Houston Mayor John Whitmire and City Controller Chris Hollins clashed over $72 million of taxpayer dollars in projected overtime spending for the police, fire, and solid waste departments. None of this was budgeted, and Hollins is promising future audits.
Hollins presented a report at a contentious city council meeting Wednesday. This report detailed how the Houston Police Department spent $26.1 million more on overtime pay than what the city budgeted. The Houston Fire Department recorded overages of more than $42.7 million, while the Solid Waste Management Department reported $3.1 million.
Hollins highlighted a worsening trend in the report saying, “While exceeding overtime budgets has become somewhat routine over the last decade, the situation has significantly deteriorated in fiscal years 2024 and 2025,”
Whitmire took exception to this, calling Hollins’ report “political” and “not acceptable.”
Whitmire defended the spending, saying he would not apologize for providing public safety and essential services to Houston citizens. He linked the excess spending to natural disaster response.
Simultaneously, Whitmire said his administration seeks to achieve a balanced budget and that the new leadership he installed in the departments would seek operational efficiencies.
“We’ve got the overtime under control in terms of how it’s paid for,” Whitmire said. “How can you say you may not be able to certify a budget when you haven’t even seen the budget we are going to lay out?” the mayor asked.
“Please refrain from attacks on the competence and the integrity of our directors,” Hollins replied.
After hearing Hollins’ presentation, Councilman Edward Pollard suggested that “when [city council] put forth the budget, whatever the budget says, we give an accurate and realistic projection of what we are going to spend and then we stay within those boundaries.”
Discussions on Houston’s fiscal health will be ongoing. Hollins stated his office would be conducting audits of both uniformed and civilian departments.
“These audits will evaluate whether internal controls are adequate to ensure the appropriate use and accurate payment of overtime,” he said.“My office requests and expects the full cooperation of other city departments and leadership in completing this important work.”
Houston is facing a deficit of more than $330 million for fiscal year 2026. Whitmire recently began a hiring freeze and offered voluntary retirement to 2,700 employees.
