Meagan Booth emphasized that benefits were a major reason her husband stayed with the department for nearly two decades despite low pay.
SAN ANTONIO — The wife of a longtime Kerrville firefighter is speaking out after proposed changes to the city’s employee health benefits left her and other first responder families stunned — prompting viral social media attention and a growing petition.
Meagan Booth, wife of firefighter Micah Booth, says the City of Kerrville’s decision to reduce its healthcare contribution from 100% to 89% blindsided many employees after it was presented during a July 22 Employee Benefits Trust (EBT) meeting.
“Last week the information came to us very suddenly,” Booth said. “It’s dropped now to 89%, which is a huge decrease all of a sudden.”
Booth, a mother of four, took to TikTok to share her concerns — a video that has since garnered nearly 100,000 views. She also launched an online petition urging the city to reconsider the cut, which has collected over 1,300 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.
Booth emphasized that benefits were a major reason her husband stayed with the department for nearly two decades despite low pay.
“He’s pretty much had to have a second job at all times,” she said. “One of the other reasons he’s remained with the fire department for so long was the benefits package.”
During the July 22 meeting, Booth says city officials discussed a longer-term plan to gradually decrease the city’s contributions toward employee healthcare — a move she called deeply concerning.
“That’s another huge concern — is this something we’re going to face again in a year?” Booth said. “For first responders, it feels like a slap in the face, especially with everything they went through with the July 4 floods.”
In a statement to KENS 5, the City of Kerrville said the proposed changes were not related to recent flood disaster spending and had been in development beforehand.
City Manager Dalton Rice also released a statement saying the HMO plan being offered still covers employees 100%, but that insurance renewal rates had increased. He said fully covering those increases would have led the city to cut funding in other departments.
Still, Booth says employees were initially told the cuts may have stemmed from the city’s disaster response.
“It was told to some employees that this may be due to disaster-related spending, which was initially what shocked all of us,” she said.
With emotions running high, Kerrville first responders and their families plan to voice their concerns during Tuesday evening’s city council meeting.
“We can’t let this happen,” Booth said. “We want city council and the mayor to hear the truth and the real paycheck impact this has on its employees.”