Mayor says layoffs coming

All departments except police will be at risk of cuts

Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday that a still undetermined number of city employees will be laid off in the coming months, making his first formal acknowledgment that Houston’s projected $126 million budget gap can’t be closed by July without personnel reductions.

Though Turner did not provide an estimate of the number of employees at risk, personnel costs comprise more than 63 percent of the city’s general fund operating budget. Because another 19 percent of that money is set aside for debt payments, spending cuts need not go deep before they touch workers.

“It’s going to be very difficult to balance the budget at the end of June without some layoffs,” Turner said. “The question will be, how many there will be. I’ve taken no departments off the table. The only thing I will not do is I will not lay offa police officer.”

The city’s budget challenges are driven mainly by soaring pension and

debt costs and the impact of a voter-imposed cap on how much the city can collect from property taxes, the main source of general fund revenue. The oil downturn and slipping sales tax revenues are not helping.

Noting that job cuts inherently mean cuts to city services, Turner sought to assure that his efforts to seek concessions from the leaders of the city’s economic development zones, pension boards and other groups are progressing well. He said he also is examining other ways to cut costs, such as restructuring the city’s debt.

Never missing a chance to repeat the refrain first issued in his inaugural address last month, Turner stressed that he also has asked City Council members to join in this “shared sacrifice.”

Beginning Tuesday and continuing at Wednesday’s council meeting, Turner hand-delivered letters to the 11 district council members. The notes, which he jokingly dubbed “Valentine’s cards,” told the council members he seeks to cut funds they use to support projects in their districts from $1 million to $250,000 in the upcoming budget, saving more than $8 million, in part, to avert additional layoffs.

“My hope is that we can put forth a budget that minimizes the number of layoffs, and that’s why I’ve asked everyone to engage in shared sacrifice,” Turner said. “It’s very difficult to tell people that they’re going to be laid off if we hold on to everything that we have.”

Soft hiring freeze

Council man Jack Christie, who chairs the council’s budget committee, said Turner seems to be taking all the right steps.

“He immediately did a soft hiring freeze, he warned of cutting budgets, he even gave the parameters — 5 to 7 percent. And to cut 5 to 7 percent in some departments you have to cut personnel ,” Christie said. “It’s going to hurt. I’m just really pleased with him laying out a plan early. There are solutions. You just have to have a game plan.”

The city’s last round of layoffs occurred five years ago, as former Mayor Annise Parker responded to a recession by cutting $100 million from the budget. Parker bridged the gap by laying off 747 employees, handing three health clinics to nonprofits, cutting library hours, deferring various payments and closing eight swimming pool sand seven community centers, though corporate donations helped reopen the pools.

Fewer employees are paid from the general fund today than before the 2011 cuts, a fact few know better than Mel vin Hughes, president of the Houston Organization of Public Employees, the city’s municipal union.

“I’m trying to work with his people, because this city has to run,” Hughes said of Turner. “My people are out on the street, we’re filling potholes, we’re doing everything possible to save money for the city. The taxpayers come first to us, and they always have.”

Fire union President Alvin White, meanwhile, noted the conspicuous absence of firefighters when Turner said police officers would be exempt from layoffs.

“We were very surprised to hear his comment. We think there’s other avenues to pursue before we start laying off firefighters ,” White said .“If the police officers are exempt, we think the other public safety sector would be the same.” Concerns over recruiting

Turner said he “certainly would be reluctant” to let any firefighters go, but said he does not want to take too much off the table. By contrast, among Turner’s key campaign pledges was to advocate for raising the voter-imposed cap on property tax collections to hire more police officers.

Police union President Ray Hunt said exempting officers from layoffs is obvious, though he said he worries that even a mention of city layoffs could hamstring the department’s recruiting, which has been spotty in recent years. “It’s not surprising to me that he said there’s no way he can lay off police officers,” he said. “We know we’re somewhere between 800 and 1,500 officers short.”

The need for any budget cuts is concerning, Hunt added, given that HPD lost roughly 350 civilian employees in 2011, and that laying off civilian employees means more officers are pulled off the street to do their jobs.

Councilman Dwight Boykins said he hopes the forthcoming reports from Turner’s policy transition teams will help by suggesting ways city operations can be streamlined.

“What the mayor is doing is taking a conservative approach, giving his position based on what he foresees coming, but I don’t think we should be reacting until we see recommendations of proposed cuts to the workforce,” he said. “I do know this: We’ve got to figure out away to get more police force on the streets.”