Howdy WHA Members!
LEGISLATIVE WRAP UP
The City of Houston is grappling with a significant budget deficit (to be covered temporarily through dipping into city savings and departmental cuts) in addition to billions of dollars in deferred infrastructure maintenance. Concurrently, Harris County faces its own financial hurdles, with a projected $270 million deficit with the recent vote on law enforcement pay parity, rather than the previous $130 million deficit expected previously. Both jurisdictions are under pressure to implement structural reforms and identify sustainable revenue sources to ensure long-term fiscal stability; this likely means further cuts to services and tax increases. Meanwhile, if the legislature increases homestead exemption, this means even less money for both the city and the county.
Due to the close of the legislative session and summer schedules, our committee meetings are following a somewhat adjusted timeline this month. Our Regional Mobility Committee is meeting early this month on June 2nd to work on planning their September forum, followed by Flood Control & Drainage on June 4th also working on their forum scheduled for August, and our Education & Workforce Committee will meet June 5th. By the time most of you read this, it will be too late to attend those early meetings! Our Sustainable Infrastructure and Parks, Recreation & Open Spaces Committees will be meeting on their normal day on June 10th. The Government Affairs committee meeting has been pushed back to June 16th in hopes of being able to provide a wrap up of the session ending on June 2nd. Our Water Resources Committee will be meeting on their regularly scheduled day of June 19th. However, our Quality Planned Development Committee will likely skip this month to focus on the June 20th event.
Speaking of the June 20th event, I strongly encourage you to attend our 2025 QPD Symposium: Turning Growth Into Opportunity. This half day event will feature over a dozen speakers, bringing together public and private sector leaders to explore how Greater West Houston can harness its rapid growth to build a more sustainable and resilient future. Recognizing that growth is inevitable for our region, the event will discuss how to respond to the growth that is coming by integrating key elements for creating robust communities in order to have density done well. This will be a timely platform for collaborative problem-solving and we encourage attendees to keep the conversations going beyond the symposium as we hope you will gain insights and tools to help transform today’s challenges into tomorrow’s opportunities. This is a completely free event due to the generosity of our Quality Growth Partners who underwrite the costs.
I also want to take a moment to mention our 2025 Rising Leaders Topgolf Tournament, which was held on May 8 at Topgolf Houston – Katy. This sold-out event, organized by Rising Leaders Class 9 was a remarkable success, with over 200 attendees! I encourage you to take a moment to check out the video from the event at the bottom of the newsletter. I want to give a special thank you to Ryann Mahoney, who works behind the scenes to coordinate and execute this event (and all others)!
It’s hard to imagine that we are almost half-way through 2025. The enthusiasm, teamwork, and forward-thinking I’m seeing in our committee meetings are truly motivating. I’m excited for the meaningful discussions and innovative solutions that will help steer us toward a Greater West Houston that grows with purpose—prioritizing resilience, opportunity, and quality every step of the way!
Thank you for your continued support and dedication to our shared vision!
Alan Steinberg
President & CEO
West Houston Association