Sarah Grunau/ Houston Public Media
Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey spoke against the county’s proposed property tax increase on September 3, 2026.
Harris County is proposing a nearly 8% property tax hike next year — the highest proposed tax increase in two decades. It’s the fifth consecutive year that county spending has outpaced revenue.
While some Democratic commissioners have placed blame on federal funding cuts worsening the county’s financial state, lone Republican commissioner, Tom Ramsey, called on the court Thursday to find cost saving measures before considering a proposed $3.1 billion budget next week.
The county is facing a budget deficit of about $180 million. In an effort to bridge that funding gap, the county has sold underutilized properties and proposed various fee increases like making it more expensive for landlords to file eviction claims against tenants in Harris County.
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Harris County commissioners will consider the county’s proposed $3.1 billion budget on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Commissioners plan to set a tax rate during a meeting on Sept. 17 before the county’s 2027 fiscal year starts on Oct. 1.
During a press conference on Thursday, Ramsey said he will propose an end to the Holistic Assistance Response Team or HART, a county program that deploys unarmed first responders to non-emergency 911 calls. He said the court could also trim various administrative costs to reduce spending.
“When you go through the core services of what we do and then look at those areas where, that’s really not a core service, those are room for significant decreases,” Ramsey said. “There are dozens and dozens and dozens of areas where we could reduce again non-statutory areas of responsibility that we’re in.”
Commissioners are charged with setting tax rates for four separate taxing entities, including the Harris County Flood Control District, Harris Health and the Port of Houston Authority.
In total, the proposed county tax rate is $0.67 per $100 of valuation — a 7.6% increase from last year’s tax rate of $0.62 cents, according to agenda documents.
State Senator Paul Bettencourt has, in recent weeks, criticized local Democratic commissioners for spending money he said the county doesn’t have.
“It doesn’t happen in Texas, except in Harris County,” State Senator Paul Bettencourt said on Thursday. “[Taxpayers] are bleeding with this type of increase. It doesn’t happen anywhere else in the state, but it happens here in Harris County because spending is out of control here. If you spend out of control, you’re going to tax out of control.”
Speaking on Hello Houston Thursday, Commissioner Lesley Briones did not say how she intends to vote on the proposed tax increase. She said her office is still workshopping cost saving efforts before the meeting next week.
“At the end of the day, we are in control of Harris County taxes,” Briones said. “So the City of Houston, the other 33 cities, they have the joy of getting to work on their own budgets. Harris County, the unincorporated part, is growing 2.6 times faster than the City of Houston.
Commissioners have recently approved a slate of raises for most elected county officials. That was after Commissioner Rodney Ellis said he would only vote in favor of raising each eight elected county constables’ salaries to $305,000 if the provision also included most other elected officials in the county.
Commissioners will also consider a pay increase of $40,000 for County Treasurer Carla Wyatt on Tuesday — a recommendation made by the county’s salary grievance committee.
“To me, it’s how do we deliver the excellence in services, do it with discipline and responsibility in a way that we’re minimizing the impact on residents,” Briones said.