On Wednesday morning, the Houston City Council voted 14-3 on Mayor John Whitmire’s $7 billion budget proposal. This proposal was introduced back in May and caused controversy over where the allocated funds were going.
In the proposal, many city departments saw substantial budget cuts. Some of these included Houston public libraries, the Department of Neighborhoods, the Houston Health Department, and more. These departments saw a loss of millions of dollars which has led to multiple lay-offs and cut-backs on services such as security.
On the other hand, the Houston Police and Fire Department saw a significant increase in their budget. Both will receive an increase of millions of dollars, placing Houston’s Police Department as the highest-paid in the state. Additionally, the Houston Fire Department’s increase in pay and budget, comes after nearly a decade of disputes under Sylvester Turner’s, former Houston mayor, mayoral term.
Throughout his term, there was massive debate between Turner and the Houston Firefighter’s Union over their lack of negotiation and low pay. Over the course of many years, the firefighter union requested an increase in pay in order to match the wages of their surrounding departments.
Yet for four years, they would not see any raises. It was not until Mayor John Whitmire took office that the Houston Fire Department was finally able to not only receive a raise, but some back-pay as well. Not only was this historical for current firefighters, but also for those that had retired and for the families of the deceased firefighters. Officials at the police and fire department believe that with these new benefits, the city will see many new recruits, which will bring down their overtime costs.
However, because of the pay raises that the police and fire department are seeing, other city departments are going through massive cuts and some Houston citizens have voiced their disapproval of the budget. During the press conference that took place last Wednesday, a group of protesters held up signs that read “HOUSTON SAYS NO” and claiming that the budget was a scam.
They argued that the city was not doing enough regarding the city’s drainage projects. This comes after a legal dispute between engineers, Bob Jones and Alan Watson, and the City of Houston. They claimed that the money that was meant to be spent on drainage projects, was misused.
An agreement was made on how that money would be paid back and in what increments. Furthermore, protesters were also unhappy with the pay increase that the Houston Police Department is facing. Instead of allocating more money for the already heavily budgeted police department, they felt that the city should focus more on their drainage and flood plans as well as recouping the missing funds that were supposed to be used for that purpose. Although there are plans to bridge the gap between the funds being spent and the funds being saved, the money is being pulled from the city’s savings account which leaves many to wonder how Houston will be able to come back from its massive debt.
