Houston Council Votes Today on Water-Meter Contract: $5.5 Million More Sought, Cap Would Rise
The Houston City Council, in Harris County, Texas, is scheduled to vote today (Oct. 21) on an additional appropriation: Houston Public Works is asking for another $5.5 million for its smart water meter (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) contract with Sensus USA. The result of the vote has not yet been announced.
According to KPRC 2, the money would come from the Water and Sewer System Consolidated Construction Fund, which is funded by residents' monthly water and sewer bills. The contract was awarded to Sensus USA by the City Council on Nov. 24, 2020, under Ordinance No. 2020-0992, for a ten-year term, with Sensus operating the city's remote meter-reading network.
The figures require care. The contract's original maximum was $38 million, with $18.5 million funded up front. In October 2024, the council appropriated an additional $16,054,610 without raising the ceiling, and the city has spent $34,322,180.55 on the contract to date. If approved, the new $5.5 million would raise the contract ceiling to $43.5 million — that is the ceiling figure ($38 million plus $5.5 million), not cumulative appropriations; total appropriations across the three rounds would be about $40.05 million.
Public Works attributes the request to higher material, equipment and operating costs, and says the new money should carry the system's operations through the end of 2027. About 240,000 water meters have yet to be connected to the new remote-reading system, according to the report.
(Source: KPRC 2)
Source: KPRC 2
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 休斯顿市政厅（资料图）。Michael Barera 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，维基共享资源 / Houston City Hall (file photo). Photo by Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
