Houston officials have sounded the alarm over ballooning overtime spending in key departments—including police, fire, and solid waste—that has already driven costs far beyond what was budgeted for the year.
At a Houston City Council budget meeting on Tuesday, officials once again raised concerns over the city’s growing overtime problem.
Earlier this year, Controller Chris Hollins reported that the fire department spent 94 percent over its overtime budget last fiscal year, the police department went 190 percent over, and solid waste exceeded its limit by 75 percent. In real numbers, those departments spent $137 million on overtime despite budgeting only $65 million—more than double the planned amount.
At the time, Houston faced a $330 million deficit, which has since been lowered to about $158 million. Last month, while several council members discussed raising taxes or adding new garbage fees, Mayor John Whitmire stood firmly against either option.
“There are options still in front of us that will be used instead of raising taxes,” Whitmire said. “[Raising taxes] is the thing to do when you have the confidence of the public. The public is asking us not to raise taxes.” Whitmire has not yet presented an alternative plan to close the gap.
Data presented on Tuesday showed the issue is continuing into the new fiscal year. The Houston Police Department has already spent 44 percent of its overtime budget, the fire department nearly 45 percent, and the solid waste department roughly 43 percent.
HPD was budgeted $14.8 million for overtime and has already used $6.5 million. Police Chief Noe Diaz told council members the department has created an overtime-tracking dashboard that monitors usage down to individual officers to ensure funds are spent appropriately.
He said HPD’s homicide division alone has reduced overtime costs by about $500,000 compared to last year. Diaz also said the department is expanding recruitment to hire more officers in the coming months.
Fire Chief Thomas Muñoz said his department is developing a similar dashboard. Like HPD, he attributed high overtime costs to staffing shortages, despite the addition of 104 recruits. Firefighters, he said, face stricter minimum staffing standards and longer training requirements than police. Muñoz also pointed to 14-month EMS training cycles that leave gaps in daily coverage.
Solid waste officials face similar challenges. The department was criticized earlier this year following a report that cited broken-down trucks, delayed trash pickups, and potential misuse of city credit cards. It has already spent nearly $1.7 million of its $4 million overtime budget and remains short about 50 drivers.
Solid Waste Director Larius Hassan said his department is evaluating the need for a trash fee if staffing and resource shortages continue. “At some point in time, we’re going to run out of resources to handle the load that we have,” Hassan said. “The city keeps growing, and our department only has 398 people total right now, so we’re going to definitely need [the fee].”
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