MIKE SNYDER, Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle |
January 7, 2009

GALVESTON — Citing an urgent need for cash to keep this fragile island city functioning, local leaders called on state legislators Wednesday to summon the same resolve that helped Galveston rebuild after a devastating hurricane a century ago.

Revenues from property and sales taxes and other sources are dropping so sharply that layoffs of city employees are imminent even after the city slashed spending and cut all its employees' pay by 3 percent, City Manager Steve LeBlanc told the House Select Committee on Hurricane Ike on Wednesday.

He asked that the state refund all or part of the sales tax revenues generated on the island for two years and provide a long-term, low-interest loan from an emergency fund that's now empty.

"I'm gettingto the point of being, in a sense, desperate for help," LeBlanc told reporters after his testimony. "It's becoming very difficult to serve our citizens."

Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas said a major state investment in rebuilding Galveston would pay off in revenues from tourism and other sources. She urged the panel to look to the past for inspiration.

"After the 1900 storm destroyed much of our island, the city sought grand solutions at great personal sacrifice," the mayor told the panel, noting that it took years to raise the island's elevation and to build the seawall along its eastern shore.

"We could not do it alone — we looked to the state to rebate our sales taxes, and to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the seawall and dredge