Houston hires legal consultants, raises tariffs

Houston hires legal consultants, raises tariffs    The Port of Houston Authority commission has approved one-year contracts for seven legislative consultants, awarded a contract for security services and announced an increase in port tariffs.
   The legal contract awards range from $63,000 to $126,000 to provide legislative consulting services at the state and federal government levels.
   Over the past eight years, the Port of Houston Authority has invested approximately $4 million in the services of federal and state legislative consultants. It said that, to date, the investments have yielded approximately $327 million in federal support for the port. Congress recently authorized and appropriated nearly $40 million for the Houston ship channel deepening and widening project.
   The port authority’s commission also approved port tariff increases of between two and three percent, to take effect on Jan. 1.
   The port also awarded a three-year security contract for unarmed, uniformed security gate officers, costing an estimated $3.8 million, and allowed the port to seek proposals for up to 12 yard gantry cranes for the Barbours Cut terminal, costing between $10 million and $20 million.