Besides a trash fee, Houston council waits to see how else Mayor Whitmire wants to close deficit

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston council members know a trash fee could be coming in Mayor John Whitmire's budget proposal, but they're still waiting to see what else could be coming to close the largest gap in city history.

PREVIOUS REPORT: Rice researchers found Houstonians support a trash fee, and expect better service with it

Starting soon, if you live in a home in Houston and don't have an HOA private trash service, you could pay a garbage fee. This week, the mayor is expected to include it in his budget proposal.

It would start at $5 a month for the first two years, and climb by $5 every year after until it hits $25. It's an effort to close a deficit that city leaders said is nearly $200 million.

Although the mayor may want a garbage fee, he needs council approval.

"We're not going to just going to want to see the revenues come in, we're going to want to see those revenues translate to a better and improved service," Council Member Sallie Alcorn said.

"It's something definitely to consider," Council Member Amy Peck said. "I have always said that I would not support a garbage fee until certain parameters were met, including efficiency studies."

Studies that last year told taxpayers would save them millions. One of those costs $4 million.

City leaders said it would create a tool to help save money on projects. This investment, officials said, would save the city $17.5 million.

However, days ago, officials were told they saved just $300,000 because they learned consolidating contracts didn't save as much money as they thought.

"Looking at it after the fact, probably not," Peck said. "But again, we didn't know what we didn't know when we started this. It could've yielded us a ton of money in savings, or not as much money."

Council said the additional funds are needed not just for trash, but for public safety as well. Although the majority of the current budget goes towards police and fire, it wasn't enough.

City leaders said $73 million more was spent on HFD this year. Now, they're waiting to see how the mayor addresses that in his latest proposal.

"I agree with the salaries, but all of the funding and operational things that we can do on overtime, we need to really look at that and try to bring those budgets in as efficiently as they can," Alcorn explained.