HOUSTON — Houston City Controller Chris Hollins held a briefing Monday on the proposed settlement between the city and the Professional Fire Fighters Association.
The $650 million deal was announced in March and includes back pay going back to 2017 and raises as part of a new collective bargaining agreement for the next five years.
City Finance Director Melissa Dubowski said the total cost of back pay plus interest paid over 25 to 30 years, along with five years of raises is estimated at around $1.5 billion.
Hollins said that first it’s important to put the numbers in perspective and provide clarity by comparing HFD salaries to firefighters in other big Texas cities.
He said Houston firefighters are currently making about 10% less than the average pay for Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio.
“Our firefighters have to be paid competitively. If we’re going to attract talent and retain talent going forward,” Hollins explained. “We need to make sure that HFD, and the city as a whole, is a great place to work, and part of that includes fair compensation and competitive compensation for our team.”
Analysis compared the salaries on a per-hour basis because HFD firefighters work approximately 47 hours a week on average while the average for the other large cities is about 55 hours a week.
“On a per-hour basis, we have been lower than our peers since the beginning of the impasse and I imagine well before that," Hollins said.
During the impasse between the city and the union, local firefighters received no raises between 2017 and 2021.
HFD got 6% raises each year from 2022 to 2024. Even with that, HFD salaries are about 10% below the average in the other cities, Hollins said.
- A 10% raise in 2025 would bring them within 3% of average
- Another 6% in 2026 would make them equal
- An Additional 6% through 2029 would make their salaries 9% higher on average than the other cities.
The current salary of first-year Houston firefighters is about $51,800. With the proposed raises in the settlement, they would get about $72,000 a year by 2029.
Hollins, who admitted he hasn't seen the settlement, offered different scenarios to lower the city's financial burden while still increasing HFD's pay.
They included raises based on the average of other large fire departments in the state, the percentage of raises for the Houston Police Department or the percentage of raises for other city workers.
Those hypothetical settlement amounts were estimated to be between $300 and $380 million.
"Our commitment is to continue to work with you all, to continue to work with the mayor, city council and other stakeholders, to put the City of Houston on a pathway to fiscal sustainability," Hollins said. "Plain and simple."
Council members said they were interested in exploring those scenarios to save money.
"Now we have much more insight and clarification on what those numbers look like," Councilmember Edward Pollard said.
"We have to take a pause and really think of all of the pathways to resolution," Councilmember Tiffany Thomas said.
Reaction from mayor and HPFFA union
Houston Mayor John Whitmire responded to Hollins' suggestions with a terse statement.
“I watched the Controller’s briefing regarding the proposed settlement with Houston firefighters this morning. The comparative analysis the Controller showed might be new to him, but my administration had these and many more scenarios on hand when negotiating with the Houston Professional Firefighters Association. The Controller used the term “illustrative” to describe the scenarios; I call them academic.
The facts remain that the settlement before the court and, ultimately, the city council is an alternative to a potential judgment issued after a lengthy trial or arbitration for past years.
Monday morning quarterbacks may choose to ignore the fact that Texas law mandates firefighter pay to be based on private-sector compensation comparisons, not the public sector, but as mayor and lead negotiator, I cannot ignore that fact. It very well could have been a less costly deal to settle with the Houston Professional Firefighters Association, but that is a conversation to have with the previous administration eight years ago. I was elected - among other things - to end this dispute, and this deal was the best available alternative to settle this long-running litigation with Houston firefighters.”
The union didn't like Hollins' ideas either and called them "uninformed, misleading, and inaccurate."
“The controller’s remarks are not only inaccurate but also disrespectful to the dedicated men and women who serve our city with bravery and professionalism,” Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, said. “While the controller plays politics and manipulates numbers, Houston firefighters work
tirelessly, risking their lives to rescue citizens from rising floodwaters. It is disappointing that an elected
official would choose to undermine the hard work and sacrifice of Houston firefighters by spreading misinformation.”
WATCH: Full news conference
HFD deal could mean more fees, higher taxes
In March, Hollins said Houston leaders might have to add a new garbage fee and ask voters to approve higher property taxes to plug a budget deficit estimated between $230 to $280 million if the deal is approved. The city was already in the red $160 million before the HFD deal.
“We’re not broke, but we have what you might characterize as a spending problem or a revenue problem,” Hollins said.
He told city council members it’s up to them to figure out how to close a budget gap.
He said the city’s savings account can fill the gap during the first year, but not the second.
Other ideas floated back then included cutting costs by five percent across each city department, vacancy reductions and consolidating call centers.
“The amount of money we’re talking about, we need additional revenues,”
Dubowski told the council they’re considering adjusting fees to keep up with inflation and studying the possibility of a new garbage fee of around $20 a month.
“That would free up $100 million of general fund resources that could be used on something else,” Dubowski explained.
Council members want more details on the deal
During an April 30 update -- nearly six weeks after the deal was announced -- several council members said they are still waiting for details on the proposed settled.
“As a council, we still have not seen the details,” District C City Council member Abbie Kamin, chair of the Labor Committee, said. “We still do not have the full financial analysis, but we’re having an almost three-hour committee meeting related to this because it is so important to the financial future of the City of Houston.”
“It's very difficult for us to be asking questions when we have not seen a draft of the CBA in its current form,” District C council member Abbie Kamin said. “So all of this is still speculation or going off of what we've heard or seen in, circulating draft copies.”
“I agree,” replied Lancton. “Doing nothing would have put us in a situation far worse.”
Lancton said settling this case instead of going to trial saves taxpayers money and spreads the payments out.
“If there was a judgment, you would carry forward that liability immediately on July 1,” he said.
The Texas attorney general, Houston City Council, and District Judge Lauren Reeder must approve the settlement agreement.
City Attorney Arturo Michel hopes to finalize the deal before July 1, when the 2025 fiscal year begins.
“It’s a good deal for the taxpayers and the firefighters,” Lancton told KHOU 11 News after his presentation to council members. “We can close this and we can move forward and we’re excited to be down here and discussing it.”