Explained
Benton said the hiring freeze is an opportunity to cut expenses and make the city more efficient.
She said the move comes following Ernest & Young’s citywide efficiency study conducted in late 2024. The report laid out the city’s spending habits and efficiency issues, finding that Houston lags behind peer cities in areas such as average response time for police and fire priority calls.
The study also found that the city is currently operating with over 4,000 vacant positions, predominantly in the police, public works and fire departments. Additionally, 40% of supervisors oversee fewer than four employees. However, Benton said public safety departments such as the fire and police departments won’t be affected by the hiring freeze.
“Mayor Whitmire is constantly working to make municipal government more efficient, honest and responsive,” Benton said. “Houston has many great, hardworking employees, but the efficiency study indicated that there are too many for an organization the size of the city.”
Some context
The city is currently facing a budget deficit of about $340 million, with City Controller Chris Hollins telling city officials in February that drastic cuts or new revenue need to be made for him to certify the fiscal year 2026 budget.
“We’ve gotten by over the years with what I would describe as 'bandaid fixes,’ [or] one time solutions, like we’ll sell a building or a piece of land,” Hollins told Community Impact on March 6. “The solutions that we need to hear and receive at this moment are no longer bandaid fixes. We need comprehensive solutions that are going to solve this problem, not for this moment, but also for years to come.”
Hollins said that his office hasn’t been presented with information on whether these hiring freezes will actually save the city money. However, he said the city needs to look at these vacant positions individually and see how the departments could be impacted by the hiring freeze.
“If we talk about the folks who pick up our trash, and we have significant vacancies among solid waste employees, and we don’t fill those vacancies, then we’re either going to not get our trash picked up or we’re going to have the current staff working overtime, which is more costly than hiring solid waste employees,” Hollins said.
Stay tuned
The mayor’s office plans to announce more details on the hiring freeze at a later date, Benton said.
