{"id":359956,"date":"2026-07-03T13:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T13:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/359956\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T13:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T13:39:20","slug":"houston-population-boom-to-shield-missouri-city-other-suburbs-from-slow-energy-sector-growth-sugar-land-missouri-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/359956\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston population boom to shield Missouri City, other suburbs from slow energy sector growth | Sugar Land &#8211; Missouri City"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Greater Houston area will continue to benefit from the region\u2019s continued population growth even though oil prices will likely stay contained in the near future, according to an economic presentation made March 27\u00a0to the Missouri City City Council.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nJon Hockenyos, president of Austin-based public policy consulting firm TXP told council members that service-related industries, such as food services and healthcare will do well, naming healthcare as one industry helping to pick up the slack in hiring from energy services amid the oil downturn.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\u201cIndustries that serve consumers will continue to grow because people will continue to move here,\u201d he said.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nHockenyos said he expects oil prices to hover between $40 to $50 per barrel in coming years, a result of slack demand for crude in China coupled with increased supplies from relatively new oil sources in the U.S.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nRecent production caps implemented by OPEC members will not cause the price of oil to increase, he said, because drillers who pull oil from shale reserves can turn a profit as long as oil sells for $50 to $60 per barrel.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\u201cWhen those domestic guys jump in it works counter to what OPEC is trying to do to drive up prices,\u201d Hockenyos told council members. \u201cIt creates a surge in the supply. It\u2019s going to be tough for oil to stay above the mid-50s in my opinion. I think oil will stay at around $45 a barrel.\u201d&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nLike other municipalities, Missouri City can expect to see its sales tax revenue stay flat, as more purchases are made online, as many of those purchases not being subject to sales tax.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\u201cSales tax has never been a dependable revenue source,\u201d said Council Member Jerry Wyatt. \u201cThat\u2019s the problem with sales tax.\u201d&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nMissouri City\u2019s unemployment rate ticked up in 2016, from 4.5 percent to 5.2 percent, reversing five consecutive years of drops that began when the rate was at a peak of 8.3 percent in 2010, the height of the global financial crisis.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nHockenyos said the increase was \u201cconsistent with the pattern of the overall regional economy.\u201d&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\u201cThings aren\u2019t as robust as you\u2019d like them to be, but they\u2019re better than five years ago,\u201d he said.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nThe presentation was made as Missouri City officials begin work on preparing the city budget for the coming fiscal year.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nThe city\u2019s budget is due to be submitted on May 31, with public hearings scheduled for June, according to Edena Atmore, financial services director. Public hearings on the amended budget will be held in September, she said.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nAfter the meeting, Mayor Allen Owen said the report from TXP yielded few surprises.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\u201cStaying flat is better than going down,\u201d Owen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Greater Houston area will continue to benefit from the region\u2019s continued population growth even though oil prices&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,127867,127868],"class_list":["post-359956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-population-boom-to-shield-missouri-city","tag-other-suburbs-from-slow-energy-sector-growth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}