HOUSTON – With hurricane season around the corner, Houston residents are demanding accountability and the funding they were promised.
Houstonians are taking legal action against the city to secure the voter-approved drainage fund.
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Three residents have filed a petition in Harris County, claiming Mayor John Whitmire is violating the law by diverting essential drainage funds. The petitioners are Houstonians who have struggled to recover from increasingly frequent extreme weather.
The petition challenges the mayor’s proposed FY2026 budget, which could cut drainage investments by $245 million over the span of three years, according to the city controller.
The controller estimates that this is $92 million this year, $91 million in FY2026, and by other estimates, approximately $60 million in FY2027.
Local disaster recovery organizations have also filed supporting documents, arguing that any agreement breaking the law impacts all Houstonians.
The mayor’s office responds to the Houstonians drainage funding petition:
“The settlement agreement approved by City Council, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Watson serves the public interest far better than any alternative outcome. Under the terms of the agreement, the City will make three escalating annual drainage payments from property tax revenue that represent a substantial share of the full calculation. After these initial three years, the City will apply the full formula. Crucially, starting this year and continuing indefinitely, the City will also contribute drainage funds from sources not legally required to be used for drainage—specifically METRO transfers and Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) funds. These contributions are only required because of the settlement.
“The litigation that led to this agreement has been in the public domain for years, widely reported in the media. It has always been a dispute between two individuals and the City, and the right to settle lies solely with those parties. Members of the public had years of opportunity to seek to intervene if they wished. Furthermore, the initiation, negotiation, and conclusion of the settlement were publicly discussed and covered extensively over many months. This has never been a private or secretive matter. On the contrary, the parties involved have acted transparently and in pursuit of a settlement that enhances public drainage outcomes for Houston.
“Mayor John Whitmire is the first mayor in Houston’s history to commit over half a billion dollars annually to streets and drainage—starting this year and continuing into the future. This level of sustained investment is unprecedented and signals a new era of long-overdue reinvestment in Houston’s core infrastructure. The settlement agreement is a key component of this larger vision. Rather than fighting in court, the City has chosen to move forward—with funding, with transparency, and with a clear plan to build a safer, more resilient Houston.”