Your Trash Is Being Used to Balance Houston's Budget — And You're Paying For It

Jun 30

Written By Third Ward Cloth

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Houston FY2027 Budget — Plain Language Infographic

Houston FY2027 Budget · Plain Language

The city just proposed a $7.5 billion budget.
Here's what's actually in it.

Spoiler: your trash bill is going up. But a penny could've fixed it.

First, understand the two buckets

🏛

$3.2B

General Fund

Funded by property tax + sales tax
Pays for police, fire, parks
Used to pay for trash pickup

💧

$4.0B

Enterprise Funds

Funded by fees on your utility bill
Pays for water, airports, drainage
Now pays for trash pickup too

What changed: The City moved trash out of taxes and onto your water bill. Same trash. Different line item. New fee.

The trash fee — "starting" at $60/year

$60 What they're promising per year Right now. For now. Wink.		More What the city's own $176k study says it'll actually cost Study released: May 4. Budget dropped: May 5.

⚠ The study

The Mayor commissioned a $176,000 solid waste study from Burns & McDonnell. It was released one day before the budget. Its cost projections are higher than the proposed $60 fee. The gap has to close eventually.

⚠ Also on your water bill

Water rates are already going up 8% this year. That's two new charges — trash fee + rate hike — landing on the same bill at the same time.

But a 1-cent property tax hike would've been cheaper for most people

A flat $60/year fee charges everyone the same — whether your home is worth $150k or $5M. Compare that to a 1-cent-per-$100 property tax increase:

$150k home

Trash fee $60 vs. tax $10 — fee costs $50 MORE

$300k home

Trash fee $60 vs. tax $21 — fee costs $39 more

$500k home

$60 vs. $34 — $26 more

$750k home

$60 vs. $51 — nearly equal

$1M+ home

Tax finally costs more

✓ The takeaway

Any homeowner with a property worth less than $750k — which is most Houstonians — pays more under the flat fee than they would under a 1-cent tax hike. Flat fees are regressive. They hit working families hardest.

Overtime — the bill they keep writing smaller than it is

$45M How much they under-budgeted overtime vs. the 2-year average		80%+ Of all personnel costs go to police & fire		Again They did this same thing last year too

⏰ How this works

Plain English: The City budgets an overtime number they know is too low. The money gets spent anyway. The gap gets quietly filled from savings. The savings shrink. The budget looks balanced on paper. It is not.

Police & fire eat more than 60 cents of every General Fund dollar

Houston Police (HPD) — largest single budget item; pension & overtime obligations locked in

Houston Fire (HFD) — 2nd largest; minimum staffing laws make cuts nearly impossible

Everything else combined — parks, libraries, all other departments. No single dept breaks 3%.

ⓘ The structural problem

Police and fire costs grow automatically through contracts, pensions, and overtime. But Houston's property tax revenue is capped and can't keep pace. That gap widens every year, regardless of who's in office.

Kicking the can — a timeline

Mayor Whitmire took office in 2023. His term runs through 2027. Funny thing — the worst consequences of this budget land after that.

Right now (FY2027)

The Water Fund drops below its legally required minimum reserve. Not a forecast — it's baked into the proposal on day one.

Over the next 5 years

The Water Fund loses ~$1 billion. Same playbook that drained the General Fund savings over the past decade.

The whole time

A $25M structural deficit stays in place. Overtime keeps being underbudgeted. The gap quietly grows.

Eventually — the next mayor's problem

Whoever comes next inherits a drained water fund, a structural deficit, and no easy options. Fun!

The controller's verdict

"We have to be honest with Houstonians." — Controller Chris Hollins. Of the 10 critical problems flagged last year, 8 of the 10 are repeated in this year's budget. Not new problems. The same ones.

What you can actually do

📞 Contact your council member

They vote on the final budget. Share your concerns — especially the flat garbage fee, overtime assumptions, and the Water Fund risk.

HoustonTX.gov/council

🎤 Speak at the public hearing

The public hearing is June 3, 2026. You have the right to give public comment directly before Council votes.

Be specific. Suggest solutions. Connect to community needs.

Houston Politics, Houston Budget, City Budget 2027, Trash Fee Houston, Houston Property Tax, Houston Water Rates, Mayor Whitmire, City Controller, HPD Budget, HFD Budget, Houston Black American Democrats, Civic Education, Houston Policy, General Fund, Know Your City

Third Ward Cloth