OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

June 8, 2026 Special Called Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee Meeting on CIP 2027-2031

Committees and CommissionsMonday, June 8, 2026
BodyHouston, Texas
SessionCommittees and Commissions
DateMonday, June 8, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 32:08
Transcript — Verbatim
0:05

And welcome to the June 8th, 2026 special called budget and fiscal affairs committee meeting.

0:11

I'm Sally Alcorn, and I'd like to welcome my colleagues to the horseshoe.

0:17

We are joined by my Vice Chair Mario Castillo, Councilmember Joaquin Martinez, Vice Mayor Pro Tem Amy Peck, Councilmember Julian Ramirez, and Councilmember Joe Panzarella and staff from Councilmember Mary Nan Huffman's office, Mayor Pro Tem's office, Councilmember Salinas' office, and Councilmember Carter's office.

0:39

Today we will be going over the capital improvement plan 2027 through 2031.

0:45

We are joined by Finance Director Melissa Dubowski and Finance Deputy Director Alma Tamborello.

0:51

And great to see you both.

0:53

As if we're not busy enough this week, we can now talk about spending billions more in the capital improvement plan.

1:01

So the floor is yours.

1:03

Great.

1:04

Good morning everyone.

1:05

Thank you.

1:06

So I want to start off first by thanking the team.

1:09

That's um, like you mentioned, this is a busy time of year.

1:12

Um, of course, uh, we're getting close to the end of the fiscal year, which means we're getting ready for the next fiscal year, both on the budget side and also on the capital improvement plan side.

1:21

So I want to thank the team.

1:23

Most of them are behind me today that put the long nights and the hard work into getting the book together.

1:32

Um, as you see, it's um you know quite voluminous.

1:35

It's available on our website right now.

1:37

Um, so we are trying to save costs by not printing as many hard copies as we have in the past.

1:42

So um we put it on the SharePoint um for the council members um to see last week, and it's up on our website now as well.

1:49

So please take a look there.

1:51

And again, just wanted to thank the team, not just the team behind me, but also I'd be remiss um if I didn't thank as well the um the departments and their staff that put everything into it.

2:01

Um, we're joined by GSD and Public Works today.

2:05

Well, I'm not missing anyone, but um of course the airport um has all of their projects in here as well, um, fleet, IT, so it really covers um all of the capital improvement projects citywide.

2:15

So um all the departments have put a lot of effort into this um proposed document today.

2:19

So um thank you.

2:20

I'll turn it over to Alma to kick us off.

2:23

Okay, good morning, council members.

2:25

So um the overview of the capital plan um as a refresher.

2:29

This is a five-year rolling plan.

2:32

Um the plan is a live document and it is subject to change.

2:36

Um this is a plan, not a budget, so um, unlike the budget where it comes to council for approval and it's said um as these projects come, um you'll see a request for council action to appropriate the funding.

2:51

Um, the plan covers four major areas: the public improvement, the build Houston forward, the enterprise funds, and the component units.

3:02

Next slide, please.

3:05

So on the four component units um that we'll see.

3:09

We have the public the public improvement program, and this is primarily um general fund departments that consists of fire, general improvements, health, housing, library, parks, and police.

3:23

Um, the billed Houston Forward, uh, formerly known as Rebuild Houston, is the straight uh storm drainage and the street infrastructure projects, and you'll find those within the storm drainage and street and traffic tabs.

3:38

The enterprise fund programs, these are the city's um business type entities.

3:43

These are closed financial systems, and they're um within this section.

3:48

You'll see the combined utility um system, which will have the water and wastewater, and now we also included the solid waste department.

3:58

And you'll also find the Houston Airport system under the enterprise fund program section.

4:03

The component units are legally um separated organizations that are financially uh closed systems, but they are reported in the city's um annual comprehensive financial report.

4:16

And within the component units, um, the largest section of this um section is the TERS.

4:24

Um, you'll see that the 2731 proposed CIP has the uh 26 through 30 CIP for the TURS, and that's mainly because there's a little bit of a timing difference between when the TURS budgets come to council along with their CIPs.

4:40

So those came before we we're we're here at this point, so um they're primarily um uh CIP projects for the 26 and 30 um fiscal years.

4:52

Um next slide, please.

4:55

So the funding sources for the public improvement section is general funds supported debt.

5:03

So you'll see that in the general fund budget as a transfer to pay debt service.

4:59

And this is um this goes to pays for the for the debt service that for the projects that we finance that are included in this in this CIP plan.

5:18

We also get um donations um and contributions and grants.

5:23

The build Houston forward section is primarily um the source of funding is uh DDSRF, and this is coming from the drainage utility charge from um plus the develop the developer impact fees.

5:36

Umorum that previously went to pay debt service for the street and drainage projects, will go um uh is part of the funding for for the build Houston forward.

5:49

Um before we make the transfer for the advalorum, um we'll first pay uh we'll take out the debt service, and then the remainder of that will go to the pay as you go projects.

6:01

Um, and we are using the assumptions for the DDSRF transfer that are based on the uh the Jones settlement case.

6:10

Other funding sources are uh grants, other uh governmental entities such as Metro, Harris County, Text Dot, the Federal Highway Administration, HUD and FEMA.

6:23

Um under the enterprise fund um section.

6:26

This is uh the the revenues that are derived here are from the CUS um water customer from the rates and charges and grants.

6:36

Um the airport revenues um are derived from the revenue that's coming from the airlines parking fees, um the FALC orking fees and FAA grants.

6:52

Um under the component unit section, the tax um incremental reinvestment zones, their funding comes from the tax increment dollars and zoo revenue and the and the Houston First Revenues.

7:04

Um next slide, please.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Engineering And Infrastructure█████████████████████████████████████████████69%
Fiscal Sustainability████████████████24%
Solid Waste Management█████7%
Summary of Proceedings

June 8, 2026 Special Called Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee Meeting on Capital Improvement Plan 2027-2031

The Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee, chaired by Sally Alcorn, met on June 8, 2026, to review the proposed Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for fiscal years 2027 through 2031. The meeting included presentations from Finance Director Melissa Dubowski and Deputy Director Alma Tamborello, covering the $17.9 billion five-year plan across four major areas: Public Improvement Program, Build Houston Forward, Enterprise Funds, and Component Units. Councilmembers discussed bond capacity, sidewalk funding, drainage programs, fleet spending, and solid waste reporting.

Discussion Items

  • Overview of the CIP: Finance staff presented the $17.9 billion proposed plan, a decrease in the Public Improvement section due to solid waste moving to Combined Utility System, and increases in Build Houston Forward and Combined Utility System. The plan is a rolling, five-year document subject to change.
  • Funding Sources: Public Improvement is supported by general fund debt; Build Houston Forward by DDSRF (drainage utility charge and developer impact fees) plus grants; Enterprise Funds by rates, charges, and grants; Component Units by tax increment, zoo revenue, and Houston First revenues.
  • Public Improvement Program Highlights: $185 million for municipal courts, fire station renovations, fleet commitment of $292 million (up from $246 million), and technology upgrades including CAD system replacement ($10 million) and SAP S4 HANA ($12.8 million).
  • Build Houston Forward: Street and traffic control: $1.58 billion, with $790 million for citywide rehabilitation and $513 million for thoroughfares/collectors. Council district service fund: $27.5 million. Safe sidewalk program increased to $28 million (from $16.5 million). Storm drainage: $1.3 billion, with neighborhood drainage $775 million, SWOT program $128 million, local drainage $97 million, and ditch reestablishment $125 million. An additional $25 million for ditch reestablishment is in the FY27 operating budget (stormwater fund).
  • Debt Payoff: Since 2012, $2 billion in street and drainage debt paid off; $367 million still owed. As debt is paid, more funds become available for pay-as-you-go projects.
  • Combined Utility System: Wastewater treatment facilities $3.8 billion, including neighborhood sewer renewal ($731 million). Water system $4.3 billion, driven by East Water Purification Plant. Need to expand commercial paper capacity for implementation.
  • Houston Airport System: Five-year CIP totals $2.7 billion, with $2 billion at IAH focusing on taxiway and runway improvements.
  • Bond Election Discussion: Vice Mayor Pro Tem Peck asked about timing for a future bond election. Staff indicated elections are held every 4-6 years; the last was in 2022, so another is likely in the next year or so. Councilmember Panzarella clarified that bond authorization is like a credit limit and does not necessarily mean tax increases; the city plans to stay within revenue caps.
  • Fleet Spending: Councilmember Panzarella asked about fleet details. Staff explained that fleet spending is broken out by department, with specific unit counts only for the first year due to cost volatility in later years.
  • Solid Waste Reporting: Councilmember Panzarella requested better separation of solid waste capital costs from the combined utility system. Staff noted that solid waste facilities are in a separate chapter but funding source is now Combined Utility System. A council district summary of projects will be provided.
  • Amendment Process: Councilmember amendments are due by the end of the week (June 12). Finance will compile them into a matrix for organized discussion.

Key Outcomes

  • The CIP will be brought to City Council on June 17, 2026, with a potential vote on June 24, 2026.
  • Council members were directed to submit CIP questions through the SharePoint system under the appropriate department.
  • A council district summary of projects will be made available.
  • No formal votes were taken at this committee meeting.

Meeting Transcript

And welcome to the June 8th, 2026 special called budget and fiscal affairs committee meeting. I'm Sally Alcorn, and I'd like to welcome my colleagues to the horseshoe. We are joined by my Vice Chair Mario Castillo, Councilmember Joaquin Martinez, Vice Mayor Pro Tem Amy Peck, Councilmember Julian Ramirez, and Councilmember Joe Panzarella and staff from Councilmember Mary Nan Huffman's office, Mayor Pro Tem's office, Councilmember Salinas' office, and Councilmember Carter's office. Today we will be going over the capital improvement plan 2027 through 2031. We are joined by Finance Director Melissa Dubowski and Finance Deputy Director Alma Tamborello. And great to see you both. As if we're not busy enough this week, we can now talk about spending billions more in the capital improvement plan. So the floor is yours. Great. Good morning everyone. Thank you. So I want to start off first by thanking the team. That's um, like you mentioned, this is a busy time of year. Um, of course, uh, we're getting close to the end of the fiscal year, which means we're getting ready for the next fiscal year, both on the budget side and also on the capital improvement plan side. So I want to thank the team. Most of them are behind me today that put the long nights and the hard work into getting the book together. Um, as you see, it's um you know quite voluminous. It's available on our website right now. Um, so we are trying to save costs by not printing as many hard copies as we have in the past. So um we put it on the SharePoint um for the council members um to see last week, and it's up on our website now as well. So please take a look there. And again, just wanted to thank the team, not just the team behind me, but also I'd be remiss um if I didn't thank as well the um the departments and their staff that put everything into it. Um, we're joined by GSD and Public Works today. Well, I'm not missing anyone, but um of course the airport um has all of their projects in here as well, um, fleet, IT, so it really covers um all of the capital improvement projects citywide. So um all the departments have put a lot of effort into this um proposed document today. So um thank you. I'll turn it over to Alma to kick us off. Okay, good morning, council members. So um the overview of the capital plan um as a refresher. This is a five-year rolling plan. Um the plan is a live document and it is subject to change. Um this is a plan, not a budget, so um, unlike the budget where it comes to council for approval and it's said um as these projects come, um you'll see a request for council action to appropriate the funding. Um, the plan covers four major areas: the public improvement, the build Houston forward, the enterprise funds, and the component units. Next slide, please. So on the four component units um that we'll see. We have the public the public improvement program, and this is primarily um general fund departments that consists of fire, general improvements, health, housing, library, parks, and police. Um, the billed Houston Forward, uh, formerly known as Rebuild Houston, is the straight uh storm drainage and the street infrastructure projects, and you'll find those within the storm drainage and street and traffic tabs. The enterprise fund programs, these are the city's um business type entities. These are closed financial systems, and they're um within this section. You'll see the combined utility um system, which will have the water and wastewater, and now we also included the solid waste department. And you'll also find the Houston Airport system under the enterprise fund program section. The component units are legally um separated organizations that are financially uh closed systems, but they are reported in the city's um annual comprehensive financial report. And within the component units, um, the largest section of this um section is the TERS. Um, you'll see that the 2731 proposed CIP has the uh 26 through 30 CIP for the TURS, and that's mainly because there's a little bit of a timing difference between when the TURS budgets come to council along with their CIPs. So those came before we we're we're here at this point, so um they're primarily um uh CIP projects for the 26 and 30 um fiscal years. Um next slide, please. So the funding sources for the public improvement section is general funds supported debt. So you'll see that in the general fund budget as a transfer to pay debt service. And this is um this goes to pays for the for the debt service that for the projects that we finance that are included in this in this CIP plan. We also get um donations um and contributions and grants.

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