(Houston, TX) -- Mayor Sylvester Turner estimates the city will have to lay off 400 or 500 firefighters and city employees in order to implement Proposition B. Voters approved Prop B in November, requiring equal pay for firefighters and police officers.
Turner said Monday that the pay raise will take effect in May and will be retroactive to the first of the year. He claimed Prop B will add another 80- million-dollars to the next fiscal year's budget deficit. The Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association says Turner is ginning up a fake financial crisis.