Dallas mayor says he's not worried about passed HERO propositions: "I think they're workable."
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson played down concerns about the two ballot propositions that passed that were part of the controversial HERO Initiative.
He spoke to CBS News Texas Tuesday during his first television interview about Propositions S and U, which changed the city charter: "The reality is, I'm not very worried about it."
Proposition U requires the city to hire and maintain 4,000 police officers. The city has about 3,100 officers now. Increasing the number of officers at the Dallas Police Department will cost between $175-$185 million according to city leaders and those who backed the HERO Initiative.
Some former mayors, current and former city council members, and dozens of other area leaders waged a very vocal campaign against Propositions S, T, and U, saying it would force the city to cut city services to pay for the increased number of officers and waste taxpayer money on baseless lawsuits.
"It's not going to destroy the city of Dallas," Johnson said. "It's not going to bring us to our knees financially. It does force us to put our money where our mouth is on public safety and I don't think that's a bad thing.
I'm with the voters on this. I have been saying for almost five and a half years now that we have to make public safety our top priority in this city. I've been saying it over and over again and I didn't get it from nowhere."
The mayor said while he supports the idea of Prop U, it's not the way he would have written it.
"It's just not how I would have gone about doing it," said Johnson. "I would not have made it so crude in its mechanism."
As for Prop S, which allows residents to file suit against the city if it doesn't comply with the charter, city ordinances, and state law, Johnson expressed concern about what he called enforcement through litigation.
"We don't want to be tied up in court constantly paying lawyers' legal fees to bring lawsuits against us to do what we're trying to do anyway," Johnson said. "So that's my concern about Prop S - it's a litigation bonanza potentially."
He said after two years there will be efforts to revise these charter amendments.
Voters rejected Prop T, which would have allowed a group of residents to decide whether to fire a city manager or decide how much he or she could receive as a bonus.
While current and former leaders expressed concerns about these propositions during news conferences and interviews, Johnson wrote an op-ed recommending residents turn down all of the propositions.
"If none of them passed, I had a legal opinion from our city attorney that said we've got to have an immediate do-over, an immediate do-over," he said. "That's what I wanted. I wanted to be able to come right back and come up with some well-thought-out charter amendments that actually would have accomplished what props S, T, U wanted to do but more effectively."
One of the mayor's friends from serving in the state legislature, former Republican Representative Scott Turner has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as HUD Secretary. Turner worked as a policy advisor for Trump during his first term.
When asked if he's had any conversations about joining the Trump administration Johnson said, "My focus is on being the mayor of Dallas, doing the best job I can being the mayor. I love my city. I've had no greater honor in my life [than] being elected mayor of this city. Whether or not I'd be willing to serve our country, I think that would depend on a lot, but my focus is on being mayor of Dallas."
Johnson said he has spoken with Turner since his nomination and predicted he would do a great job as HUD Secretary if he's confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The mayor said he spoke to Turner about the city's needs.
"I want to make sure he knows that Dallas needs to be in the front of the line for anything HUD is going to be doing that's going to help cities become more prosperous, stronger, and safer," Johnson said.
The mayor is set to deliver his State of the City address Thursday at City Hall. He said he wants the city to continue reducing violent crime and reducing property tax rates.
Watch Eye On Politics at 7:30 Sunday morning on CBS News Texas on air and streaming.