{"id":773085,"date":"2026-05-04T17:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/773085\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T17:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:50:17","slug":"houston-wants-to-tap-100m-from-its-own-water-system-to-help-close-a-looming-budget-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/773085\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston wants to tap $100M from its own water system to help close a looming budget gap"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON<\/strong> \u2013 For decades, every utility running lines under Houston streets has paid the city a fee for using that public space. Houston\u2019s own water system never has. <\/p>\n

Now, Mayor John Whitmire\u2019s administration wants to change that, proposing a new fee that could generate roughly $104 million a year. <\/p>\n

\u201cCenterPoint\u2019s a utility and they pay a right-of-way fee. AT&T, Comcast, they pay right-of-way fees\u201d said Steven David, Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor John Whitmire. \u201cWe have never made our wastewater and sewer utility be accountable to the same right-of-way occupancy rental fee into the general fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

David says his team found internal memos going back more than two decades recommending the move. <\/p>\n

\u201cState law allows it. Other cities do it. And we just never have,\u201d he told KPRC 2 News. \u201c[We] cannot figure out why.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the proposal would do<\/b><\/p>\n

The plan would charge the water and sewer system five percent of its gross revenue, similar to what other utilities already pay to use the city right-of-way.<\/p>\n

At five percent, the fee would generate roughly $104 million a year. David said the percentage was chosen carefully. He says, San Antonio\u2019s water system charges four percent. Dallas charges six. What Houston is proposing will land in the middle and it\u2019s before the administration believes the Texas legislature will likely regulate these fees in the next session.<\/p>\n

David argues this is not new money coming out of residents\u2019 pockets.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>Houston mayor proposes new $5 monthly \u2018administrative fee\u2019 tied to trash service starting next year<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe transfer to the right of way is money that Houstonians have already paid the city,\u201d he tells us. \u201cWe\u2019re not pulling money out of them. We\u2019re not going to increase these fees. It\u2019s pulling our money to ourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the money would still come from a system funded by ratepayers. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe water and sewer utility is a different entity. It is technically a part of the City of Houston, but by state law it is a separate entity,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a lockbox, meaning it is a rate-funded fund. We cannot just transfer money out of there. We have to have a legitimate business reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

The right-of-way fee, he said, is exactly that. <\/p>\n

Why the water system could absorb it<\/b><\/p>\n

David pointed to the utility\u2019s financial cushion. Right now, the system holds about 550 days of operating revenues, well above its 300-day policy requirement. Its debt coverage ratio sits at 215 percent against the required 120 percent to 135 percent. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have unutilized liquidity,\u201d he said. \u201cBasically, it\u2019s just sitting there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why the city wants the money now<\/b><\/p>\n

Houston is facing a projected $381 million budget gap in Fiscal Year 2029, growing to $446 the next year. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can close a $100 million budget gap,\u201d David said. \u201cI cannot find $381 million. And that\u2019s the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>Why Houston trash pickup is falling behind<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

City leaders believe this proposal, combined with a separate effort to add a solid waste administrative fee for trash collection, would significantly reduce those deficits. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this does is it basically hits, in a permanent way, a reset button,\u201d said David. <\/p>\n

Mayor Whitmire\u2019s team says property taxes would not go up. The tax rate would stay at 51 cents. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not relying on one-time gimmicks,\u201d he adds. \u201cI was apart of administrations where we had a $24 million budget gap and we sold $23 or $24 million worth of land to close it. We\u2019re not doing that.\u201d <\/p>\n

The bottom line<\/b><\/p>\n

The proposal still needs approval. At its core, the plan shifts money from a ratepayer-funded utility into the city\u2019s general fund to help stabilize long-term finances. The real question is whether tapping that money now avoids tougher decisions later, or simply delays them. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 For decades, every utility running lines under Houston streets has paid the city a fee for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":773086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4345,316855,16844,16301,358,3187,742,40598],"class_list":{"0":"post-773085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-right-of-way","10":"tag-investigates","11":"tag-john-whitmire","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-tx","14":"tag-utility-rates","15":"tag-wastewater"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}