This hit my inbox on Tuesday evening, so I didn’t see it in time to queue something up for yesterday.
Chris Hollins
Ahead of Wednesday’s City Council vote on the proposed Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, City Controller Chris Hollins has released a plainspoken one-page document entitled “Ten Hard Truths about Houston’s Proposed Budget.” The report cuts through political spin and lays out key facts that every Houstonian—and every member of City Council—deserves to consider before casting a vote.
“Every household knows what happens when you build a budget on shaky numbers,” said Hollins. “The city budget should be no different. This document outlines ten facts that must be considered and evaluated before the vote is made.”
While the Controller’s Office does not draft the city budget, it is responsible for reviewing, certifying, and flagging financial risks. Hollins’s goal is clear: to provide transparency and protect Houston’s financial future.
The Ten Hard Truths report highlights a range of concerns, including:
• Built-in assumptions about a property tax increase
• A 6% hike in water rates
• Unspecified “savings” with no clear plan
• Risky reliance on deficit spending to close a $107 million gap
• Unrealistic overtime projections, which contributed to a $70 million overspend last year
• Potential impacts to the city’s credit ratingThe document is part of the Controller’s broader effort to ensure that Houstonians have access to real financial information—not just headlines—when it comes to how their tax dollars are spent.
“Houston deserves the truth, not spin. Our job is to break down the budget, explain what it means for you and your family, and keep this process honest and fact-based every step of the way.”
The full one-pager is available at https://www.houstontx.gov/controller/news.html
See here and here for some background. The one pager is easy to read and contains links to various sources to back up the Controller’s claims. Some of the “hard truths” are more concerning than others – the assumed property tax hike is something I think needs to happen anyway and should have happened already – but the common theme running through them is the a lack of transparency on the Mayor’s part. I haven’t read the budget myself – it’s not in my wheelhouse anyway – and Hollins has plenty of reasons to take shots at the Mayor, so we’ll see what the reaction to this is. But I think it’s fair to say that Council should ask plenty of their own questions about the budget and its claims.