BEAUMONT, Texas — The Beaumont City Council has approved next year's budget after a lot of back-and-forth during Tuesday's meeting.
The decision came hours after the city manager Kenneth Williams issued a statement hoping to clear up confusion.
Williams said a software error left out property tax revenue which put the city's 2023 budget in the red by $47 million.
"We had a new CFO. Also on top of that we implemented a new budgeting software this year so that ended up being a challenge for us to get the budget done," said Williams
Now, that mistake has been fixed and the city says they ended 2023, $7.6 million better than expected.
Once this was sorted out the city voted 5 to 2 to approve the new budget.
The city says they used a new budgeting process called zero-based budgeting which helped eliminate unnecessary expenses.
Beaumont firefighters are watching closely as well as they're in the midst of negotiations for a new contract.
Members of the Beaumont Firefighters Union say that they feel "left out" of the process, and that the budget does not include what they need.
During the meeting, a sea of yellow filled the the Beaumont city hall as dozens of Beaumont firefighters Local 399 filled council chambers.
"Staffing issues have always been an issue for a really long time and we're not going to stand for it anymore," said Jeffery Nesom.
Union President Jefferey Nesom says the budget never should have been approved while in the middle of negotiations for a new contract for city firefighters.
"They've been working on this budget for months and have never sat down with us, so I'm assuming we're just the last priority on their list," said Newsome.
City Manager Williams says the new budget makes way for salary increases for low paying positions, but firefighter contracts are a bit different.
"Police and fire, they have their own separate contracts that could be anywhere from four or five percent increase for them. I've sent them a letter to start those negotiations I sent that back on June 11," said Williams.
Williams says scheduling conflicts prevented the city and the union from before now.
Both sides will finally come to the table on October 8.
"They are trying to bargain in bad faith, they've set a negotiation date until after our contract expires," said Nesom.
The City Manager says that he is committed to working with the union. He says he offers "unwavering support" for firefighters and looks forward to negotiations next month.