Carla Wyatt, Harris County treasurer, right, is shown as her attorney Christopher Downey speaks to the media after a 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
Harris County Treasurer Carla Wyatt, a Democrat who was arrested three times across two counties in her first term, is seeking a six-figure raise, according to a formal salary grievance she filed with the county.
Wyatt requested $250,000 “or more,” which would be a minimum 79% raise over her current salary of $139,547. The treasurer, who is facing a drunk driving charge in Galveston County, requested the raise just months after her office was stripped of a key financial oversight role and amid an ongoing effort to abolish Wyatt’s position entirely.
Wyatt did not respond to a request for comment.
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Wyatt filed her grievance as part of an annual county process that lets elected officials petition a nine-member committee for a raise. The committee will consider her request Thursday.
Wyatt wrote that she is seeking “an amount that fairly and appropriately reflects the statutory responsibilities, fiduciary obligations, scope of authority, workload, and level of accountability associated with the office of Harris County Treasurer.”
Wyatt had a dozen staff members working for her office in 2025, according to county salary data. She was one of just a handful of county elected officials whose salaries commissioners left unchanged in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Commissioners voted last week to raise the pay of all elected officials except themselves, the sheriff and the treasurer to $305,000.
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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 consider Wyatt’s request.
Harris County budget director Daniel Ramos said at Tuesday’s meeting she was the only official to contest her salary in the ongoing budget process.
District Clerk Marilyn Burgess warned commissioners during the meeting that opting for a panel of residents carried the risk that they may unanimously approve Wyatt’s request. Should all nine vote in her favor, commissioners are required under Texas law to grant her request, Burgess said.
“The elected officials will know more about the tenure of our current treasurer than residents will,” Burgess said.
A poll published last year by the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs found two-thirds of residents were unfamiliar with the treasurer and the office’s duties.
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Abolition push amid legal troubles
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
After county auditors in February flagged roughly $53,000 in fraudulent checks Wyatt’s office failed to catch, Commissioners Court voted to curtail the office’s dwindling responsibilities, which had already been diminished to largely procedural duties.
Commissioners plan to ask the Legislature to abolish Wyatt’s position in the upcoming session, the start of a lengthy process that requires the approval of a majority of voters in Harris County and statewide.
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Ten other counties, including Galveston, have abolished the position, which some officials consider obsolete. Galveston County Judge Mark Henry, a Republican, previously told the Chronicle the county treasurer was an “unnecessary office” that became irrelevant with the advent of digital banking.
Wyatt was first elected in 2022, and is seeking reelection this year. Legal troubles have hounded her since shortly after she took office. She was charged with driving while under the influence in December 2023, but it was dismissed after she completed a pretrial diversion program despite twice violating her bail conditions.
Wyatt was arrested again in 2025 and charged with misdemeanor burglary of a vehicle after employees at a Washington Avenue restaurant accused her of breaking into an unlocked car. A grand jury declined to indict her on that charge.
Her most recent arrest — again for drunk driving — came in May after police in Texas City said they found her asleep at the wheel around 1 a.m. in the left lane of Highway 3. Her attorney previously said Wyatt denies any wrongdoing.
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