Overview
- Mayor John Whitmire, who unveiled a $7.5 billion budget Tuesday, proposed a $5 monthly trash fee and a shift of Solid Waste into the water utility to help erase a roughly $200 million deficit without raising property taxes.
- The $5 would be folded into water bills as a renamed “Solid Waste Cart and Administrative Fee” and is expected to raise about $24–25 million a year, far short of the roughly $110 million it costs to run trash service.
- City leaders say the utility model lets them borrow to fix decayed transfer stations and buy trucks, which they argue will cut long routes caused by only two of five stations being in service.
- The plan also adds a right‑of‑way charge on the city’s water and sewer operations to move about $100 million into the general fund, aligning those utilities with others that pay to use city streets.
- City Controller Chris Hollins called the plan risky and said key assumptions are unclear, while several council members want proof of service gains and discounts for seniors or low‑income households.
- Council budget hearings and town halls run through mid‑May ahead of a June 3 vote, with unresolved questions that include whether HOA neighborhoods that use private haulers will keep a $6 city subsidy or pay the new fee.