Overview
- The $7.5 billion budget unveiled by Mayor John Whitmire calls for a $5 monthly trash administrative fee charged on water bills and a structural move of the $134 million Solid Waste Department into Houston Public Works.
- The fee is estimated to raise about $24 million a year and city officials say it will be billed alongside the existing $1.29 cart fee on water statements.
- Houston will keep its long-running HOA sponsorship program that gives roughly $6 a month to about 47,500 households and costs the city about $3 million a year, creating a difference in who pays directly for trash service.
- City data and a Whitmire-commissioned study show yard-waste collection fell from about 47,400 tons in 2020 to roughly 17,700 tons in 2025 and crews were completing only 26 of 96 weekly yard-waste routes, raising doubts that the fee alone will fix service problems.
- Council is set to vote Wednesday on the budget and several amendments that would protect seniors, disabled and low-income residents, and Public Works has pledged to return with clearer solid-waste performance metrics within 60 days after the vote.