State district judge rules Proposition B unconstitutional

Mayor Sylvester Turner briefly stopped the weekly city council meeting to announce the ruling.

The mayor has estimated that firefighters’ raises would cost $79 million during the 2020 fiscal year. City council approved 220 firefighter layoff notices earlier this month to partially fund the raises. More than 100 fire cadets and municipal workers also have received 60-day layoff notices

Just last Friday, the city announced it had implemented Prop B, retroactive to Jan. 1, sending firefighters checks for backpay.

Not all firefighters received the raises, however, because they lacked the education requirements of corresponding police officers, the Turner administration said