Houston council members want more HPD cadets, new fees for next year

Houston Mayor John Whitmire has agreed to fund an additional class of police cadets as he evaluates about 50 changes that City Council members have proposed to his budget plan for the new fiscal year starting in July.

The mayor unveiled the first spending plan of his mandate in May. The current version of the proposal calls for $7.3 billion in spending for city operations.

Of that total, $3 billion would go to the general fund, primarily funded by property and sales taxes and covering essential services like police, trash collection, parks and libraries. The remaining dollars would be directed to corporate funds, which are self-sustaining and use fees and charges to pay for specific functions.

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Under Houston’s “strong mayor” system, the power to propose amendments is the most important tool council members have during the annual budget season. Thirteen of the 16 members submitted at least one.

As usual, most of these suggestions are aimed at drawing additional funds from city savings to bolster services such as policing, pipe repair and community code enforcement. At the same time, with the city facing serious financial challenges and no steps in Whitmire’s current plan to generate new revenue, more than a dozen amendments aim to stabilize finances of Houston by creating new fees or reducing certain expenses.

Historically, most budget amendments fail, with the mayor’s support often being the deciding factor. Mary Benton, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said Whitmire was still reviewing and considering most of the amendments.

The City Council is expected to discuss it next Wednesday in a marathon session that in recent years has often been the longest meeting of the year.

Here are the main highlights of the amendments proposed by Council members.

Consistent with the breakdown in previous years, public safety funding represents half of the city’s general fund budget in Whitmire’s original plan. That includes about $1 billion for Houston police, which will cover five cadet classes in the coming year.

One of Council Member Julian Ramirez’s amendments proposed allocating $4 million for a sixth class of police cadets. He said an additional source of funding could come from canceling Houston’s controversial ShotSpotter program, which Whitmire recently called a “gimmick … cooked up by entrepreneurs.”

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Whitmire said Ramirez’s plan is “doable” and would help find funding for the additional class of cadets.

“Let’s have an aggressive recruiting program that brings very dedicated and qualified young cadets to the city and takes care of the cadets,” Whitmire said after a news conference Wednesday. “It was something I would have liked to offer, but (Ramirez) beat me to it.”

Several other members have introduced measures to strengthen public safety.

Council member Mary Nan Huffman suggested three initiatives, totaling $3.3 million, to increase cadet retention compensation, support an employment program for retired officers and add more lieutenant positions .

Meanwhile, Council Member Twila Carter recommended speeding up construction of fire stations and working with Harris County to accommodate more cadet training classes for police and fire departments.

Finance Director Melissa Dubowski forecasts a bleak financial outlook for the city, with the fund balance likely to fall below the legal minimum within a year if no additional revenue is generated.

Earlier this year, the Whitmire administration floated the idea of ​​a property tax hike and a waste tax to close the existing budget gap of about $187 million and help fund the agreement from the firefighters.

The mayor, however, said he no longer plans to implement these measures in the proposed budget. His budget also does not include policies aimed at generating new sources of revenue. Whitmire recently said he wouldn’t ask the public for more money until he could first “ensure that we (have) eliminated conflicts of interest and public corruption.”

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A number of council members, concerned about the city’s financial future, introduced amendments focused on reducing costs or generating new revenue.

Sallie Alcorn, council member and chair of the city’s Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee, suggested reducing costs for printing services and supplies, which currently total $6 million in the budget. She also proposed capping the amount of vacation and sick time paid to employees upon termination. Currently, the severance package stands at $13.8 million.

Council member Amy Peck also recommended several cost-cutting measures. These include the Houston Public Library sharing digital services with the Harris County Public Library, consolidating language access service contracts, and prohibiting city departments from using the money taxpayers for sponsoring event tables at lunches and galas.

Councilmember Joaquin Martinez proposed immediately introducing a waste tax to support the solid waste department, which has struggled for years to collect heavy waste on time due to resource issues.

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Additionally, Martinez and Alcorn both suggested charging fees to Harris County, school districts and other local government entities that use Houston’s minority business certification program.

During last year’s budget season, local advocates successfully convinced former Mayor Sylvester Turner to allocate additional funds to reverse a decades-old policy that disproportionately taxed black and brown neighborhoods low-income maintenance of open ditches.

This year, the same groups are calling for more municipal investments to combat flooding in the city’s most vulnerable communities. Organizers worked with Council Member Tarsha Jackson, who represents many of the affected areas in northeast Houston, to introduce an amendment that would authorize an additional $8 million for drainage repairs and improvements.

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“There’s been a lack of investment in infrastructure, so we need to get these neighborhoods back up to speed, and that’s going to save us in the long run,” Jackson said, pointing to the city’s frequent storms and flooding. “At the end of the day, we have to face it.”

Many others proposed amendments to improve neighborhood infrastructure and resilience to extreme weather events. The only amendment proposed by Council Member Letitia Plummer concerns the purchase of a generator for the Kashmir Gardens.

During the recent derecho, the Kashmere Gardens Multi-Service Center, which served as a cooling center, struggled to stay open after a power outage caused by the storm. The Houston Department of Health told the Chronicle that of the city’s 13 multi-service centers, only one has a permanent generator.

“Given the unreliability of Texas Power’s power grid during extreme weather conditions, which can lead to power outages and downed power lines, it is imperative that the City of Houston take proactive steps to protect its most vulnerable residents. vulnerable,” Plummer said.

Many other amendments of varying sizes and scope will be requested by council members in the coming days.

These include a measure allowing the City Council to obtain independent legal counsel as the mayor and council members fight for legislative control in light of the recently passed Proposition A. Peck also introduced several amendments on behalf of Comptroller Chris Hollins to expand his audit team and help entrench problems and inefficiencies in city services.

Below is a complete list of council members’ amendments.