 the year prior — and to have 75 percent of them paid (up from 72 percent the last two years). At the Bureau of Animal Control and Regulation, ARA expects to take in 25,493 animals and see 13,511 (53 percent) leave the shelter alive.

The Department of Neighborhoods‘ $11.3 million budget is a 7.6 percent increase over last year, mostly due to union raises and funding to supplement federal funding for code enforcement (which makes up 57 percent of the department’s budget). Director Katye Tipton said the department hopes to handle 33,000 citizen complaints, serve 2,000 youths in anti-gang efforts, raze 600 dangerous buildings and secure another 150, and to cut 7,000 overgrown lots.

We’ll post video and presentation from Thursday’s hearings as they are available, and will monitor the rest of the hearings scheduled next week.