It’s been about a year since John Whitmire was sworn in as Houston’s mayor. After more than 50 years in the Texas Legislature, Whitmire’s entry into the mayor’s office of Texas’s biggest city served as a big shift from what he’d previously been doing at the Capitol.
His first year in Houston as mayor has been marked by a number of natural disasters, a police department scandal and a budget deficit.
So what has he accomplished in the past 12 months?
Abby Church, who covers city hall for the Houston Chronicle, said one of Whitmire’s first tests in office was a scandal at the Houston Police Department about criminal cases being suspended.
“Less than two months into Whitmire’s term, news came out that the department had suspended around 264,000 cases using the source code ‘SL,’ which is short term for ‘suspended due to lack of personnel.’ That quickly spiraled into a few investigations,” Church said.
“One, of course, was kicked off by the Houston Police Department. The other was kicked off by the mayor himself. As of now, both of those investigations have been completed. The department has made around 175 felony charges as a result of looking into those suspended cases. And the department hopes to have a review wrapped up by early this year.”
Whitmire was also instrumental in cutting a deal with the Houston Professional Firefighters Association, which ended an eight year stalemate under the previous mayor, Sylvester Turner.
“Anyone who’s been watching city government a really long time over here has known that that deal has been coming down the pipeline for a very long time,” Church said. “The fire union was one of Whitmire’s biggest campaign supporters. So as soon as he got into office, he and union officials sat down at the bargaining table pretty quickly to cut a deal.
And in March, they announced that the firefighters would be getting $650 million in back pay for their years without a contract. And the final deal that was approved in June hovered at around $1.5 billion. And the city is looking at paying that off over the next 25 to 30 years.”
The city’s budget has also been in deficit during Whitmire’s tenure, but Church said that is not new.
“When you’re looking at budget issues in Houston, that’s not something that’s unique to Whitmire’s administration. And this is something that we have been dealing with over here for years,” she said. “But when Whitmire first took over as mayor, the city had around a $160 million deficit. That deficit is now $240 million.”
Going forward, Church said one question that remains is how Whitmire will interact with the Legislature as a mayor and not as a lawmaker on the inside.
“There are still a lot of questions that linger over at City Hall. Most of those revolve around finances. There are still a lot of questions about what the city might potentially get or not get as we head into the legislative session in 2025,” she said.
“Whitmire has repeatedly flexed his connections in Austin, and there’s no denying that he does have those connections. But he has also cited some resistance from leaders in Austin whenever he’s asking for the city’s needs to be met. So I think only time will tell to see how exactly that’s going to play out.”
