Get
to know the Houston Budget.The city budget is complicated. It can feel abstract and unclear.
It should be a tool for Houstonians to get the services they need.
Use this tool to learn about the budget and build support for what you want to see in it!
Let's start with the big picture. What do you think the size of Houston's budget was in The city's fiscal year runs from July to June. Fiscal Year 2022 includes money received and spent from July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022. Fiscal Year 2022 (FY2022)? We'll give you a hint—it starts with 51:
Houston has the 5th largest budget in the United States, in terms of its sheer size.
Dividing among all Houstonians, that comes out to a spending equivalent to $2,476 per Houstonian. This data is compiled by Ballotpedia.
$5.1 billion funds 28 departments in the City of Houston, to provide services such as:
and many more. The funds for these services come from your tax dollars.
Let's communicate what we want to see in your budget.
One way to talk about what we want the budget to fund is through services. Presented below are departments funded by the The General Fund is a $2.8 billion operating budget which supports a majority of city functions—including most of the departments you've heard of.General Fund.
What's most important to you? Some things to consider are:
Click to select the four departments that are most important to you!
We think that budgets should be based on What the department wishes to achieve and the measurable results achieved after a period of time.outcomes, so let's review the outcomes in Houston's budget.
Here is an outcome. This is from your selected department, Fire Department.
(scroll down ↓)
Fire Department has more than just one outcome, though. There are 15 outcomes in the Fire Department, each represented by a square
All four of the departments you selected have their own reported outcomes. Select a square to read more about that outcome.
And there are more departments beyond the ones you selected.
Here is every "outcome" listed in the Houston budget, each represented by a square
We'll let you explore all of them later. For now, explore the outcomes among your four selected departments.
Build your own budgetNow that you know what your money goes toward, how would you like to distribute it?
Let's imagine a simplified version of the Houston budget with only these 4 departments and 10 “budget blocks.”
Move each of the blocks into a department. More blocks means you want more funding for that department.
Remember this, from earlier? Now, you can explore every outcome in the budget, and select which ones you're most passionate about.
Each square represents one outcome.
Select any outcomes you are passionate about by clicking on them below.
You only need to select one to continue, but you can select as many
as you want!
Let's speak up!