Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had some relaxing downtime over the holidays.
You know we are kicking off 2024 talking about your water bills issues and what is ahead. Houston water customers are hoping for change, after months of dealing with erratic, surging, and unexplained water bills.
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Change in leadership, promise for change
John Whitmire has been sworn in as Houston’s next Mayor. He is vowing to get to the bottom of the water billing crisis draining Houstonians.
This past weekend (I worked on Sunday), retired Kingwood homeowner Mary Gilmore is hoping he keeps that promise.
“I don’t use the dishwasher,” Gilmore told me. “If I take a shower, it’s a quick in and out shower because I don’t want that bill to add up.”
Gilmore’s water bill for the home she’s lived in more than 10 years is now more than $3,600.
“I’ve never had these problems,” she told Davis. “I used to pay $35 to $40 a month; and now it’s $570 to $1000.”
Her bills started spiking last summer. They show she used up to 36,000 gallons in some months and just 1,000 or 2,000 gallons in other months. She checks her water meter frequently. We also checked. The red dial that would indicate water is running, was not spinning. Gilmore’s bills are complicated. In 2023, we noticed one reading was estimated; but the city didn’t read the meter or estimate the bill at all for several months. Check out what else we learned.
The latest in our DRAINED Investigation
Many of you have asked up to stay on top of the ‘DRAINED’ investigation. We are.
We asked the city how many of those employees and contractors are still on the city’s payroll. Public Works asked me to ask again in a formal public information request. I submitted the request on December 14th. On December 20th, city legal asked the Texas Attorney General if they had to release that information or the records for three other requests I filed.
We are still waiting on all of the emails we requested on September 1st, 2022. the city leaders who wrote the emails we requested are now out of office.
Raises for Public Works employees
As we enter into the new year, I learned Houston Public Works approved performance pay and equity adjustment increases for 34 Public Works employees. We are still working to find out which employees got the increases and for how much.
You may remember, KPRC 2 Investigates reported the cozy connections several of the companies have with the Houston Public Works employee in charge of the emergency repair contracts.
When I questioned city administrators about employee Patrece Lee and the companies, the Communication Director of Houston Public Works said they asked the Office of Inspector General to investigate the allegations.
“Not at this time,” said then Mayor Sylvester Turner, responding to a reporter at a news conference on Dec. 4, who asked about the waterline contracts. “That’s an investigation that’s ongoing.”
We will stay on top of this investigation and will keep bringing you the latest information into these cases!