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Houston City Council unanimously eliminated a streetlight installation fee Wednesday while delaying a high-profile proposal to provide relief for surprise water bills.
The streetlight measure passed after a round of praise from council members, but a vote on Mayor Sylvester Turner’s water billing plan was tagged by at-large Councilmember Michael Kubosh. The tag automatically delayed consideration of the measure for one week.
Kubosh said he had not had enough time to review the package, which Turner first detailed at a Monday afternoon press conference.
Kubosh’s announcement that he was “tagging” the water bill reforms, after more than an hour of discussion, drew audible groans and boos from his colleagues.
The streetlight measure passed with far less rancor. Under current city code, residents requesting a new streetlight are required to pay the first-year operating cost, which averages about $200.
That fee resulted in most resident requests for new streetlights being rejected in fiscal years 2021 and 2022, according to Houston Public Works records. The department recommended council eliminate the fee to make access to new streetlights more equitable.
District B Councilmember Tarsha Jackson was one of several council members to praise the proposal. Although evidence on the connection between lighting and public safety is mixed, Jackson noted that residents frequently link darkened streets to crime.
“The residents kept pushing, always push for street lighting. It makes them feel safer, so this gives them the opportunity to get lighting at no cost,” she said.
Earlier, Kubosh was the fly in the ointment on the water billing measure, which Turner introduced after months of pressure from residents outraged by surprise, high water bills.
City officials have linked many of those high bills to the 125,000 remote-reading devices attached to water meters that have stopped transmitting data. The faulty devices account for a quarter of the automated water meters in the city.
The process of replacing all those devices will stretch to 2030, Houston Public Works Director Carol Haddock said Wednesday.
In the meantime, Turner wants City Council to approve nine reforms designed to cut a break for residents who are surprised by high water bills. Among other measures, his plan would eliminate a cap on the number of water bill adjustments property owners can receive each year and incentivize residents to fix “private leaks” by offering them a bigger rebate for excess charges on leaks that are solved quickly.
Turner announced he was working on water billing reforms last month just hours after three council members proposed their own ordinance to prohibit Houston Public Works from sending corrected, higher bills more than three months after the original billing period.
Council members peppered Haddock with questions during a lengthy discussion of the proposal, including whether replacement meter-reading devices are working properly. Haddock said they are.
Taken together, the package of water bill reforms should address more than 90 percent of the water bill complaints the city receives, Haddock said.
Turner says the reform package will apply immediately to residents who are contesting their water bills.
Kubosh, however, said he had not had enough time to review the proposal.
He offered to reconsider his tag if the mayor would tweak the timeline on when Houston Public Works can send higher, corrected bills to residents. Turner declined the offer.
“No, I am not negotiating on that, Councilmember Kubosh,” Turner said.
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