Police pay raises win approval
Deal for 7 percent hike over 2 years comes as vote nears on firefighters
Houston City Council on Wednesday approved a 7 percent pay raise for police officers over two years, a deal that includes an option for a 2 percent “cost of living increase” for a third year if the two sides do not reach a new agreement.
The approval comes less than three weeks before Houston residents begin voting on a ballot item that proposes to grant firefighters pay “parity” with police officers of corresponding rank and seniority.
The measure, which will appear on the ballot as Proposition B, has proven contentious as Mayor Sylvester Turner seeks to convince voters the city cannot afford it, a claim hotly disputed by the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, the union that negotiates contracts on behalf of the rank and file of the Houston Fire Department.
The Turner administration has said the new police contract, which goes in to effect Jan. 1, would cost the city $52.7 million over two years.
Should voters approve the parity measure next month, the city would be on the hook for another
$41.5 million for firefighters during the same time period, he said.
“Quite frankly, Proposition B does capture any pay raises for police going forward,” the mayor said Wednesday. “… I found it unthinkable to ask police to wait and stand down depending on what happens on Nov. 6, when they are out on the street 24 hours, 7 days a week, doing their job.”
Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton said the union has “consistently maintained that we believe our brothers and sisters in blue deserve everything they’ve earned.”
He declined to weigh in on how the police raises may impact voting on the referendum, saying only that union officials “believe that Houston firefighters need to be equally compensated.”
Lancton and the union have been considerably more vocal in response to a series of community meetings Turner has held in recent weeks in which the mayor exhorted voters to reject the parity measure next month, saying it would amount to a 25 percent raise for firefighters and cost $98 million a year, far more than the city can afford.
Turner continues to say firefighters deserve a raise, and complains that the union rejected an offer from the city of 9.5 percent over three years.
Passage of Proposition B would force the city to lay off as many as 1,000 employees, including firefighters and police, Turner has said.
Lancton and the union reject the layoff threat as a “scare tactic” and have accused Turner of trying to punish firefighters for fighting his pension reform efforts, which won passage in the Legislature and the Houston council last year.
Lancton has said the fire union overwhelmingly rejected a 4 percent raise offered by former Mayor Annise Parker in 2014, saying the offer included benefit cuts that would have offset the additional pay. He also has said the proposed 9.5 percent raise touted by Turner was offered in bad faith after negotiations between the city and the union had broken down.
Earlier this week, after City Controller Chris Brown estimated that Proposition B would cost the city $85.2 million a year — $13 million less than Turner has claimed — Lancton said it proved “the mayor’s Proposition B claims cannot be trusted. His math, like his judgment, is driven by an obsession with punishing Houston firefighters.”
The rancor even threatened Wednesday to derail a weekend forum in which Lancton and the mayor would debate the parity measure. A day after announcing the forum, the union abruptly withdrew, complaining organizers allowed the mayor too much influence over the event. Hours later, Lancton reversed course, saying the union again had agreed to participate after organizers had cleared up some miscommunication about the forum.
Meanwhile, the head of the Houston Police Officers Union praised the new contract and raises ratified by council.
“We’re extremely happy with the contract,” Houston Police Officers Union President Joe Gamaldi said. “Although you never get everything you want, it’s important to sit down at the table and negotiate a deal that both parties can live with. I applaud the mayor and the council for their leadership and not holding our officers hostage while Proposition B plays out.”
The new deal grants police officers a 4 percent raise on July 1, 2019, and a 3 percent raise the following year. It will run through Dec. 31, 2020, with an additional 2 percent raise going into effect in 2021 if the two sides cannot agree on a new contract. The police department’s current contract expires Dec. 31.
In addition to the raises, the new contract eliminates biweekly “mentor pay” and increases biweekly “field training instructor and field performance evaluator pay.”
The agreement, reached through the “meet and confer” process with the HPOU, also changes the rank of “captain” to “commander.” A memo attached to the agenda said the name change does not alter duties, responsibilities or pay.
The contract further stipulates that officers who receive college tuition reimbursement must remain with the department for five years, and are eligible for only one degree per study level.
A spokesperson for Turner said the captain-to-commander change would not impact the cost of the parity measure. The 7 percent raise, however, would add about $14.5 million to the proposal’s cost in the first year, Turner estimated in a recent memo to council members.
The raises will go into effect for officers who have completed their six-month probationary periods; those officers earn $55,000.
“I applaud the mayor and council for their leadership and not holding our officers hostage while Proposition B plays out”
Joe Gamaldi, Houston Police Officers Union president