The big news of the a.m.: The city's $50-million budget shortfall, as noted yesterday at City Hall by Dallas Chief Financial Officer Dave Cook. This morning, newest KERA-FM (90.1) correspondent B.J. Austin lays out the deficiencies: everything from a precipitous drop in sales tax revenue and property tax growth to a decrease in expected red-light camera revenue.
And over on Back Talk Lake Highlands, Jeff Siegel takes it even further with a little number-crunching with city and state docs. Way he figures it, "Maybe there's a bump coming in the last seven months of the year that will make up the deficit. But if not, someone downtown needs to start worrying about this." One thought: We could always finance and run a convention center hotel. I hear from the mayor those things make lots of money, like an ATM with room service. --Robert Wilonsky
