How would Bill King Govern?
Mayor Bill King would enact a full-court press on slimming down the City of Houston City Government and cutting back what he considers to be "non-core services" in favor of public works, mobility and pension reform.
King has made this very clear not only in his stump speeches, his website and in the several candidate forums but also at every level of the current campaign.
King's issues page on his website focuses on three main areas:
1. Public Safety: King has specific proposals that he is proffering in order to both decrease the crime rate and increase the crime clearance rate in Houston.
Close the HPD Crime Lab - King would work with the County to combine operations and close the struggling lab in a move that he says would cut costs and increase efficiencies.
Disband the mounted Patrol - King states that mounted horse patrols are a relic of a by-gone era whose resources are better utilized by increasing patrol cars which also would save costs by no-longer having to maintain a fleet of horses.
Use modern training and data-driven policing techniques - Think "Broken Windows" policing.
Fix the pensions - In a policy bleed from his city finances page King is focused intently on fixing the pension problem. It's clear that he views the financial drain from this issue to be a key reason the city cannot afford to meet basic police needs such as number of officers.
Use outside reviews and zero-based budgeting. - External audits/reviews and a change to zero-based budgeting is a common theme among some of the current candidate for Mayor, most notably Chris Bell.
Right-size the command structure - The idea that HPD is top-heavy is one that has been around for a while now. There have been many calls to change this but none have been successful. It is unclear what, if anything, King would do differently this time to make this a success.
2. Pensions: Pension reform is at the top of King's "to do" list from a policy perspective. Reading all of his material it is very clear that he is the most well-informed of all the candidates on this policy issue. Even the Houston Chronicle, in their endorsement of Sylvester Turner, admitted such and suggested that whoever wins the Mayoral election should provide him 'with a seat at the table' when pension negotiations occur.
Like others, King offers up a two-pronged plan: One part that maintains the 'promises made' to individuals currently on the plan, but he breaks from the pack by suggesting a full switch to defined
3. Infrastructure: King has indicted throughout the campaign that fixing Houston's streets, drainage and crumbling infrastructure will be a hallmark of his administration. To do this he proposes that the controversial ReBuild Houston program be scrapped and a series of bonds be submitted for voter approval to address the needs. Critics have countered that this runs counter to his claims that the city has unsustainable debt. King counters that debt for infrastructure repair is a separate, and less serious, issue than debt to cover budget short falls. He also believes that city government is currently diverting too much of it's budget to "non-core" services (such as one-bin recycling, subsidies for artists lofts, etc.) that could be put to better use in public works.
One hurdle that Mr. King will have to over come should he want to enact his plan is the fiefdoms that naturally exist in council. It is unclear whether or not he will be able to persuade them to do away with pet projects in their districts in favor of public works expenditures city-wide.
King would also, presumably, drastically alter the make-up of the Metro board (to which the Mayor have a majority of appointees) to push the agency away from rail and bus-rapid transit to a more bus-centered approach. King believes that the bus network should be the core of Metro's service and should be expected to name members to the board that will follow that vision. He has also expressed support for commuter rail, as opposed to light rail.
Other:
King's elephant in the room, for a portion of his candidacy, was HER Ordinance. For several weeks he declined to state whether or not he supported the ordinance, choosing instead to focus on public finance and infrastructure issues. In recent weeks he has come out in opposition to HER Ordinance based primarily on many of the technical issues that I have previously discussed here although he and I are not in lockstep on this issue. King has not expressed any interest in seeking to make changes or alterations to the ordinance should it pass.
Overall Expectations:
While it seems that King is starting to consolidate the Republican vote around him it is unclear, if he should win, how effective he will be at turning an electoral win into policy success. Despite some early campaign stumbles, which led some to question whether he was the type of manager who could bring Houston "Back to Basics" as he claimed, King's campaign has shown message discipline that has many thinking he might sneak into the number 2 slot in the run-off.
King will need that discipline to make wholesale changes in a City Hall that's become used to running in a certain way, with little financial oversight and without many of the checks and balances one might find in a private enterprise. King's challenges will be two-fold: One, find support internally with a municipal employees union that is 100% against the changes he is making and two, finding support at the State level to provide him with local autonomy on the pension issue.
Whether or not he can do this will determine much about how his Mayoral tenure is viewed. Of all of the current candidates, King probably has the biggest hill to climb in that he is the only candidate who is running uphill against the current bureaucratic structure. He will be helped, by a Bill Frazer victory for Comptroller and, as a matter of fact, a loss by Frazer might hamstring his ability to get things done at all.
Voters can expect that Mayor Bill King would hit the ground running with a reform agenda. His big question is whether or not he can herd all of the cats that make up the various interests into seeing the reform needs to happen.
*Thanks to James C. Lennon who pointed out this error on Facebook. He now joins my growing list of uncompensated editors.
