Houston City Council members have offered up budget amendments to give every firefighter a $3,000 hazard pay bonus, implement a garbage fee to bolster the city’s trash and recycling collections, and buy new chairs for City Hall’s chambers.
In all, council members have proposed 91 ways to alter Mayor Sylvester Turner’s $5.7 billion budget, and they will try to tack their projects to the proposed spending plan during a marathon session Wednesday that typically makes for their longest meeting of the year. Residents will have time to speak in the morning to advocate their priorities, as well.
Turner’s proposed budget includes previously announced pay raises for all city employees, tax relief for seniors and disabled residents, and would sock away the healthiest reserves in recent history. It does not include a call for a property tax increase. Much of the additional spending is made possible by federal COVID-19 relief money.
The city has received more than $600 million over the last two years, and Turner has proposed using $130 million for this year’s budget. That money must be allocated by 2024.
Budget amendments, although rarely adopted, represent one of council members’ few opportunities to put relatively substantive recommendations up for a vote by their colleagues in Houston’s strong-mayor form of government, in which the mayor controls what gets on the weekly agenda.
Members take different approaches and strategies. Six of the 16 council members — Abbie Kamin, Dave Martin, Tiffany Thomas, Mike Knox, Michael Kubosh and David Robinson — proposed no amendments. Meanwhile, District A Councilmember Amy Peck accounted for 42 of the 91 amendments offered. They run the gamut, including installing turf at libraries and community centers to save money on lawn maintenance, neighborhood infrastructure projects, and using retired firefighters for building inspections.
“It’s our only opportunity to put items on the agenda, and at the same time it’s a huge budget,” Peck said. “So, there’s definitely items that I would change in such a big budget.”
The amendments vary greatly in size and scope. Among Peck’s recommendations is $55 million for two major neighborhood drainage projects where homes often flood. Another idea from District J Councilmember Ed Pollard would allow council offices with spare operating funds to buy new chairs for the chambers where they meet.
Still, most amendments historically fail to win approval, and Turner has deployed a new strategy this year to keep the discussion limited to the operating budget: He is ruling everything else out of order.
The mayor has proposed tossing out 40 of the amendments for that purpose, according to a spreadsheet of his administration’s responses to the proposals. In the past, council members have had more leeway in their suggestions.
In a memo last month, Turner warned council members last month to keep their eyes on the budget alone. He said doing so would make the discussion more productive.
“Policy amendments should not be submitted and will be ruled out of order,” Turner wrote. “Policy amendments include those that will modify existing laws or city charter via ordinance compared to budget amendments that revise the proposed budget.”
The city uses Robert’s Rules of Order to govern its procedures, which says an amendment must be germane to the main motion on which council is voting, according to City Attorney Arturo Michel.
“Although conceptually any amendment could be found to have a fiscal impact, the city has discretion in setting the level of fiscal connection through the rulings of the mayor,” Michel said.
Some council members, though, argue Turner has dismissed suggestions that have explicit budgetary implications. At-Large Councilmember Letitia Plummer, for example, pitched several amendments geared toward overhauling apartment inspections, a policy she has pursued since last budget season. Each of her proposals had a dedicated price tag meant to come from the city’s unspent reserves, and all but one were ruled out of order.
“We’re voted in by the people, and what you see all the members putting forward is what people have asked for,” Plummer said. “It’s only fair to allow us this one day to make the ask.”
Many of the proposed amendments target the $311 million Turner wants to leave unspent for the future. Councilmember Tarsha Jackson proposed using $12.3 million for local street projects in her District B, and another $5 million to rebuild the Tidwell Park pool.
District D Councilmember Carolyn Evans-Shabazz wants to use $5 million to boost the amount given to each council district for projects in their neighborhoods. And At-Large Councilmember Sallie Alcorn is asking to use $5 million for more street and drainage projects across the city, which she said reflects the demand from residents at recent community meetings.
“Everybody wants drainage projects, so since we do have the luxury of a bigger fund balance, it’s just an amount I felt could be transferred over for more street and drainage projects,” Alcorn said.
Alcorn and Councilmember Robert Gallegos also are pitching an amendment to impose a garbage collection fee on residents. Every other major Texas city has one, using the revenue to support their operations. Houston’s Solid Waste Department charges no such fee and its leaders long have complained about shoe-string budgets.
On that proposal, Turner’s office said “Administration does not support at this time,” the only pitch to get that qualifying description at the end. Turner has suggested he will leave the decision to his successor, but he has not closed the door on taking it up in the 1.5 years he has left in office.
Gallegos proposed other revenue generators for the department, as well, including a one-time $25 fee on new residential developments that still use city collection services. That was ruled out of order by Turner.
dylan.mcguinness@chron.com