HOUSTON – The mayor's office confirmed that Monday will bring more layoff notices to Houston city employees.
Forty-seven municipal employees from various city departments will receive notices Monday, according to Mayor Sylvester Turner's spokesperson, Mary Benton.
"There are 47 municipal employees who have been working for years," Turner said Friday, referencing the employees.
Turner reiterated Friday that Prop B, the Houston Fire Department firefighter pay parity proposition that passed overwhelmingly last November but has yet to be implemented, is to blame for the lost jobs.
Technically, the jobs are not gone yet. The HFD cadets will not be terminated until June 7, so theoretically, a deal could be worked out to spare those jobs and perhaps others.
"As you know, Prop B passed without a funding mechanism attached," the mayor reiterated Friday.
"He's just playing political games. I don't think he actually wants to resolve this," Patrick Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, said.
Lancton said Friday he is ready, willing and able to sit down and negotiate the terms of Prop B implementation, but his offers have been repeatedly declined by the mayor.
The City Controller's Office also appears to have a problem with the mayor's implementation plan. The City Controller is the city's chief accountant.
It is not yet clear if the issue will eventually become yet another roadblock.
"The city attorney said 'yes', and he's the city attorney," Turner responded.