HOUSTON - Statement by Mayor Sylvester Turner:
"Based on the judge's ruling, as this case proceeds through the legal system the City will start the process to implement Prop B -- pending a final court determination on whether it was pre-empted by state law. Make no mistake, the stakes are extremely high, as the judge highlighted in the ruling. The testimony, he said, was that Prop B will cost the City over $100 million per year, which could result in significant layoffs and a reduction of services.
"Sadly that is true, and it will trigger the layoffs of less senior firefighters to pay the salaries of firefighters who have been employed longer.
"The implementation of Prop B will not happen overnight but the process does start now. I ask Houstonians to bear with us as we work through this process while the legal matters are still being resolved."