A $7B Budget That Critics Say Gives Too Much to Police & Falls Short on Services, Infrastructure

Vickie Worthy wants assurance that her Acres Homes neighborhood won’t flood every time it rains.

Wearing a bright yellow Northeast Action Collective T-shirt and matching hat, Worthy addressed the Houston City Council last week, one of dozens who spoke out against Mayor John Whitmire’s proposed $7 billion budget. Several said they’d remember the “austerity budget” when the mayor comes up for re-election.

In 2010, Houstonians were assured of drainage upgrades after they approved a charter amendment that year, but tens of millions of dollars that were supposed to be designated for infrastructure were instead spent on other general fund priorities like an $832 million police contract, critics say.

On Wednesday, City Council voted 14-3 to adopt Whitmire’s budget, which addresses — albeit incrementally — the ReBuild Houston streets and drainage fund voters approved 15 years ago. Council members Abbie Kamin, Edward Pollard and Tiffany Thomas voted against the budget.

In a marathon meeting that lasted almost eight hours, council members debated multiple budget amendments while protestors interrupted the discussion chanting: “Houston says no,” They accompanied the chanting with a banner that read: “Houston says no to Mayor Whitmire’s undemocratic budget.”

Eventually, the protesters were escorted out of City Hall. Whitmire said no arrests were made due to the disruption but he couldn’t speak to what occurred once they got outside.

The outburst prompted a 10-minute break in the meeting, but council members returned to the budget discussion, much of which centered on drainage. Based on the 2010 charter amendment, city leaders were supposed to dedicate 11.8 cents per $100 assessed valuation of property taxes to the streets and drainage fund each year.

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Engineers Bob Jones and Allen Watson sued the city in 2019, accusing Houston of not following its own charter. Whitmire announced in April that, after the Texas Supreme Court declined to hear Houston’s appeal on the suit, the city reached an agreement with Jones and Watson.

The engineers agreed to let the city replenish the fund incrementally over the next three budget cycles rather than pay it out immediately in a lump sum of about $100 million. The payment plan will cost the city $16 million this fiscal year and $48 million next year, with the remainder to be spent by 2028.

Controller Chris Hollins said last week he wouldn’t certify the budget ordinance until a judge affirmed the settlement agreement, an action that occurred Friday evening. Hollins said in a statement that the court’s approval removes a major obstacle to adopting a responsible budget.

“It’s a step forward, but Houston still faces serious financial challenges,” Hollins said. “Hard truths remain, and my office will continue providing the transparency and accountability needed to move the city toward long-term stability.”

In addition to concerns about the multimillion-dollar, five-year police contract, Houstonians during recent public hearings also took issue with Whitmire’s early retirement buyouts, which critics refer to as layoffs, and department consolidation. Hollins and Budget and Fiscal Affairs Chair Sallie Alcorn have said it’s likely voters will be asked to approve a tax increase in the fall.

Resident Joseph Panzarella said Tuesday that the budget doesn’t reflect the needs of the community.

“Cutting health, parks and infrastructure while funding police raises and delaying transit is not a good investment in our future,” he said. “Please invest in our community again and vote no on this budget.”

A young Houstonian, 12-year-old Mackenzie Tate, pleaded with the council on Tuesday to keep her neighborhood park and pool open.

“At Hobart Taylor [Park], there is a swimming pool that I’m dying to use,” Tate said. “The budget could help with maintenance and put it back in service. Me and my community love to swim.”

Council Member Kamin thanked Tate for speaking up and said city staff would look into whether the pool is closed for good or just hasn’t opened for the summer yet.

Others expressed concern about the infrastructure in Houston’s older neighborhoods being able to withstand another hurricane season. Critics have said that public safety can be addressed through functional roadways and flood mitigation initiatives, not just police officer salary increases.

“The city should not use disaster relief dollars to fund new police vehicles or send generators to police stations,” said Marie Pousson, representing Pure Justice. “Disaster relief money should serve families affected, for home repair or disasters like the derecho or Beryl. It’s hurricane season again and I worry. Prioritize safety for those vulnerable to flooding by budgeting for what we approved on our ballots.”

Vanessa Toro Barragan, a homeowner in the East End, said the budget was a “dangerous austerity plan” that turns its back on the people of Houston.

“I grew up here in Houston and my family was an immigrant family, a working-class family that used public services like libraries, free parks and health clinics,” she said. “I urge you today to not cut back on those services. I urge you to do the right thing by the law and actually invest the money that we have been paying in taxes for drainage infrastructure and not for police.”

Whitmire has said no services are being cut; Hollins said there’s no way the level of service can remain status quo when several positions and dollars have been cut from some departments. The budget depends on a property tax increase and a water rate hike, the controller said Wednesday.

Members of West Street Recovery and the Northeast Action Collective filed a legal brief last week alleging that the drainage settlement agreement violates the city charter and didn’t allow an opportunity for voters to weigh in.

“The city has been illegally diverting funding for drainage towards other uses for about a decade,” West Street Recovery officials said in a press release. “The city is still refusing to stop the diversion, despite two city-wide votes, and a court order that the city must increase drainage spending by $109 million in FY 2026.

“Instead, the mayor is proposing a budget that shorts drainage spending by $93 million and relies on a backroom handshake with the plaintiffs who originally filed the complaint. All Houstonians will be at heightened risk of flooding because of this agreement, and it is just one example of the way that our city government is sidestepping democracy.”

The action signals rising disappointment in Whitmire’s performance in less than two years as mayor of Houston. On Monday, the Oak Forest Area Democrats voted 22-3 to revoke its 2023 endorsement of Whitmire and to “bar him from its 2027 endorsement process,” according to a press release posted on social media.

Council members Edward Pollard and Tiffany Thomas, who voted against the budget, have said it is going to cause problems for future generations. A massive deficit of at least $107 million exists and the city has to pull from its savings account in order to present a balanced budget required by law.

“I’ve had the benefit of serving under two different mayors,” said Thomas, who was elected in 2020. “There’s certain commentary I would hear from colleagues in my first term that I don’t hear in my second term, members who would have challenged [the mayor] if there were certain things we weren’t doing.”

The council member added that she’s concerned about the 1,000-plus employees who took voluntary retirement.

“I don’t care what the language is, when you put a letter on someone’s desk and you tell them that they qualify for retirement, they almost have no choice,” she said. “I’m the only one being vocal about what’s happening with these employees. You cannot balance a budget on the back of city employees. I think we’ll be 70-something years old paying off the debt of today.”

A tax increase is inevitable, Thomas said in a phone interview with the Houston Press, and it won’t come with better service delivery.

“The administration is going to come back to the city asking for more money,” she said. “But here’s the deal. We’re not going to improve your service. We’re just paying a bill. We wrote a check that [we] can’t cash.”

The new fiscal year begins July 1.

“I’m proud of the budget,” Whitmire said. “We’ve managed to put a sound, balanced budget together. We’re going to save money and plow it back into services.”