Whitmire’s generosity to police and firefighters may make him a labor hero, but Houston taxpayers are the ones paying for it.
Historically, nearly 80% of Houston police officers and firefighters lived outside the city. Texas law prevents Houston from requiring most rank-and-file employees to live here, but the city can still require appointed department heads such as the police chief and fire chief to reside in Houston.
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The Houston Chronicle says Mayor John Whitmire may be Houston’s real left-wing Labor Day hero because of what he has done for organized labor.
Maybe so.
But Houston taxpayers should examine another side to that generosity: who ultimately pays for it, and how much of the money Houston spends on public safety stays in Houston?
Whitmire negotiated major new compensation packages for both police officers and firefighters. The five-year police agreement provides 36.5% in salary increases, while the firefighter settlement included $650 million in back pay along with substantial raises.
Those commitments are ultimately paid by the people and businesses that finance the City of Houston.
There is another important part of the story.
Historically, the vast majority of Houston police officers and firefighters have lived outside Houston. Published city-supplied figures once placed the number at nearly 80%.
Houston knew this was a problem.
At one point, the city considered paying police officers extra to move into Houston neighborhoods. The idea was simple: if Houston was paying people to protect its neighborhoods, perhaps more of those officers should actually live in the city they served.
But Houston could not simply impose a residency requirement on rank-and-file employees.
Texas law prevents municipalities from requiring most city employees, including ordinary police officers and firefighters, to live within the city limits as a condition of employment.
That law tied Houston’s hands.
So Houston turned to incentives instead.
That history matters today because Whitmire has now approved extremely generous compensation packages for police and firefighters, yet Houston still has no residency requirement for the rank and file and apparently no major new effort to use those raises as leverage to encourage more first responders to live inside the city.
Police officers and firefighters are legally free to live in Cypress, Pearland, Sugar Land, Fulshear, Katy, or elsewhere.
There is nothing improper about that.
But Houston taxpayers are equally entitled to ask what they are receiving in return for these enormous financial commitments.
A police officer or firefighter who owns a home outside Houston does not pay City of Houston property taxes on that home. Much of the salary earned from Houston taxpayers can therefore be spent, invested, and taxed in another community.
Meanwhile, Houston residents remain responsible for financing the city government that pays those salaries.
There is also an important exception in Texas law that deserves attention.
Although the Legislature prohibited Houston from requiring most ordinary municipal employees to live inside the city, it specifically left municipalities free to impose residency requirements on appointed department heads.
That means Houston can require its police chief and fire chief to live in Houston.
The question is: why doesn’t it?
Houston already requires its municipal judges to be residents of the city. Those judges enforce Houston ordinances and exercise governmental authority over Houston residents.
If Houston believes its municipal judges should live among the people they serve, why should the same principle not apply to the appointed officials who lead the police and fire departments?
The issue is not the private address of Police Chief J. Noe Diaz or Fire Chief Thomas Muñoz.
The public-policy question is much simpler.
Should Houston require its police chief and fire chief to actually live in Houston?
Texas law allows it.
Houston apparently does not require it.
And that is especially worth asking when these two departments consume such a large share of Houston’s budget, and their employees are receiving some of the largest compensation increases in city government.
The irony goes even further.
Houston Police Officers’ Union President Doug Griffith does not live in Houston, according to online data, but when the police got the large pay increase, he did have the following to say.
When Whitmire’s new police contract was announced, Griffith praised Houston residents, saying that the citizens of Houston had “stepped up and supported this organization.”
He was right.
Houston taxpayers certainly stepped up.
Police officers get their raises. Firefighters get their raises and back pay. Their unions get contracts they fought for years to obtain.
Whitmire gets the political applause today.
Many of the employees receiving that money can take it home outside Houston.
And even the appointed leaders of those departments are not necessarily required to make Houston their home.
The Chronicle can call Whitmire a Labor Day hero.
Houston residents should still be allowed to ask what that heroism costs, who receives the benefits, where those beneficiaries live, and who will still be paying the bill years from now.
Whitmire gets the applause today.
Houston taxpayers will get the invoice tomorrow.