Texas to take $1.4 billion hit from storms
Texas expects to spend nearly $1.4 billion by next summer to deal with the devastation caused by hurricanes Rita and Katrina, a new report shows. And while the federal government will repay much of that, the long-term effects could crimp state budgets for years, some state leaders predict.
"What I am concerned about are the potential costs to the state in future years," Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said during a tour of damaged areas near Beaumont.
The bulk of the cost will be for evacuees' health care and their children's education, state officials estimate. A new preliminary report to the Senate, which Mr. Dewhurst presides over, said the federal government probably will reimburse Texas for $960 million of its first-year costs. The state hopes to receive an additional $250 million from Washington - mostly to reimburse public schools that now enroll about 45,000 children of Katrina evacuees, according to the report by the Legislative Budget Board. Here are some of the costs the state expects to incur from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by 2006:
- Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program: $655.7 million
- Public schools: $229.9 million
- Department of Public Safety: $104.5 million
- Local costs, such as debris removal and search-and-rescue operations: $100.8 million
- Grants to displaced poor families: up to $97 million
- Unemployment and job training: up to $75 million
Former Rep. wants Lottery Commission job
The former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee who lost his race for re-election last year by 16 votes is now a candidate to run the Texas Lottery Commission. Talmadge Heflin, a Houston resident who served 22 years in the Texas Legislature, submitted his application to the lottery's search committee last week. The panel winnowed the list of applicants last month to four, but Lottery Commission Chairman C. Thomas Clowe said at the time that he would reserve the right to consider others before a decision is made.
Corpus Christi Port OKs $39.7M budget
Port of Corpus Christi commissioners on Tuesday approved a 2006 budget that will use millions in new tariff revenue to pay for delayed maintenance projects and professional services.
The $39.7 million budget is about 20 percent larger than last year's budget. The increase is mostly based on an additional $6.1 million the port will take in after raising the tariff on imported oil, port officials said. The port is using the new money to pay for some long-needed maintenance projects, said Port Executive Director John LaRue. The budget also allocates $4.7 million for professional services, which include environmental studies and assessments of existing port property. It also sets aside $6.6 million for maintenance expenses, such as routine maintenance of the Tule Lake Lift Bridge and environmental cleanup of Harbor Island.
"We're cleaning up the things that have been backlogged," LaRue told port commissioners at a budget workshop Tuesday.
Several projects set to take off at Abilene airport
The Abilene Regional Airport board approved design contracts for construction projects Wednesday to beat a deadline to spend federal grant money, and made plans to seek out contractors that can finish the jobs.
Dan Weber, airport director of aviation, told the Airport Development Board that a handful of projects funded by grants must be designed and bid by the summer of 2006. Otherwise, he said, the airport will lose the money.
As a result, the board this week approved contracts to design parking lot improvements and a better drainage system. It also amended a contract for the design of a renovated front entrance. The updates - which must be designed and bid by next summer - will likely include expanding the front lobby, constructing a canopy over the upper driveway, and installing outdoor escalators to improve access between the terminal and parking lot. Airport officials said they also plan to seek bids for security fencing before next summer's deadline.
Lens on State Government: Military Base Realignment & Closure
Last week the process for deciding which military bases would be realigned or closed officially concluded and the U.S. Department of Defense now has until September 15, 2007 to begin implementing those decisions. The process must be completed by September 15, 2011.
Texas will directly gain 13,848 jobs as a result of these changes. El Paso is the biggest winner. Other Texas metropolitan statistical areas impacted are:
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Fort Worth may move courts, jail
With local officials at odds over where to build a new jail, Tarrant County Commissioner Glen Whitley is proposing moving the criminal justice system -- courts, jails, attorneys and thousands of jurors -- out of downtown Fort Worth.
On Tuesday, Whitley proposed building a new criminal justice building and maximum-security cells near the county's Green Bay jail in north Fort Worth rather than using county land downtown. County officials will develop cost estimates for the latest plan in about two weeks. Commissioners have until early February to work out details for a proposed May bond election. The county is also considering 120 transportation projects, submitted by Tarrant County cities, to share $200 million of the bond package.
"We've got a window in time that might not ever appear again," Whitley told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "If we build another courts building and jail downtown, I don't think we'll ever convince the public that we should move them out of downtown."
U.S. senators want to beef up port security with $835M bill
U.S. senators Susan Collins of Maine (right) and Patty Murray of Washington (left) are co-sponsoring legislation to significantly improve security at more than 600 ports around the country. Their legislation, the GreenLane Maritime Cargo Security Act, would direct the Homeland Security Department to prepare a strategic plan for supply chain security, addressing all modes of transportation by which cargo containers move through seaports in the United States. It also would require DHS to develop protocols for resuming trade activities at ports in the event of a terrorist attack. The bill authorizes a total of $835 million in appropriations, with the funds coming from duties now being collected by DHS’ Customs and Border Protection directorate.
"Coming from a state with three international cargo ports, I am keenly aware of the importance of our seaports to our national economy and to the communities in which they are located,” said Collins, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “In addition to our ports’ economic significance, the link between maritime security and our national security is evident."
FBI: Drugs, not terrorists, border's biggest problem
El Paso's new top FBI official, who took over in September, said Wednesday that while counterterrorism is a priority for his agency, drug trafficking is the biggest threat along the border. Manuel E. Mora, 50, a native of San Antonio who has been a unit chief of the Drug Section in Laredo, said he would continue a task force dedicated to fighting organized crime and drug trafficking.
"For El Paso, probably the primary threat we have here is drug trafficking," Mora said during his first meeting with local news media. The federal task force that fights drug trafficking is made up of 21 agents.
UT Health Science Center set to receive $2 million gift
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School is receiving a $2 million gift today - the largest gift ever received by an individual to a dental program in Texas. The university is accepting the gift from the estate of Dr. Stacy Wendell Clapp Jr., which will be used to create the Stacy Wendell Clapp Jr. Scholarship Endowment. This will provide secure, long-term funding for dental student scholarships, including research fellowships that advance new developments in dental care. Clapp once served as an adjunct faculty member of the UT Health Science Center and the Medical Field School at Fort Sam Houston.
Cy-Fair to build 5 schools in next 3 years
The Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District near Houston is gearing up for another wave of construction projects. Plans are in the works for two more high schools, one middle school and two elementary schools to open in the next three years. District consultants unveiled design plans for the five schools Monday, which marks the first step in the construction process. Construction costs for all five, about $163 million, will be covered by bond funds approved by voters in 2004.
Collin County, toll agency to collaborate on SH 121
Collin County officials said they will work with the North Texas Tollway Authority to determine how State Highway 121 can be expanded through the use of tolls.
Officials in Collin County north of Dallas and its four largest cities are to meet with the Texas Transportation Commission in Austin on Dec. 15 to discuss Highway 121's future as a toll road. County officials had expressed hope to create their own agency that would charge motorists 12 cents a mile, less than what the authority wants to charge but just enough to recoup project costs. Officials with the North Texas Tollway Authority have said in the past that they are interested in charging higher tolls on SH 121 to collect revenue for other road projects in the region.
Water deal could fuel growth between Austin, San Antonio
A quarter-billion-dollar agreement, tentatively sealed this week, could send a small river of well water across Central Texas - enough to supply tens of thousands of homeowners and businesses south and east of Austin. The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority approved a tentative deal with a powerful partnership known as Sustainable Water Resources.
At a minimum, the deal could send nearly 10 billion gallons of water a year from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer - an underground lake east of Williamson County - to San Marcos, where the GBRA operates a water treatment plant. Water from the treatment plant could serve growth from San Antonio's suburbs to Kyle and Buda, rural but burgeoning towns south of Austin. However, if Sustainable Water Resources can find more customers, the line could also serve new development along Texas 130, the toll road east of Interstate 35 that likely will bring a population boom to the farms and ranchland east of Austin and Round Rock.
Houston cracking down on air pollution
Houston Mayor Bill White on Monday outlined a multiyear proposal to reduce diesel fumes, soot and toxic chemicals in Houston's air. The plan calls for the city to take a lead role in the enforcement, analysis and reduction of local pollution. The city will begin, the mayor said, by curbing emissions from its own fleet of vehicles and providing incentives to city contractors to use cleaner-burning fuels.
The first requirement for the city's new watchdog role will be data. While Houston runs its own network of air pollution monitors, White called on the state, local companies and the Houston Regional Monitoring Network - an industry-funded monitoring group - to release their data to evaluate risks to public health.
Rita-hit areas can get cash advances on sales tax revenues
Local taxing entities in 22 Southeast Texas counties hit by Hurricane Rita can get a cash advance on their sales tax revenues from the state comptroller's office.
Sales tax revenue in Harris County alone is down more than $355,000. Revenue is down throughout the 22 counties declared disaster areas after Hurricane Rita, even though sales tax revenue is up across the state. Affected areas could apply for an advance based on their November and December 2004 revenues. They would have to pay back the advance either in a lump sum payment or work out a payment plan with the state by Aug. 31, 2006.
The 22 disaster counties where local governments may be eligible for sales-tax allocations are Angelina, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Hardin, Harris, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Newton, Orange, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Trinity, Tyler and Walker.
Texas Board of Education withdraws from national association
The Texas Board of Education voted Thursday to withdraw from the National Association of State Boards of Education. Texas board members withdrew from the organization, also known as NASBE, for two reasons: they didn't agree with the national group's agenda, and the $40,000 association dues were deemed too high.
Envision Central Texas names 2006 chairman
Frederick Steiner has been named the 2006 chairman for the Envision Central Texas board. Steiner is the dean of the School of Architecture and Henry M. Rockwell Chair in Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin. He served as the group's treasurer in 2005 and has served on the board of directors since its inception.
The Envision Central Texas Board is comprised of 67 members representing broad and diverse constituencies from the five-county Central Texas region. In 2004, Envision Central Texas unveiled a growth vision for Central Texas after a two-year process that solicited citizen input throughout the five-county region. This year, Envision Central Texas began its first year of seeking ways to implement the regional vision.
Houston mayor urging FEMA to review housing deadlines
Houston Mayor Bill White is in talks with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over extending the deadlines the agency has set for hurricane evacuees to supplement the Houston/FEMA hotel rental rates with their own funds.
FEMA plans to end direct federal emergency assistance reimbursements on Dec. 1 for hotel and motel rooms occupied by evacuees. The agency says it has "an aggressive plan to help place these families in longer-term housing prior to Dec. 1." FEMA is also ending reimbursements on March 1, 2006, to state and local governments that have initially co-signed apartment leases for hurricane evacuees.
Schools make their pitches for Bush library
The four Texas universities vying to host President George W. Bush's presidential library made their official pitches to a search committee in the past week. The University of Dallas, Southern Methodist University, Texas Tech and Baylor University are all in the running.
A decision on where to build the library, estimated to cost more than $200 million in private contributions, isn't expected before next year. The president and Mrs. Bush will have the final say, but they'll consult the committee.
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