HOUSTON – On the final day of 2024, KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding sat down for a one-on-one interview with Houston Mayor John Whitmire.
Whitmire is nearing the end of his first year in office and spoke on a variety of topics with Goulding.
“We have a great city and great people. People are coming here in large numbers, but we have challenges, public safety, infrastructure. finances,” Whitmire told Goulding.
“There’s a lot of scrutiny, including from you on the city budget. Is the city broke?” Goulding asked Whitmire.
“The city’s broke in the sense that the bills have been paid the last four years with federal funding that no longer exists,” Whitmire responded.
Whitmire explained a lot of the money paying the city’s bills has come from federal funding that has since dried up.
“So if you take that federal funding, one time federal funding out of the general revenue, we don’t have enough money unless, unless, we have better management,” he said. “And that’s my job is to collaborate with all levels of government. We represent the same people. We’re going to go to Austin and ask for assistance with some revenue sources. We’re partnering with the county to not duplicate services. We’re asking Metro to help pay city bills for the services that they receive.”
He says instead of going to raise taxes first, the city should do as much as possible to cut waste before even thinking about that option.
“We’re actually doing an audit of city government that we will report after the first of the year. Ernst and Young is doing a thorough forensic audit,” Whitmire said. “And we’re going to show significant savings from just being more efficient at city hall.”
Another thing Whitmire says will help recoup money is for METRO to begin paying the city for services they receive.
“We provide METRO the streets they operate on. We provide them security, lighting. METRO will be paying money they owe the city out of the mobility fund, not interfering with their operations, but giving us money that they use for city services,” Whitmire said.
Whitmire also pointed and expressed gratitude to KPRC 2′s Amy Davis for helping expose wasteful and corrupt practices that were costing the city money.
“Amy Davis with KPRC said that there were contractors getting millions of dollars for no work. She showed up at their stated business address. It was an apartment that no one came to the door. So if you eliminate that waste and corruption, hold people accountable. I think we will have managed to run this city and run a first class city,” he said.
