City Laying Off 67 Firefighters, 47 City Employees Over Prop B

HOUSTON — The threat of potential layoffs within the Houston Fire Department and other city departments became a bit more real for 67 HFD cadets and 47 municipal workers this week. On Thursday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who has indicated lay offs were likely to happen with the passage of Propositon B last November, sent a letter to Houston Professional Firefighter's Association President Marty Lancton reiterating that point.

"...I do not want to layoff anyone, but since Prop B comes without a funding source, the city must balances its budget by the end of June and lay offs are necessary to achieve that result," Turner said in his letter to Lancton.

On April 4, the 67 HFD cadets were notified by HFD Chief Samuel Pena that they would be released on June 7.

The letter stated that the layoffs were a result of a sizable budget shortfall related to the passage of Prop B.

"I want to assure you that the elimination of your position was a business decision and does not reflect your work performance or the value we place on your service to the City. To balance our budget, we were forced to make extremely difficult decisions.," the letter read in part.

Meanwhile, Turner said the other 47 city employees will be officially notified of their release next week.

READ ALSO: 500 City Employees Face Layoff As Houston Moves Forward On Prop B

In recent weeks, Turner indicated that hundreds of firefighters and city employees could lose their jobs as a result of Prop B's implementation.

Turner and Lancton have engaged in a public tit-for-tat for months. On March 27, Turner proposed a five-year plan of implementing Prop B, which would put firefighters and police officers on an rank by rank pay parity scale. If it had been agreed upon, Turner said it would have resulted on no lay offs.

READ ALSO: Prop B Tit-For-Tat Continues Between Mayor, Firefighters

Lancton rejected the proposal and asked for written proof from Turner, which only led to more discord between the city and the union.

Shortly after the layoff notices were received, Lancton released a letter highly critical of Turner and the layoff of firefighter cadets.

“Sylvester Turner’s layoff notices to taxpayer-funded, Houston-trained HFD cadets reflect the mayor’s ineptitude, egotism, and a new depth of his vindictiveness.
“Today marks another sordid chapter of Turner’s reckless neglect of the fire department and his con- tempt for firefighter families and 298,000 Proposition B voters.
“As the mayor knows, the announced HFD cadet layoffs are preventable. We hope more Houston City Council members finally will stand up to Turner and reject his slash-and-burn plan for HFD. His next move likely will be to lay off more firefighters and close fire stations in city council districts throughout the city. In the meantime, we urge citizens to contact their City Council members about the threatened HFD cadet and firefighter layoffs,” the statement read.

“The consequences of Turner’s endless political and legal war on firefighters families will soon include diminished public safety – from slower response times to unavailability of critical fire and EMS re- sources in times of peak demand.
“Today’s firefighter cadet layoff notices, which followed the city’s announcement of a new Houston Po- lice Department class this week and his recent hiring of hundreds of police and civilian employees, also show once again that the mayor manufactured a fiscal crisis to justify his intensifying retaliation against firefighters.”

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