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In Houston, Texas, the City Council gave the go-ahead for issuing layoff notices to 220 firefighters last week because voters approved sweeping pay raises in November and layoffs is the only way to pay for it.
Last fall, Houstonians passed Proposition B, a measure requiring the city's firefighters to be compensated on the same level as police officers of corresponding rank and experience. It sounds fair but in order to do this, the city decided to cut back on the total number of firefighters on the pay rosters rather than increase taxes. See, that's how it works because money doesn't grow on trees.
Last fall, Houstonians passed Proposition B, a measure requiring the city's firefighters to be compensated on the same level as police officers of corresponding rank and experience. It sounds fair but in order to do this, the city decided to cut back on the total number of firefighters on the pay rosters rather than increase taxes. See, that's how it works because money doesn't grow on trees.
Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton argued ahead of the vote that "as city politicians found ways to increase pay for police officers by 37 percent since 2011, our pay has risen by only 3 percent in that time."
The problem is "the cost of Proposition B is $80 to 100 million with no new funding source," Mayor Sylvester Turner argued last week, after the City Council voted 10 to 6 in favor of handing out pink slips and demotions to cover the costs of granting the required pay hikes to the remaining 3,700 firefighters, KHOU-TV reported.
Lancton, who supported Turner's mayor race is now the biggest thorn in his side.
The mayor added, "We don't want to lay off anyone."
The firefighters' union called the vote "one of the most reckless political stunts in Houston history."
Turner previously warned that "Implementing Prop B for the next fiscal year starting July 1 will add another $80 million to the expected budget gap now projected to be $197 million," KPRC-TV reported. In order to balance the budget, he says, it's not just firefighters who have to be let go.
"Based on initial projections," he wrote in a mid-March statement, "the city anticipates having to lay off 400 to 500 firefighters and [other] municipal employees."
According to KTRK-TV, Fire Chief Sam Pena began delivering notices to those on the chopping block via email on Tuesday, in a letter which read, in part, "I am sorry to have to notify you that your position is being eliminated."
Houston residents will just have to be more careful and not smoke in bed or burn incense in the outhouse.
City leaders say some or all of the terminations could be rescinded if the union would allow the new pay requirements to be introduced over a period of five years, rather than over three years.
Chief Pena issued a statement after sending the layoff emails, saying, "This is the most difficult thing I have had to do in my career. ... I hope we can reach an agreement with the Fire Union to phase-in the full implementation of Proposition B and avoid the layoffs."
So while folks like AOC have recently discovered that those little seeds you put in dirt can grow stuff like magic, money simply doesn't grow on trees like spaghetti.
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The problem is "the cost of Proposition B is $80 to 100 million with no new funding source," Mayor Sylvester Turner argued last week, after the City Council voted 10 to 6 in favor of handing out pink slips and demotions to cover the costs of granting the required pay hikes to the remaining 3,700 firefighters, KHOU-TV reported.
Lancton, who supported Turner's mayor race is now the biggest thorn in his side.
The mayor added, "We don't want to lay off anyone."
The firefighters' union called the vote "one of the most reckless political stunts in Houston history."
Turner previously warned that "Implementing Prop B for the next fiscal year starting July 1 will add another $80 million to the expected budget gap now projected to be $197 million," KPRC-TV reported. In order to balance the budget, he says, it's not just firefighters who have to be let go.
"Based on initial projections," he wrote in a mid-March statement, "the city anticipates having to lay off 400 to 500 firefighters and [other] municipal employees."
According to KTRK-TV, Fire Chief Sam Pena began delivering notices to those on the chopping block via email on Tuesday, in a letter which read, in part, "I am sorry to have to notify you that your position is being eliminated."
Houston residents will just have to be more careful and not smoke in bed or burn incense in the outhouse.
City leaders say some or all of the terminations could be rescinded if the union would allow the new pay requirements to be introduced over a period of five years, rather than over three years.
Chief Pena issued a statement after sending the layoff emails, saying, "This is the most difficult thing I have had to do in my career. ... I hope we can reach an agreement with the Fire Union to phase-in the full implementation of Proposition B and avoid the layoffs."
So while folks like AOC have recently discovered that those little seeds you put in dirt can grow stuff like magic, money simply doesn't grow on trees like spaghetti.
Please consider following Brain Flushings and visit the ads on these pages.
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