Good thing our Mayor is fixing our finances.
Mayor John Whitmire
Despite steps to improve staffing and management, the City of Houston is still on track to exceed its overtime budgets for Solid Waste and public safety operations by more than $54 million this fiscal year.
That’s an improvement from the $71.4 million in additional overtime costs the three departments racked up last fiscal year, according to a report Tuesday from the controller’s office.
Firefighters and police officers received hefty pay raises over the next five years through the departments’ most recent union contracts, including 36.5% salary increases to police department officials. The police department was also given $10,000 more for each new cadet, and solid waste workers have gotten 6% market pay adjustments and $5,000 signing bonuses.
Houston’s overtime struggles are compounded by the city’s flat revenue. City Council in July opted to keep the city’s tax rate the same, meaning Houston lost out on around $52 million in revenue.
Finance department projections show Houston is anticipated to run a deficit between $227 million and $253 million as officials begin budget discussions for 2027. Mayor John Whitmire and his team have yet to publicly present a plan to balance the budget.
Overtime for the three departments had been covered in recent years by American Rescue Plan Act dollars given to cities and counties to help recover from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, as well as the city’s savings.
With federal assistance dollars now gone and more of the city’s savings going toward sustaining city operations, Houston is running out of options, according to Deputy Controller Will Jones.
“We no longer have savings that we used to have to absorb, so now we’re having to add to that budget,” Jones told the Houston Chronicle following the presentation.
[…]
Officials, advocates and residents on Tuesday continued to push for investment in the [Solid Waste] department, including for a trash fee, one of the many ways the city has suggested gleaning new revenue.
“We need to fix this,” said Jack Valinski, president of the Near Montrose Super Neighborhood. “We can’t fix it without money, and that means we need to increase revenue.”
See here, here, here, and here for some background. We know what the problem is, we know what the solution is. It’s not a solution that people like, but not getting their trash picked up is also a thing people don’t like. The Mayor’s gonna do what the Mayor’s gonna do. I don’t know what else to say.
UPDATE: Here’s a statement I got in the inbox from Controller Chris Hollins.
“My office warned repeatedly that the City’s overtime assumptions were unrealistic, and those warnings proved accurate — with Police, Fire, and Solid Waste now projected to exceed their overtime budgets by more than $54 million combined. This outcome was foreseeable and avoidable, yet the mayor chose to reduce the overtime budget instead of either controlling costs or budgeting honestly for them. The result is another hit to our fund balance at a time when credit rating agencies already have a negative outlook on the City. A budget that ignores predictable costs may pass a vote, but it doesn’t pass reality, and Houstonians are left paying the difference.”
All righty then.
This John Whitmire cat is going to bankrupt the CoH.