TX: METRO taking over Houston Police's $25M traffic enforcement budget

The Metropolitan Transit Authority took over the Houston Police Department's $25 million traffic enforcement budget, according to a financial update received at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Melissa Dubowski, Houston's Finance Director, informed the Houston City Council in a routine financial update that METRO will pay $25 million for the Houston Police Department's traffic enforcement budget. Traffic enforcement is generally a division of the city's police department and works to curtail unsafe or illegal driving practices.

Generally, the money the city spends on citywide traffic enforcement would come from HPD's $1 billion budget. However, the offloading of these budget line items to METRO is part of city leadership's move to reallocate funds to better suit the city's needs and coincide with Mayor John Whitmire's recent move to pull $2.7 million in funding for the Montrose bridge's lights over U.S. 59.

"Those are some things that are new with this administration and the current leadership at METRO. We've been able to collaborate with them and bring in that additional funding," Dubowski said of the transit authority's shift to paying for Houston's traffic enforcement and street light costs.

Chron asked Mary Benton, the mayor's spokesperson if this decision to relocate these expenses from the city's budget to METRO was made by Whitmire. However, she did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment.

This isn't the only thing METRO is funding. According to Dubowski, the transit agency is also taking over covering the electricity bill of Houston traffic and street lights, which costs a total of $21.8 million. Houston Public Works will fund the initial transaction and METRO will reimburse the city at a later date. A similar reimbursement will be done with HPD and its traffic enforcement division.

"We will be providing them all the details of everything that that traffic division has done throughout the year and we will invoice them throughout fiscal year 2025," Dubowski said.

At-large council member Sally Alcorn asked Dubowski if METRO would be taking over the entirety of the traffic enforcement budget.

"That's our whole traffic enforce- That's not -That's our whole traffic enforcement budget?" she asked, appearing perplexed about the sum. Dubowski replied in the affirmative when Alcorn chuckled, "So METRO is taking over our whole traffic enforcement budget?"

Lester Gretsch, METRO's director of media relations, told Chron that a 2019 referendum allowed the transit agency to use up to 25 percent of its sales and tax revenues to fund local agreements with its partner entities.

"These funds may be used for street improvements, mobility projects and other facilities and services, as authorized by law," Gretsch said. "This program has been in existence since the 1980s, and in the past, partner entities have used these funds to support traffic enforcement efforts."

"This transaction does not curtail any of METRO's public transportation operations," Gretsch added.

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