Four hundred Houston firefighters will be laid off in order to pay for pay raises mandated by voters.
Fifty-nine percent of voters approved a measure in November that requires the city pay firefighters the same as police officers who have corresponding ranks. But to pay for the raises, the city will fire 10 percent of its workforce.
Democratic Mayor Sylvester Turner said that implementing the pay raises would be impossible without also laying off the 400 firefighters, Fox News reported.
Turner, who opposed the raises, said his administration will mail layoff notices within the next few weeks, which includes 68 cadets who were not promoted during a hiring freeze.
“When you factor in Proposition B, it’s $197 million that we have to find a way to balance between now and June, and unless there’s additional revenue coming in, we cannot do it without there being significant layoffs,” Turner told local news station KHOU-TV.
The mayor will also ask all city departments to cut their budgets by 3 percent to accommodate the new budget balance.
Houston Councilwoman Brenda Stardig said that no police officers will be laid off, but that the cuts in the departments could lead to other changes.
The plan would cut $25 million of the fire department’s $503 million budget, but officials say that the number of firefighters on duty at any time will not change.
