Houston Mayor John Whitmire held a :50 minute news conference to announce his budget for the city in 2025.
Facing a $160 million dollar deficit when he took office in January, Whitmire summed up the previous administration perfectly: "I inherited a mess."
And while Whitmire is a Democrat, he actually breaks from his radicalized party by wanting to -fund- the police, not defund it. Of the 3 billion dollars that is going to be spent from the general fund, 68% of it is going to public safety.
"The 2025 budget will not raise your taxes, and it will not reduce services, it's improving services" Whitmire said, "The previous administration used ARPA money to balance the books, and that's what I inherited," with Whitmire planning to use $462.01 million that came from Washington.
Whitmire also praised Republican Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey, while pointing out just some of the failures of the previous mayor.
"Kicking the can down the road, those days are over," Whitmire said, "Everything is on the table. We're going to listen to Houstonian's and then we're going to make tough decisions."
The Mayor also promised a new contract for police officers, and called out all of the problems at the county jail.