It was a beautiful day for a rally and Houston firefighters made the most of it. A huge crowd rallied first at George HW Bush Monument Park (Bagby and Franklin) and then marched to City Hall to protest Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s refusal to implement or even negotiate the proposition that Houston voters passed last year.
A series of speakers kept the crowd energized and boisterous. Houston City Council member Dwight Boykins told the crowd that he was going to propose three amendments at the next council meeting that would stop Turner’s proposed layoffs (Charles Blain has the details at Texas Scorecard).
Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton really fired the crowd up talking about the Turner administration’s untruthfulness. The crowd erupted when he said, “Let me reiterate this: We are going to win this fight.” My favorite line was when he said something along the lines of “I’m no editorial board expert but the Houston Chronicle editorial board is not an example of a good one” when he talked about board’s treatment of Prop B.
Lancton comes across as authentic and reasonable, the exact opposite of Sylvester Turner and his ridiculously incompetent spokespersons. If you want to know more about this issue, you should listen to yesterday’s Michael Berry show by clicking here.
I saw mayoral candidate Tony Buzbee in the crowd sporting one of the yellow Houston Fire Fighters t-shirts. That was a nice touch, wearing that instead of a campaign t-shirt. He seems like a regular guy that just wants to make the city better. I didn’t see Bill King there but when I was reviewing the pictures, I saw that he was there, also wearing a yellow t-shirt but it said Bill King for mayor. Hopefully one of those guys rids us of the stench of the Sylvester Turner administration.
I don’t know enough about the firefighter’s equal pay argument to decide whether it’s tenable and reasonable. On its fact it seems fair that firefighters should make the same as equivalent police officers. On the other hand, their jobs are different.
Being a firefighter is a more dangerous job, especially when you consider their lower life expectancy due to all of the crap they breathe. But, they sure have a lot more downtime than police officers.
It’s a decision that should have been made, and was made, by the citizens of Houston.
Now, the tough part. How much will it cost to pay the firefighters more and how to pay for it. Houston has a charter amendment limiting tax increases, a choice made by the citizens to prevent runaway spending and taxes. So, raising taxes isn’t a viable option.
That means something in the current budget has to give. What should it be?
Libraries? Houston’s library system already is very taxed.
Public health and things like restaurant inspections? No one wants slime in the ice machine.
Personnel? Well, personnel, including salaries and fringe benefits, is probably the biggest chunk of the city’s budget and money probably can be saved there. But how much? And, if you’re cutting personnel, who should get the axe so firefighters can get a raise?
Should someone in public works who works hard fixing streets get the chop so a firefighter can get a raise? Doesn’t seem fair but the mayor’s plan to lay off firefighters to pay for raises for the remainder sure smells of retaliation.
Somebody needs to step up to the plate, either the mayor, Buzbee or King, or all three and tell us how each plans to pay for this raise. I haven’t seen the firefighters making any suggestions.
What really gets to me is many of the very same people who fought to limit the city’s ability to tax now are supporting the firefighters without telling us how their raises should be funded.
There is plenty in the budget for the raise. Its just getting misappropriated for beautification of city hall, or live bands at the airport, or building more parks. There doesn’t need to be layoffs.
Have you looked at the budget? Police and fire are already almost 60% of the general fund budget, the Prop B raise will take that to about 64%. The money for City Hall improvements comes from bonds that can’t be spent on police and fire pay, or from donations from business or citizens that have restrictions on use. The airport entertainment money comes from the airport enterprise fund, which is restricted to expenditures for the airport system, and can’t be used for general fund purposes. There is not a giant pot of money that can be used for any old purpose.
Ross,
Using your figures, the Prop B raise will impact the budget by 4%. It’s a government budget. The idea that the Mayor can’t find 4% from some other area is ludicrous. There doesn’t need to be a giant pot, just shifting a measly 4% from one column to another.
Public Safety is 57% of the budget not 60%. Most cities spend 60%-65% of their budget on public safety. That 3% difference in the general budget is almost $80M. There is room in the budget.
The firefighters wanted this raise, they should be the ones to pay for it. Fire the number of firefighters it will take to offset the raises for those remaining and call it a day. What’s so hard about this? This is the will of the voters.
As to the basic argument, pay parity, that has nothing to do with reality. The reality is, supply and demand. As evidenced by the two classes of stranded recruits at the FF academy, there is no shortage of qualified people seeking to be hired as firefighters. That means the current pay/benefits/working conditions package is more than adequate. If HFD was having trouble recruiting, THEN raising salaries might be something to consider.
Hey Bill, I think you’re right! They should fire a bunch of firefighters! Tell the ones currently in training that they’re gonna have to go elsewhere for jobs. Houston can get by with a lot fewer firemen and emergency workers!
Of course, your homeowner insurance rates may go up some. . . . . . and God forbid you have a heart attack and need an ambulance in a hurry. . . . . But sure, they asked for it, so they can pay for it.
Bill, totally agree with your law of supply and demand. One class at the academy was to have 40 cadets and 22 people applied and qualified. The other class used your tax dollars to get certified and 25 of the original 70 have left for other jobs. The city has lowered both the physical and college hour standards and still can’t get enough people to apply because the pay is so poor. Those 68 cadets were supposed to fill 120 people retiring. Again, I totally agree with supply and demand. Where are we now?
Did anybody at the rally tell the truth about anything? Because they haven’t yet.