Comptroller’s office explains why ‘Where the Money Goes’ doesn’t show worker salary info

You might have seen our story last week on how some 1,700-plus state workers made $100,000 or more in 2007. We paired with it a database of those workers’ names and total pay amounts.
I couldn’t help but notice that the state comptroller’s office’s “Where the Money Goes” Web site — which shows you, for instance, [...]

Jobs report: Government grows fastest; more Houston residents out of work

What do you make of this? Government is the fastest-growing business sector in the Houston area, even as Houston’s jobless rate inches up. That’s according to this weekend piece in The Chronicle.
In the most recent report, government added the most jobs locally, putting on 11,900 new positions, for a 3.3 percent jump. The second-fastest growing [...]

Big Oil, groceries and country music give big bucks to rebuild governor’s mansion

Several of the largest donors to the efforts to rebuild the burned structure also have business before the state government and its regulatory arms, a Texas Watchdog analysis has found. Others giving big bucks include the CEO of H.E.B., and music stars George Strait and LeAnn Rimes are contributing their star power.

Dallas-area town won’t turn over records on defending ban on renting to illegal immigrants

From the Star-Telegram:
A former Farmers Branch City Council member is suing her city for not complying with the state’s freedom of information law.
Carol Dingman filed suit in a state civil court in Dallas on Wednesday, demanding the city produce legal bills that the state Attorney General ordered must be turned over. Instead of producing the [...]

$313 billion: Price tag for Texas transportation through 2030, officials say

Taxpayers can expect a $313 billion bill to keep the roads up for the next two decades, the Houston Chronicle reports.

The estimate comes as legislators consider tightening control over the Department of Transportation, the paper writes.
“The release of the preliminary findings comes as lawmakers are conducting their periodic “sunset” review of the Texas Department of [...]

State worker pay follow-up: DPS officers make OT pulling long hours

Two of three state Department of Public Safety officers who made more than $100,000 last year through big overtime checks are on the governor’s security detail, and a third spent six months as a counselor at the DPS Training Academy, an agency spokeswoman said.
If you saw our story from yesterday about state workers who made [...]

Database of state workers making $100K+ launched

Texas Watchdog is launching today a searchable database of state employees who made $100,000 or more in 2007.
The analysis includes the employees’ salaries, bonuses, longevity pay, overtime and other payouts. It does not include employees of the state’s higher education systems, whose records are somewhat separate from the rest of the state’s.
Why? It’s important that [...]

Top state worker pay last year: $530,595

More than 1,700 state workers made six figures or more in total pay in 2007, according to a new Texas Watchdog analysis of state records. Search our database of workers making $100,000 or more. We found that nearly 1,000 state workers make more than the governor and we found five state workers who climbed onto the list by raking in tens-of-thousands of dollars in overtime.

Texas gives out tax dollars to movie makers

Here’s a question: In this time of economic recession, do you reckon that the people who run Sony Corp. are doing better financially than you are?
What if you knew that the state took money out of your pocket and gave it to the Sony people?
That’s the bottom line in an excellent new report out from [...]

Head of troubled Fort Worth hospital raked in the dough, public records show

Public records show that the head of a troubled Fort Worth public hospital earned nearly $800,000 in salary and benefits in the last fiscal year, the Star-Telegram reported today.
It’s hard to forget the Star-Telegram’s excellent investigative series from earlier this year about JPS hospital, with its descriptions of poor patient care that get in your [...]

Houston is on the list of cities seeking not a bailout, but a “build-out”

Some of the top brass in the U.S. Conference of Mayors are in Washington this week, eagerly presenting public works programs they say are needed. And they come with the added bonus, the mayors said — they tie perfectly into President Barack Obama’s plan to create jobs.
From ABC News:
According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, [...]

House lounge renovations create ‘a place that we’re all proud of’: Goolsby

The House has been spending big bucks on granite countertops and chandeliers in its quest to keep up with the Senate’s finery. Thanks to these and other additions totaling $140,000, the legislature’s lower chamber will have all the ice it can handle.

Comptroller’s new sites get plaudits from national group

State Comptroller Susan Combs‘ Open Book Texas and Texas Transparency Check-Up sites are getting pats on the back from no less an authority than the Sunlight Foundation, a DC-based nonprofit committed to government transparency:
Everything about this project is fantastic. Of course, the next step is to make these sites more interactive and more supportive [...]

Dallas convention center hotel could cost $356 million

A publicly owned hotel at the Dallas convention center could cost $356 million, the Dallas Observer’s Unfair Park blog is reporting.

Petition to stop convention center hotel cost Dallas $41K, public records show

The Dallas Morning News used records gleaned via the state’s Public Information Act to show the cost of verifying signatures on a petition to stop the hotel.

Craddick’s pay, insurance for grown daughter breaks state law, critic says

State House Speaker Tom Craddick has paid his 30-something lawyer daughter $625,000 in salary from his campaign account over 6 years and has her on his state insurance plan. A Democratic attorney from Houston says that’s against the law — and we’ve got a copy of the complaint.

State auditor questions whether MTA can finish light rail by 2012

The Metro Transit Authority says it’s “inappropriate” for the state auditor’s office to assume there will be delays, and challenged federal officials’ estimation that the agency would max out its debt capacity.

Cement company questions governments’ ‘green’ preferences

From the AP, via The Star-Telegram:
DALLAS — A cement company has file a federal lawsuit alleging that Tarrant County and the cities of Fort Worth and Arlington, along with other area governments, violate state laws by giving preference during bidding to companies using cement made using environmentally friendly methods.

The firm in question is Ash Grove [...]

Tiny school district to close after losing state funding

A rural Texas school district with just 70 students in grades K-12 is facing permanent closure after the state yanked its funding, the Abilene Reporter-Newssays.
The school in question is the Star Independent School District in Mills County. The system will be looking to its neighbors to educate its students after 2010:
“It is heartbreaking because I [...]

Blue Cross Blue Shield owes millions to county, wants tax break

Oops: Blue Cross Blue Shield had wanted a $4.7 million tax break to build a data center in Fort Worth — but then Tarrant County officials found out that the insurance giant owes $5.2 million to the county hospital, the Star-Telegram reports.

NW Harris Co MUD officials get four years for misuse of public funds

As Richard Connelly wrote today on the Houston Press’ Hair Balls blog, “Who the hell pays any attention to what MUD directors do?” In this case, local prosecutors did.

Cost of House lounge renovations skyrocket to $140K: AP

Yikes! The price tag for the state House lounge renovations is now up to $140,000 — and still, no one is taking responsibility for it.
This from the Associated Press, via the Dallas Morning News:
AUSTIN – State officials have ordered up at least $140,000 in renovations to the members-only lounge in the Texas House of [...]