Houston City Controller Chris Hollins launched an interactive online tool this week taking direct aim at one of the more contentious pieces of Mayor John Whitmire’s proposed $7.5 billion fiscal year 2027 budget: a new $5 monthly fee tied to residential garbage collection.
The tool, called “This Fee is Garbage,” allows Houston residents to enter their taxable home value and compare what they would pay under the proposed monthly fee versus a property tax increase designed to generate an equivalent amount of revenue.
Hollins said the launch was less about pushing a particular funding solution and more about ensuring residents have access to the numbers before a decision is made. “Before residents are asked to pay a new fee, they should be able to see the numbers for themselves,” Hollins said in a press release. “If City Hall is asking residents to pay more, the burden should be visible before the bill arrives.”
According to Hollins, homeowners with taxable home values below $875,000 would pay more under the flat garbage fee than they would under a proportional property tax increase. He noted the average taxable home value in Houston sits around $300,000.
The proposed $5 fee would apply to the city’s roughly 400,000 residential solid waste customers and is projected to generate between $24 and $25 million annually. Whitmire has framed the fee as a statutory requirement accompanying the city’s move to reclassify solid waste services as a municipal utility. “State law says you cannot provide a utility, which solid waste is becoming, without a charge. It could have been $2. We did the very minimum of $5,” the mayor previously said.
The fee would remain fixed for at least the first two years, with any future increases requiring city council approval. However, a city-funded solid waste study cited by Hollins found the fee would likely need to climb to around $46 per month by the fifth year to cover the actual cost of service, a projection that, if accurate, would push the annual cost to Houston households past $500 per year.
Beyond the garbage fee, Whitmire’s budget includes a right-of-way rental charge on the city’s water and sewer utility, set at 5 percent of gross revenues, that would generate approximately $104 million for the general fund annually. The administration argues this brings the water utility in line with every other major utility operating in the city, from CenterPoint to AT&T. Critics have argued the move places added financial strain on the utility system.
The Whitmire-Hollins conflict over the city’s finances is not new. The two have clashed repeatedly since both took office in January 2024. Last year, Hollins withheld budget certification over an unresolved drainage lawsuit stemming from a 2019 suit accusing the city of misallocating voter-mandated drainage funds. The FY2026 budget ultimately passed 14-3 after a phased court settlement was finalized, and Hollins certified the budget, though not without issuing what he called “Ten Hard Truths” about the plan’s financial risks.
This cycle, Hollins has been equally vocal. He launched a six-stop “reality check” tour in May, telling residents that the city is operating under what he describes as the largest deficit in Houston’s history, a figure he says has grown from $174 million earlier in the budget cycle to more than $210 million in recent weeks.
He also pushed back on the mayor’s claim that last year’s budget was balanced through efficiencies, arguing the city’s reserve fund has dropped by hundreds of millions of dollars since Whitmire took office.
Hollins has since confirmed he expects to certify the FY2027 budget, describing certification as a legal determination about whether the numbers are sufficient to cover expenses and not a moral endorsement of the plan.
A public hearing on the budget was held May 20, and a final city council vote is scheduled for June 3. If approved, the new fiscal year begins July 1.
