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Harris County Commissioners Court, August 15, 2024.
Harris County commissioners voted unanimously late Thursday to strip the county treasurer’s office of key functions and pursue dissolving it altogether. The move was made amidst legal troubles for County Treasurer Carla Wyatt.
The treasurer’s office will be stripped of its ability to operate Positive Pay — an automated alert system that detects fraud payments. Commissioner Adrian Garcia said the action to remove functions of the office was due to concerns that were found.
The operation will be taken up by the county’s Office of Management and Budget, which will also absorb full-time staff members of the treasurer’s office in the process. Recommendations of the reassignments will be brought back to commissioners court on March 19.
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“I want to make sure that we keep things moving forward in this county,” Garcia said.
The action was recommended by Harris County Auditor Michael Post and discussed in a closed-door executive session during the Thursday meeting. The four county commissioners unanimously approved the motion as Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo was absent. Garcia also made a motion to prioritize the office’s abolishment by the Texas legislature when it next convenes in 2027.
Because the position of county treasurer is elected, a move to abolish the office entirely would require majority approval from Texas and county voters in an election cycle.
The action follows more counties that have sought to eliminate county treasurer offices. Texas voters in 2023 voted to dissolve the Galveston County Treasurer’s Office shortly after former treasurer Hank Dugie was elected on a campaign to abolish his own office.
In Harris County, the treasurer is responsible for handing the county’s finances and transactions at the direction of the commissioners court.
Harris County
Harris County Treasurer Carla Wyatt
The vote also comes after Wyatt was arrested in December on a misdemeanor burglary charge.
RELATED: Harris County treasurer faces misdemeanor burglary charge
In 2023, near the end of her first year in office, Wyatt was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated after allegedly having a blood-alcohol concentration of at least .15%, nearly twice the legal limit. The case record includes two bond violation reports — one in January 2024 for failing to obtain an ignition interlock device for her vehicle that tests for blood alcohol content, and again in March that year for a blood alcohol content level that was above the legal limit.
That DWI charge was dismissed in August 2025 after Wyatt completed a pretrial diversion program, court records show.
Wyatt is set to appear in court again in March. A probable cause hearing was delayed because a brief winter storm temporarily closed the courthouse, Christopher Downey, Wyatt’s defense attorney, told Houston Public Media.
Wyatt is seeking reelection this year. She is the only Democrat on the ballot in the primary election, which is Tuesday, March 3.