Carla Wyatt, Harris County treasurer, center, is shown with attorney Christopher Downey, right, as they arrive for court appearance on her misdemeanor burglary charge in Houston Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. She is accused of breaking into another person’s vehicle with intent to commit theft.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
A hastily convened panel of nine Harris County residents voted 6-3 to recommend that Commissioners Court approve a 30% raise for county Treasurer Carla Wyatt following a salary grievance hearing Thursday.
The committee recommended her pay be increased to $181,411 despite testimony from county officials who pointed to the office’s dwindling duties and commissioners’ ongoing efforts to pursue abolishing Wyatt’s position entirely. Commissioners are not obligated to act on the recommendation.
The embattled Democrat, who has twice been arrested in Harris County and is facing a drunken driving charge in Galveston County, initially asked for $250,000, but increased her request to $305,000 during Thursday’s meeting. That figure would match a recent slate of raises commissioners approved for all countywide elected officials except the treasurer, sheriff and county judge.
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Wyatt’s request would more than double her current pay of $139,547. She argued that, despite her small staff and limited duties, she was elected by Harris County voters and should earn the same as other countywide elected officials.
“They left me out. I don’t know why. They didn’t give me a reason. If there’s a reason, I’d like to know what it is,” Wyatt said. “Harris County has the authority to establish elected official salaries, and I intend to be treated just like every other countywide elected official, department head, or senior (staff member).”
Daniel Ramos, the county’s budget director, and Francis Nugent, deputy director of Intergovernmental and Global Affairs, pointed to commissioners’ recent decision to strip Wyatt’s office of a key financial oversight role after her staff failed to stop fraudulent checks, and the possibility that it could be dissolved as early as next year.
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“This is about the position. It’s not about the person,” Nugent said. “This is consistent with what a lot of other, particularly large, counties in the state have done. Tarrant County, Bexar County, Collin County, El Paso County have all amended the constitution to eliminate their treasurer’s office.”
Abolishing the office would require two-thirds approval of both the Texas House and Senate, which would then allow the issue to appear before voters on the November 2027 ballot, Nugent said. A majority of voters statewide and in Harris County would need to approve the measure for the position to be abolished.
Wyatt heads a small office of roughly a dozen staff members that has seen its duties eroded by advances in digital banking and other technology that has led to it being labeled “obsolete” by some officials and experts.
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The 9-member citizen committee appeared broadly unfamiliar with the treasurer’s office and its duties at Thursday’s hearing.
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The group spent a large portion of the hearing asking questions about Wyatt’s role. Several said they had little time to prepare. The meeting also was delayed an hour while officials sought a replacement for one member who did not attend.
The committee that hears salary grievances can include several elected officials, as it did in recent years, but commissioners decided Tuesday to select nine residents from the grand juror pool to hear Wyatt’s request. That left officials just two days to put together the committee, and less time for members to prepare.
Committee members labeled commissioners’ decision to increase a majority of elected officials’ salaries to $305,000 “ridiculous,” but a majority said they thought the treasurer’s office had gone too long without an increase. They briefly considered a 10% increase, though that was voted down.
“Given the affordability crisis in this nation and in the city and in this county, the percentages of increase to me are pretty close to being outrageous,” said Cynthia Tilford, the committee member who made the motion to increase Wyatt’s pay by 30%. “That being said, the treasurer’s responsibilities haven’t all gone away.”
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Thursday’s meeting was part of an annual process under Texas law through which elected officials may petition a committee for a salary increase. Wyatt was the only official to file a salary grievance.