Houston's Overtime Overruns Are a Decade-Long Habit, Not a Blip
Summary
Houston's police, fire, and solid-waste departments spent $134.4 million on overtime in fiscal 2025 -- $71.4 million over the $63.0 million adopted budget, a 113% overrun -- and City Controller Chris Hollins' office projects fiscal 2026 will miss budget by another $54.2 million, an 87% overrun the same office's forecasting model previously called within 0.4%. Police overtime has exceeded its budget every one of the last 11 years; fire in 9 of the last 11; solid waste in 8. The Controller's own presentation shows the FY2026 budget shortfall growing by $52 million since adoption, on top of a $76 million fund-balance drawdown already used to balance FY2025, and Houston's Finance Department now projects that gap will carry into a $227 million-to-$253 million deficit by fiscal 2027.
A pattern, not a bad year
The presentation states plainly that each department has missed its overtime budget most years of the last decade-plus: Police overtime has exceeded budget in each of the last 11 years -- a perfect streak -- while Fire has missed it 9 of the last 11 years and Solid Waste 8 of the last 11. The stated causes repeat across departments -- staffing shortages, recruiting challenges, and for Solid Waste an aging fleet and a growing city -- and the presentation's own read on past fixes is blunt: 'a primary issue appears to be continued underbudgeting.'
View data as table
| Solid Waste | $2.7M FY25 / $2.9M FY26 (proj.) | Over budget 8 of the last 11 years |
|---|---|---|
| Police | $26.1M FY25 / $13.3M FY26 (proj.) | Over budget every one of the last 11 years |
| Fire | $42.6M FY25 / $38.0M FY26 (proj.) | Over budget 9 of the last 11 years |
Individual overtime pay is rivaling, and sometimes tripling, base salary
The presentation's own top-10 earner tables show what that overrun looks like paycheck by paycheck. Houston's highest-paid Fire overtime earner, a Captain, is projected to be paid $283,928 in annualized overtime alone in FY2026 -- against a $95,295 salary, meaning overtime pay is running at 298% of salary, essentially triple. Fire's 10 highest overtime earners combined are projected to be paid $1,872,554 in annualized overtime against a combined salary of $941,009 -- overtime worth 199% of their base pay. Police's highest earner, a Sergeant, is projected at $132,866 in annualized overtime against a $116,656 salary, 114% of salary.
Raises and a $650 million backpay settlement haven't fixed it
Fire's mitigation efforts have been substantial: a five-year contract carrying a 10% raise in FY2025 and further increases through FY2029, plus $650 million in backpay -- about $150,000 to the median firefighter -- as part of a historic settlement. The presentation's own verdict: overtime continues to exceed the budget regardless, with FY2025 and projected FY2026 figures each more than 30% above the department's prior five-year average. Solid Waste has tried its own fixes too -- up to 6% market-rate pay adjustments, a $5,000 sign-on incentive for drivers, new vehicles -- with the same result: overtime still running over budget, and missed trash pickup still a top 311 complaint.
The Controller's office has been here before
This isn't the first warning. In an April 1, 2025 release⧉, roughly ten months before the FY2025 books closed, the Controller's office projected the same three departments would miss their combined overtime budget by more than $72 million -- Fire alone by $42.7 million, Police by $26.1 million, Solid Waste by $3.1 million. Those early estimates landed within a few percent of the eventual actuals. 'This level of overtime spending represents a significant budget challenge, but identifying the problem is the first step to solving it,' Controller Hollins said at the time, announcing a targeted audit of overtime practices in all three departments.
That audit work is still underway: a Houston Police Department uniformed-overtime audit covering the past four years plus a review of the backpay settlement is in planning, due to complete in May 2026; a city-wide civilian overtime audit -- covering an average $40 million a year in civilian overtime citywide, separate from the uniformed totals above -- is in field work, due in March 2026; and a Fire Department uniformed-overtime audit has not yet started.
What the overrun feeds into
The three-department overrun is unfolding inside a Houston budget already deteriorating on other fronts. The same Feb. 2026 presentation shows the FY2026 shortfall growing by $52 million between budget adoption and December -- a mix of lower revenue and higher spending citywide, not overtime specifically -- on top of the $76 million fund-balance drawdown Houston already used to balance FY2025. Houston's Finance Department now projects that gap will carry into a general fund deficit of $227 million to $253 million for FY2027. The Controller's office puts the overtime piece of it plainly: it remains uncertain whether salary savings can offset the overrun, 'leaving the fund balance as the only solution to cover budget overages.'
- Solid Waste, Police, and Fire overtime combined ran $71.4 million over budget in FY2025 (113%) and is projected to run $54.2 million over in FY2026 (87%) -- built on a forecasting model that predicted FY2025 within 0.4%.
- Police overtime has missed its budget every one of the last 11 years; Fire missed it 9 of the last 11; Solid Waste 8 of the last 11.
- Individual overtime pay is rivaling or exceeding base salary: the top Fire earner is projected at $283,928 in annualized overtime alone, 298% of a $95,295 salary.
- Houston's Finance Department projects the citywide shortfall will carry into a $227 million-$253 million FY2027 general fund deficit; three overtime audits are underway or planned, due to complete between March and May 2026.
Figures here anchor on the Controller's Feb. 3, 2026 presentation to the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee; FY2026 department and citywide totals are the Controller's own in-year projections, not yet closed-year actuals. Individual pay figures are annualized estimates as of the December 26, 2025 paycheck, subject to change with further accruals and adjustments, per the presentation's own disclaimer. Department-level slide totals round independently from the summary tables and can differ by up to $0.1 million (e.g. Police's own department slide prints a $13.2 million FY2026 variance against the $13.3 million on the summary table).
Sources(3) ▾
- City of Houston, Office of City Controller Chris Hollins, Overtime: Analyzing Trends and Cost Impact (2026-02-03) — The primary document. A 26-slide presentation from Houston's independently elected City Controller covering FY2025 actual overtime results and FY2026 projections for the Solid Waste, Police, and Fire departments' General Fund overtime, each department's multi-year budget-miss streak, individual top-earner pay tables, stated causes and mitigations, the FY2026 shortfall and FY2027 deficit projection, and the status of three planned overtime audits. houstontx.gov · original document
- City of Houston, Office of City Controller Chris Hollins, Controller Hollins Identifies $72 Million Overtime Surge, Cites Audit as Next Step Toward Practical Solutions and Fiscal Stewardship (2025-04-01) — The Controller's office's original in-year overtime-surge warning, roughly ten months before the Feb. 2026 presentation's FY2025 actual results were final. Used to establish that the office flagged the same three-department pattern earlier, with early estimates that landed within a few percent of the eventual FY2025 actuals, and to source the $330 million FY2025 structural-deficit context and Controller Hollins's quote. houstontx.gov · original document
- City of Houston, Office of the Controller, Audit Division - Report Fraud, Waste, and/or Abuse (2026-07-19) — The Controller's own public reporting channel -- source for cta.json's phone, mailing address, and online-form contact details. Its own worked example of 'Abuse' -- 'Creating unneeded overtime' -- directly names this piece's subject. houstontx.gov · original document
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In a Feb. 3, 2026 presentation⧉ to Houston's Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee, City Controller Chris Hollins' office laid out the final numbers on the Solid Waste, Police, and Fire departments' FY2025 overtime: the three departments combined spent $134.4 million against a $63.0 million adopted budget -- $71.4 million over, a 113% overrun. The same presentation projects FY2026 will miss its $62.3 million overtime budget by another $54.2 million (87%), a forecast built on a model that predicted the FY2025 result within 0.4%.