Houston City Council Takes Action on Surging Water Bills Following Charter Amendment, Mayor Turner Proposes Changes

Houston City Council members are taking steps to address concerns over soaring water bills following the passage of a city charter amendment. Mayor Sylvester Turner announced plans to propose changes to the city’s code of ordinances to tackle the issue. The proposed changes, developed in collaboration with Houston Public Works and the City of Houston Legal Department, aim to bring relief to residents facing high water bills. Turner’s administration intends to present these changes to the city council by December 6.

Residents have raised complaints about escalating water bills at council meetings, prompting action from both the mayor and council members. City council members Amy Peck, Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, and Mary Nan Huffman jointly submitted a notice to place an item on the agenda for water bill relief. Their plan focuses on incentivizing the public works department to modernize the city’s aging water meter system, which has been implicated in the surge of expensive water bills.

The council members’ initiative marks the first attempt to place an item on the agenda since the recent charter amendment, which grants at least three council members the opportunity to do so. The proposed item is currently under review by the city’s legal department and, if approved by council members, will reduce the timeframe for the public works department to correct erroneous water bills, unless it benefits the customer.

The council members emphasized the importance of addressing the concerns of frustrated Houstonians, stating that their proposed amendment would cap billing overages caused by malfunctioning city equipment and encourage the public works department to ensure proper functioning of meters.

With Mayor Turner on his way out of office, a runoff election on December 9 will determine the next mayor, either U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee or Texas Sen. John Whitmire. The public works department previously issued an apology in May for erroneous water bills linked to newly-installed meter-reading devices, attributing the issue to old devices that resulted in incorrect charges. The department committed to generating future bills based on actual readings.