Houston Mayor Lays Off 400 Firefighters to Pay for Voter-Mandated Pay Hikes

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner addresses the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, on Jan. 25, 2018. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The mayor of Houston plans to lay off 400 firefighters to fund the pay raises voters mandated in a referendum in November.

Democratic Mayor Sylvester Turner plans to send layoff notices to approximately 10 percent of the firefighting force within weeks, according to Fox News. The layoffs include 68 cadets who Turner declined to promote during a hiring freeze.