What the hell is going on with the city budget?
Video by Community Design Resource Center at the University of Houston.
1. Mayor Whitmire has tried to back Houstonians into a corner with his Proposed 2026 budget –
and City Council is letting him.
Headline: Houston mayor unveils 2026 budget with nearly $290 million in cuts, promises no reduction in services.
What’s really happening: Whitmire’s budget slashes services, cuts staff and underfunds key departments:
1. Austerity and “efficiency”
budget cuts: $4M from health, $7M from neighborhoods, $1.8M from libraries, $4M from parks
2. Hiring Freeze since March 10th + “continuing hiring control”
3. Retirement Incentive – over 1,000 employees retired early. That’s nearly 5% of the city staff.
Houston Public Works is hit hardest by staff cuts.
(Public Works = drinking water, sewage, transportation and drainage)
— Biggest loss of employees – it lost 249 employees this year.
–Baseline of being understaffed already – existing 800 vacancies. Many vacancies were permanently cut from budget.
–The Ditch Re-Establishment program that residents fought for is not adequately funded and behind schedule (only 249 miles out of scheduled 500 miles of ditches were re-established).
—$16M from ad valorem is going to existing gap in CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) project funding.
2. This city budget is amplifying the disastrous impacts of federal funding cuts.
Headline: Houston City Council greenlights $832 Million contract for police officers
What’s happening: City Council rushes to approve police department raise while drainage case is still in the air, spending money the city doesn’t have.
Timeline:
May 2: Whitmire announces new HPD Contract
May 21: City Council Approves HPD Contract 😠
This budget makes no attempt to account for cuts that are coming our way from President Trump. Right now, Congress is debating legislation that could strip thousands of Houstonians of access to Medicare and SNAP. Meanwhile, the Houston Health Department isset to lose $42 million dollars in federal funding.
3. Mayor Whitmire’s budget ignores voters, ignores court orders and is fiscally reckless.
The Ad Valorem Drainage Lawsuit:
Lawsuit Timeline
What’s happening:
Timeline:
2010 – Initial vote
2018 – Subsequent vote
2019 – Jones and Watson lawsuit filed
2023 – City Appeals court ruling
January 2025 – SCOTX final ruling
IN 2025:
Whitmire delays solution from January to May.
April 16: Whitmire negotiates closed room deal with two plaintiffs- only $16M will be transferred
May 14: City Council approves closed room deal 😠
Currently the deal has not yet been approved by courts, so the budget as proposed is illegal. This is a ~$90M problem
May 20: Controller Hollins states he won’t certify the budget without court approval
Houston Says No!
4. Mayor Whitmire is undemocratically delaying and blocking funding for METRONext.
METRONext is a voter-approved public transit plan that would connect Westchase Park-and-Ride to Gulfton, Montrose, Third Ward/UH/TSU, and then north through Second Ward and Fifth Ward to Tidwell Transit Center.
