Houston's $100 Million Ballot-Box Fight Over Firefighter Raises
- First-term mayor freezes new hiring, warns of sweeping cuts
- Post Hurricane Harvey, City Hall still shrouded in plywood
People wait in line to vote at a polling place on the first day of early voting on Oct. 22, 2018 in Houston, Texas.
Photographer: Loren Elliott/Getty Images
Little more than a year after Hurricane Harvey paralyzed Houston and wrecked thousands of homes, residents of the fourth-largest U.S. city will vote on a bitterly contested measure over firefighter pay that municipal leaders warn could trigger massive layoffs and service cuts.
In a Texas election season featuring an insurgent challenge to Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz by Democrat Beto O’Rourke, Houston residents are riveted on Proposition B, the Nov. 6 ballot measure that would bring firefighter pay to parity with police officers. At stake, according to Mayor Sylvester Turner, are hard-won public pension reforms that stabilized the city’s long-term financial outlook in the aftermath of last year’s devastating hurricane.