Mayor John Whitmire has made clear he intends to boost salaries and benefits for Houston police officers in their new union contract, but those increases will not be tied to performance.
That means officers across all divisions can expect better pay and benefits regardless of whether crime goes up or response times slow down, clearance rates improve or traffic deaths increase.
Whitmire is pushing to increase officer pay and benefits even after a city-commissioned efficiency study concluded that fewer than half of HPD’s performance targets are being met and improving.
The study by accounting giant Ernst and Young recommended adding more performance measures to hold the department accountable for dollars spent.
Both the Whitmire administration and the Houston Police Officers Union, however, say tying police salaries to departmental performance would not be appropriate. Their focus, instead, is on making Houston police salaries comparable to those in Texas’ other big cities, in an effort to recruit and retain officers for a department they say is understaffed for a city this size.
Keeping department performance and contract negotiations separate is not new. The city and its employee unions – police, fire and municipal workers – traditionally have kept their focus on pay, benefits and working conditions, though they do get into disciplinary matters and processes.
Under Texas law, cities and counties cannot reduce law enforcement budgets. The push for increased pay also runs parallel to Houston’s time crunch to cover a swelling $330 million budget deficit in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
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With a budget of $1.07 billion this year, the police department already represents the single largest portion of the city’s annual spending, leading some to question how Whitmire will fund other essential city services while holding the agency accountable for the money it spends.
“If they approve this contract before the budget is approved … it’s absurd, because the general fund, that’s your operating budget. That’s the one that we can actually control,” said Jaison Oliver, a long-time budget-watcher with the ImagiNoir/BLMHTX Collective, which advocates for racial equity. “We approve this contract before the general fund, then what can we really control? What do we have to move around?”
Whitmire frequently touts his relationship with the police union, noting he was at the bargaining table on officers’ behalf during the first meet-and-confirm contract negotiations in 1998.
Steven David, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, said the administration would use its positive relationship with the union to discuss, outside of contract negotiations, how to make HPD work better for the city and for officers.
The mayor last month released the findings of a citywide study by accounting giant Ernst and Young that cited inefficiencies, duplicative spending and a lack of accountability across city departments.
The study was to be the first step in Whitmire’s stated plan of improving efficiency and rooting out waste before he will consider any increases in taxes or fees. He since has promised a balanced 2026 budget, instituted a citywide hiring freeze and offered employee buyouts, excluding the police and fire departments.
“If the administration is going to offer a balanced budget, it will be on the back of municipal employees,” District F Councilmember Tiffany Thomas said. “…They’re literally being walked off the property, but yet, we’re talking about training for new cadets and allowing older police officers and fire to have that time.”
Oliver said the report and the negotiations are “100 percent connected,” despite city officials and union representatives insistence they remain separate. Giving money to HPD constricts efforts to help other departments which may be understaffed, he said.
“(Mayor Whitmire) is really using this as a tool to do what he already wanted to do,” Oliver said.
Performance goals
The Ernst and Young report found almost half of HPD’s performance goals are not being met. Meanwhile, the department is getting worse rather than better on nearly a quarter of its benchmarks.
So-called key performance indicators are included in the annual city budget to measure whether departments make progress toward their goals.
Among HPD’s performance indicators are goals to maintain its average response times for priority calls, reduce crime, and release a percentage of body cam footage of “critical incidents” within 30 days.
The auditors recommended adding metrics, including the number of civilian complaints per officer and rates of violent, property and hate crimes.
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City officials told Ernst and Young it could not “tell the cops how to cop,” David said, but the consultants still could help find ways to make department more efficient
Once performance metrics are set, they will need to be continuously monitored and adjusted, David said.
City Council approved a second contract with Ernst and Young last month for an additional $4 million to help create performance improvement measures for each individual department, including HPD, David said.
Houston Police Officers Union President Doug Griffith said he anticipates the union and city will finalize a draft of a new labor contract this month, but he did not have a problem with the city giving the police more performance goals.
“We’re working on the contract. It has nothing to do with the efficiency study,” Griffith said. “But like every department, no matter where you are or what job it is, there’s always ways to make it more efficient. We look forward to that happening here with our department, as well.”
HPD leadership and the Houston Finance Department, which is overseen by the mayor’s office, are responsible for determining the annual performance indicators. They are not bargained by the police union.
However, the timing of the union negotiations could be worked to the mayor’s advantage, said Daniel DiSalvo, a politics and labor union expert with The City College of New York. DiSalvo said Whitmire’s team could use the suggestions laid out in the efficiency report as a tool to justify increased wages.
DiSalvo gave the example of tying better police response times, which are almost always used as an indicator of success, with increased funding: if the city allots additional funds for more officers or better vehicles, response times may improve.
“The question would be, what performance metrics could actually translate into a work rule that would encourage better performance?” DiSalvo said. “The other way to put it is, think negatively, are there work rules that are in the existing contract that are actively weakening the department?”
Value of investment
Both the Houston municipal workers union and the firefighter union received significant raises in their latest contracts, contributing to the $330 million deficit projected for next year’s budget.
The settlement with the fire union is projected to result in an estimated $1.5 billion financial impact. The contract includes a 10 percent base-pay increase for firefighters this year, helping to balloon the department’s overtime budget; the administration has projected HFD overtime spending to hit $86 million, surpassing the current budget by $41 million. In comparison, police are projected to spend $56 million on overtime in 2025.
The efficiency study helped city officials identify up to $90 million in returns by renegotiating some of its vendor contracts, David said, which could help reduce the looming deficit.
University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinhaus said Whitmire was smart to wait until he saw the results of the study to decide how to approach the pending shortfall.
“Trying to hold the police department accountable for spending, it may be a tough thing to do when there’s sort of ongoing negotiations to give them more money,” Rottinghaus said. “Those things may pass each other in the night.”
It ultimately will be up to voters to decide whether they believe the money put toward the department was wisely spent, Rottinghaus said.
“They’re going to have to make a choice about whether they think that the city is moving in the right direction, financially, in terms of crime and in terms of its investment and in terms of its return on investment,” he said.
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