Residents urge council to prioritize drainage funding as city cuts deepen

Dozens of residents and community organizers urged the Houston City Council on May 13 to increase local drainage and ditch‑reestablishment funding and to lift a citywide hiring freeze they say is hampering flood‑mitigation work.

The calls came during the public‑comment period from organizers with neighborhood advocacy groups and residents who described repeated delays in routine drainage maintenance and warned that the city’s staffing reductions and contracting policies put neighborhoods at risk. "For years, we've been hearing from the city... that the city is broke," said Alice Liu of the Northeast Action Collective and West Street Recovery. "Overall, $200,000,000 in overall budget cuts."

The petitioners told council members that, even as budget cuts removed hundreds of positions, the city reached a multiyear settlement and approved an expensive contract for public safety. Stephanie Valdez, water justice organizer with the Coalition for the Environment, Equity and Resilience, said the result was a mismatch of priorities: "We are supposed to believe this narrative that cutting every other department in the city is good except for police and fire." Valdez cited three specific requests the coalition has pressed for three years: increase the local drainage projects program by $25,000,000, increase the ditch reestablishment program by $20,000,000, and adopt an equitable, "worst‑first" project‑selection framework.

Other speakers pressed staffing concerns. Alice Liu told the council that 1,000 employees took a retirement incentive in the current budget year and that 882 positions would be permanently removed, including 249 from Public Works. She and others warned that chronic vacancies — city staff have reportedly been unable to fill 70 to 100 Public Works positions — will prevent allocated money from being spent effectively and will push the city to contract out routine maintenance. "Contracting out jobs that we know are routine maintenance is inefficient and more costly," Liu said.

Perry "PK" McCary and Omer Ahmed framed the request as a public‑safety and climate resilience issue. McCary called the budget "a moral document" that "reflects what we value and who we are willing to leave behind." Ahmed repeatedly urged the council to increase the local drainage program to $45,000,000 (up from the requested $25,000,000 increase) and warned that the coming hurricane season and diminishing federal capacity make local infrastructure investment more urgent: "It's not normal to anticipate flood every year. It is not normal to decide that human lives are not in your budget," he said.

Council members acknowledged the remarks and requested follow‑up. Council member Evan Shabazz told Perry McCary he wanted to continue the conversation. Council member Martinez said his office would review specific incidents raised by speakers and follow up. No formal council action or vote on new drainage funding or hiring policy occurred at the May 13 meeting.

Background: Speakers tied their funding requests to a broader budget debate referenced repeatedly during public comment: the city offered retirement incentives that reduced headcount and negotiated a multiyear agreement for police compensation. Advocates said those choices leave city services such as drainage and neighborhood maintenance understaffed and more likely to be outsourced.

Next steps: Speakers asked council to adopt a transparent, equitable project‑selection framework (a "worst‑first" model) and to reallocate or restore staff positions in Public Works so allocated drainage dollars can be spent. Council members said they would follow up with staff and community members on the points raised.