Hous­ton may­or admits city is ‘broke,’ pro­pos­es tax hikes and cuts to rem­e­dy mas­sive bud­get deficit

Demo­c­ra­t­ic May­or John Whit­mire said Hous­ton is “broke” at a City Coun­cil meet­ing last week, offer­ing tax hikes and a 5% spend­ing cut to com­bat the city’s deficit.
“I think we can all agree on that, we are broke,” Whit­mire said at the meet­ing, accord­ing to FOX 26 Hous­ton. “This gives us a chance to dis­cuss the finan­cial pic­ture of this city. It is bro­ken. It was bro­ken when I got here.”
For­mer May­or Sylvester Turn­er left his posi­tion in Jan­u­ary, claim­ing he was leav­ing the city with a $420 mil­lion bud­get sur­plus. How­ev­er, Hous­ton has been spend­ing more than it brings in, result­ing in a $160 mil­lion deficit, the local out­let report­ed.
“On an annu­al basis, we are spend­ing some­where between $150 mil­lion and $200 mil­lion more than is com­ing in,” Chris Hollins, the city’s comp­trol­ler, told ABC 13.
The bud­get sur­plus report­ed­ly came from $1 bil­lion in fed­er­al COVID-19 relief funds, whic …