Houston’s Democrat mayor has admitted that his city is broke after decades of overspending.
During a meeting with Houston officials, Mayor John Whitmire admitted that the country’s fourth-largest city is tens of millions of dollars in debt.
Whitmire was elected in December, overwhelmingly defeating Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (R-TX).
Now, Whitmire has revealed that the city is staring down a deficit of $160 million.
The mayor is proposing spending cuts and potential new taxes to repair the damage done by his Democrat predecessors, according to KRIV-TV.
“I think we can all agree that we’re broke,” Whitmire said at last week’s City Council meeting.
The Democrat mayor dodged any blame for Houston’s financial situation, however.
“It was broken when I got here,” he asserted.
Whitmire revealed that Houston is so broke that the city can’t even afford to pay firefighters,
Indeed, Whitmire recently settled a labor dispute with city firefighters in which he agreed to give them “$650 million for seven years of back pay,” KRIV reported.
“I’m not going to play games with people’s lives,” Whitmire said.
“I’m not going to play politics with people’s lives.
“So we have a responsibility to settle with the firefighters and protect Houstonians.”
The mayor wants the city’s police and fire departments to keep their current funding but has proposed a 5 percent cut to all other areas of government in order to right the ship.
“I don’t like a 5 percent cut now, but you have to make tough decisions and the folks put me in this position to make tough decisions, and I’m going to do my job,” he said.
Whitmire faced some pushback during the meeting from Councilwoman Tiffany Thomas, who demanded a clearer plan.
“Are we going to fee Houstonians?” Thomas asked.
“Is it a trash fee? Are we paying for parking after 6?
“Are we going after Metro’s money? What are we doing?”
The mayor said getting Houston back on its feet financially might involve “asking the taxpayers to step up,” according to KRIV.
Meanwhile, Councilman Willie Davis offered a blunt assessment of the situation.
“This is going to come down to a financial sacrifice by the city,” Davis said.
“Now we can either be $1.2 billion broke, or we can be $650 million broke.”
WATCH:
Houston has only elected two Republican mayors in its history.
The last GOP mayor served in the position from 1978 to 1981.
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