FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Katie Chimenti, 281-286-9750

Thursday, June 24, 2004, 5:28:56 PM Nancy Edmonson, 281-471-4567

Texas Arithmetic

Port of Houston Authority financing is neither a fun subject nor an easy one, but two obvious items in its ledgers warrant public note.

First, contrary to its own glowing claims, the Port is far from being a profitable entity. It is seriously in debt.

In a comparison of ports using 2002 data, the Port of Houston Authority ranked fifth in revenue and eighth in number of containers moved. But it ranked head and shoulders above all of the nation’s ports in its level of "general obligation debt," an amount of $331.6 million. The taxpayer cost to retire these general obligation port bonds is $529.5 million, including $178.9 million in interest, as reported in the Port's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.

The second item: Who pays the debt? Harris County taxpayers pay off port debts with bond money derived from property taxes.

The percentage breakdown in a recent study of Port income shows that more than 50 percent of net income in six of the past eight years came from the property tax subsidy. In 1995 and again in 2002, more than 80 percent of net income was from property tax. Operating revenue made up less than 10 percent of 2002 net income. Graphs reflecting the detail can be viewed at PHA Financial Reports and Trade Data

Most of the docks along the Houston Ship Channel are privately owned, many of them handling liquid petrochemical cargo and other bulk cargo--not containers. Containers make up less than 10 percent of all cargo moving through Houston. The private terminals are not reflected in these figures, which cover only the Port of Houston Authority's publicly operated docks.

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Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association

P.O. Box 323, Seabrook, Texas 77586 Phone: 281-326-3343

Website: http://www.gbcpa.net E-mail: gbcpa@ev1.net

Stop Bayport: The Fight Continues