Municipal controller refuses certification of agreement with firefighters

It appears unlikely that the proposed $1.5 billion settlement and labor contract with the Houston firefighters union will be certified in time for the city council’s vote scheduled for Wednesday, because a long list of questions that the comptroller Chris Hollins’ emails to Mayor John Whitmire about the deal received no response.

Hollins sent the mayor 44 questions Monday, giving the administration a tight deadline to produce answers before Wednesday morning’s council meeting. The questions seek basic information on the deal’s estimated cost to the city, as well as more complex details, including specific triggers for firefighter bonuses that he said were not included in the plan that his office received last week.

The city charter requires the comptroller to certify the availability of funding for ordinances prior to a council vote committing the city to future financial obligations. Hollins said he would not certify the deal without answers to each of his 44 questions, which his office had not received as of Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s my job to make sure we provide full transparency, and that includes answering these questions,” Hollins said Tuesday afternoon. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if we left this out of our office without getting our questions answered. »

Whitmire spokeswoman Mary Benton said the mayor’s office worked all day Tuesday on answers to Hollins’ questions.

Whitmire, who campaigned for mayor last year on a promise to end the dispute over back pay for firefighters, announced the deal in March. Since then, details on the settlement and collective bargaining agreement have been scarce before the 123-page agreement was signed and released on June 3.

Hollins said his office worked as quickly as possible to review the conditions and draft its questions in the week after those details were released.

Frustration over the lack of certification spilled over Tuesday during the City Council’s public comment session, during which Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, accused Hollins of playing politics with the agreement.

Lancton said Hollins received a draft of the agreement months ago and had an opportunity to review it.

“We’ve seen some somewhat concerning questions that have been sent, things that have nothing to do with the certification of funds,” Lancton said, suggesting politics were at play.

Hollins said Lancton’s comments were not true and that his office only received a draft of the finalized agreement last Monday. A draft agreement had been circulating earlier, but the city attorney’s office said some provisions were still being worked out before last week.

“We have asked relevant questions and now we await the answer,” Hollins said. “I would like to understand which of these questions does Marty think the comptroller’s office and the people of Houston should not have answered?”

The estimated cost of the deal is $1.5 billion, including interest and fees on a bond expected to be used to pay for back pay settlements, and the cost of the prospective collective bargaining agreement five years.

In his letter, Hollins asks Whitmire to confirm the $650 million price tag of the back pay settlement, the cost of legal fees, as well as the number of firefighters eligible to receive the back pay. He’s also seeking additional clarity on the negotiations that led to the deal, asking Whitmire how many concessions the city and firefighters’ union offered before the two sides reached an agreement.

According to Hollins, the CBA lacks details on “escalators,” or funding criteria that, if met, could trigger wage increases for union members. Without details on what types of new revenue would trigger the wage increases, it could lead to further litigation between the city and the union, Hollins said.

Hollins urged Whitmire to provide details on the trigger conditions or negotiate them before the agreement is ratified by the council.

Hollins is also seeking clarification from Whitmire on some non-financial terms of the CBA, including changes to Civil Service Commission rules that would allow the firefighters union to select half of the board members and the requirement that any dismissal obtains a unanimous vote of the board of directors. members of the board of directors. The change would effectively give firefighters veto power over major disciplines.

The five-year contract provides for base salary increases of 10 percent for the first year. Base salaries would continue to increase over the next four years, but the total increase would depend on the city’s ability to generate new revenue.

Wage indexation would take effect if the city adds new revenue. In the first year, for example, a 3 percent salary increase would increase to 6 percent if more money arrived. Hollins seeks to clarify what new revenue would trigger the pay increases.

Following Lancton’s remarks during the City Council’s public comment session Tuesday, Whitmire thanked the council’s finance committee for its work in reviewing the deal, arguing that the committee’s process had already answered all questions outstanding that the public might have.

The vote on the deal has already been delayed a week after Hollins failed to certify it in time for last Wednesday’s meeting.

Also last week, At-Large Councilmember Sallie Alcorn “marked” the proposed $6.7 billion municipal budget for fiscal year 2025, automatically delaying the budget vote until Wednesday.

The moves made for a high-stakes council meeting for Whitmire, who is seeking to pass his first budget and ratify the fire department deal.

A group of council members questioned both the cost of the deal — it would drain much of the more than $450 million balance left by the previous administration — and the same non-financial changes Hollins focused on Whitmire asked.

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