City of Houston hiring freeze takes effect amid $350M budget shortfall

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- In a continued effort to make the city more efficient, Mayor Whitmire has issued a citywide hiring freeze that took effect today.

Only 10 positions are listed on the careers section of the city's website. Those positions are for roles with the Houston Fire Department and Houston Police Department, which are excluded from the freeze.

"We have too many city employees for a city our size," Whitmire told ABC13 in an interview last week.

In a letter to city employees, the mayor wrote, "Limited exceptions will be considered for roles that provide direct service to residents."

He also noted that if promotional candidates and applicants have not received an official offer from the city's human resources department before March 10, the hiring will not happen.

A city spokesperson said Whitmire will not allow city services to suffer as a result of the freeze.

The decision to put a hold on new hires comes after a finalized report by Ernst & Young evaluating government efficiency. Whitmire said the spend analysis was commissioned to "eliminate waste." He said it serves as a blueprint for cuts such as the hiring freeze.

As the city tries to close a $350 million budget shortfall, Whitmire said efficiency efforts could save the city $100 million.

"(A hiring freeze) does tend to institute quite a bit of savings for the city," Nancy Sims, a political science lecturer with the University of Houston, said.

Of the departments participating in the hiring freeze, Houston Public Works had the highest number of vacant positions, with 849, which accounted for 17 percent of the city's total vacancies, according to the Ernst & Young report.

Leaders have equated longer wait times for water leaks to be fixed throughout the city to a staffing shortage with HPW.

Karisma Danas, who works in the Rice Village area, said her office has been calling about water bubbling up from under the road since the end of January.

"We have called again and spoken to a supervisor who assured us that they were escalating it," Danas said. "This was maybe a week or two now, and we are still dealing with a water leak."

She wonders what the effect the freeze will have on getting it repaired.

"That makes things like this water leak fall through the cracks for citizens like us," Danas said.

According to a city spokesperson, critical positions, such as those that fix active water leaks, will be considered for replacement.

"They are not going to eliminate essential employees, so it's not going to affect your need to have your pothole filled," Sims said. "It might mean a little longer hold time when you call the water department about your bill."

There's no set date for lifting the hiring freeze. In his letter to city employees today, Mayor Whitmire said that they will reconsider hiring after "departmental reorganization plans have been submitted, reviewed and approved."

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