The Lubbock City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to approve nearly $20 million in new police and fire labor agreements, raising property taxes by about $100 a year for the average homeowner. According to Lubbock Lights, the deals include a six-year, nearly $15 million firefighter contract—enthusiastically praised by Councilwoman Dr. Jennifer Wilson, whose official city biography notes she is married to Lubbock Fire Rescue Assistant Fire Chief Nick Wilson.
Dr. Wilson, who represents District 5 in southwest Lubbock, declared the agreement puts Lubbock Fire Rescue among the elite departments in Texas. “I definitely think it puts us in the top one or two,” she said, adding that other city managers across the state are already asking how to mimic Lubbock’s process. Nothing says objective civic benchmarking quite like grading your own spouse’s department on a curve funded by everyone else’s property taxes.
To pay for the firefighter contract and a one-year, nearly $4.8 million police deal, the council abandoned the sacred West Texas ritual of the “no-new-revenue” tax rate, adopting 50.7349 cents per $100 instead of 47.5154 cents. Mayor Mark McBrayer tried some creative accounting, noting, “This is the first time I’ve ever voted for a budget that was not a no-new-revenue rate,” before arguing the council passed a no-new-revenue rate on the “base budget” and everything above it went to the Meet and Confer agreements.
Wilson promptly undercut the mayor’s math, calling it “a very simplified statement” because some raises would have happened anyway. She also warned future candidates to stop promising they can always deliver a no-new-revenue rate, “because I don’t think that’s realistic.” Better yet, the firefighter contract legally binds future councils for all six years—meaning voters can still elect anti-tax crusaders, they just won’t be allowed to do anything about this bill.
Under the deals, firefighters get raises, 133 new positions, and a schedule shift from 24 hours on and 48 off to 24 on and 72 off, while giving up some vacation and sick leave. Police get 5 percent raises, 10 new officers, and a perk letting Chief Seth Herman appoint all of his assistant chiefs instead of letting Civil Service pick one.
Wilson noted that Lubbock residents on social media complain no matter what: “They’re angry at anything, whether it’s no-new-revenue. They’re angry if you have a tax increase.”
Then again, watching a councilwoman praise a $15 million contract for her husband’s department does give the comment section a fresh talking point.
Source: Lubbock Lights
