Protesters disrupt Houston City Council meeting, as city leaders consider 2026 fiscal budget

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Protestors were kicked out of Houston City Hall after calling on city leaders to oppose its $7 billion fiscal year 2026 budget, which passed shortly after on Wednesday.

The Houston Mayor's Office said the public was barred from council chambers for the rest of the day.

Houston police said there are no arrests at this point. However, ABC13 was told one person was at least briefly detained having been carried out of chambers by law enforcement.

The Houston police chief said he is closely watching this situation. At this point, it's unclear if charges will be filed against any of the demonstrators.

The mayor called a recess after the group, known as West Street Recovery, disrupted session with a banner, and the meeting devolved into a sort of shouting match.

RELATED: Ahead of the budget vote, a new survey shows what Houstonians want money spent on

Demonstrators have been heckling officials all day holding up signs. The group has appeared at a number of recent council meetings, upset the city struck a deal to delay full payment in a years-long legal battle over funding for street and drainage projects.

That funding was voter-approved. It's mostly pulled from property tax dollars, so they feel this budget, which does not fully allocate that earmarked money, is an abuse of power and that their vote is being ignored.

The group staged a demonstration outside City Hall around 1 p.m., which was quite loud. You could hear their chanting inside chambers as council attempted to add amendments, which are different items tacked onto the budget.

One such item, which was raised by Council Member Tarsha Jackson and approved, allocates an additional $25 million to drainage - something you could imagine the demonstrators were happy with.

The protestors were not the only people who spoke with ABC13, concerned about this budget. Eyewitness News also spoke with several council members who said they've never had so many people coming up to them at the grocery store, their kids' ball games, asking them to vote against this budget.

A handful said they would do just that. Some were concerned about how recent reorganization efforts will harm city services.

Others are concerned that the city is pulling from its equivalent of a savings account and has not sufficiently prepared for disasters, and a recently approved bill that could change pension payouts.

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