It’s that time of year again – time to determine the City’s budget for the next fiscal year.

This year seems to be slightly better than last. No lay-offs of city employees are planned and for this year, there seems to be enough money to keep services at there current levels.

The City’s Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee is meeting steadily and listening to presentations from each city department on their own budget and plans for the year. You can tune in these hearings by watching on HTV.

During the course of my daily life, many people share their political opinions. To a person, they have suggestions on the way the City could be doing things better. Now is your opportunity. Let your City Council Members know your suggestions. Remember, you have one District City Council Member and 5 At-Large Council Members that represent you. They call all be reached via www.houstontx.gov

One of the biggest issues I see for this budget process is street repair. I recently bought a “crossover”, my first car I have ever purchased that is “high” or not low to the ground. The reason I did this was because of the streets. My last car was particularly low to the ground and I scraped it regularly on potholes, bumps in the road, and coming out of poorly designed driveways. These actions contributed to the engine damage that demanded I buy a new car. Not to mention that I had a blowout on Richmond Ave. after hitting a particularly egregious pothole.

Between the drought and floods, our streets are just crumbling. While we did pass a referendum for “street and drainage” improvement and are now paying an additional fee on our water bill, it will be several years before those funds are available to actually make the street repairs.

In the meantime, Houston’s roads have become barely functioning in recent years.

Now it is your turn. Tell your Council Members your main concerns!