Our next Controller should not only safeguard our tax dollars through aggressive financial audits, but also must share innovative ideas and best practices with policymakers and City departments to improve services and chart a path to fiscal sustainability.

PREVENT WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE

Ensure that TIRZs are being utilized for their intended purpose.  Assess Housing Department’s ability to properly deploy funds.  Provide voters with peace of mind that drainage fees are being spent appropriately.

INCREASE TRANSPARENCY

Put the City’s financial information online in a clear, digestible format.  Share department performance metrics compared to our own historical performance and that of other world-class cities.  Organize City Council and other stakeholders to act on best practice recommendations.

IMPROVE CITY OPERATIONS

Significantly increase efficiency of Permitting Center.  Compare best practices for road repair and water and drainage projects.  Understand efficacy of efforts to increase vendor diversity.

CHART A PATH TO FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY

Increase revenues through support of Proposition B implementation, greater investment in efforts to secure federal grant funding through IRA and BIL, and strategic partnership agreements with MUDs and other authorities.

Decrease costs by exploring priority opportunities already laid out in PFM report and the implementation status/success of each, sharing talent management best practices to dramatically reduce overtime costs across City departments, and reviewing office space plans in the post-pandemic, work-from-home world.

BOOST OUR ECONOMY

Increase banking equity by expanding Bank on Houston.  Close the digital divide by supporting the Affordable Connectivity Program.  Increase availability of home and small business loans through CDARS and other local banking initiatives.  Invest in voter education around municipal races so that Houstonians know the importance of exercising their rights.