Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Harris County Commissioners listen as citizens voice concerns with Harris County flood control directives during Commissioners Court in Houston, Thursday, June 26, 2025.
Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle
Harris County Commissioners voted 3-1 Thursday to formally adopt a historic property tax rate hike to support a $3.1 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
Commissioners effectively voted to approve the rates last week, but Thursday’s decision marked the final step in the county’s annual budget process, which was dominated by a more-than $180 million deficit, the county’s fifth straight annual shortfall.
This year’s tax rate — 67 cents per $100 of taxable value — is the highest combined county tax rate in recent history, and came as critics denounce what they view as excessive spending while commissioners point to what they say are spending cuts and unfunded mandates passed by Republican lawmakers that affect local governments.
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Commissioner Tom Ramsey, the court’s lone Republican, cast the only dissenting vote. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo briefly stepped out of the meeting during the vote and was recorded as absent. Hidalgo voted against the rate hike last week.
The court also formally adopted the fiscal year 2027 budget on Thursday 3-2, with Ramsey and Hidalgo opposed.
“It is not the time to do this to the folks that live in Harris County,” Ramsey said. “Our number one issue over the last six months has been affordability. This certainly is going to have a tremendous impact on the residents’ ability to afford their homes.”
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Officials said the new rate will cost the average homeowner roughly $198 more this year.
The three Democratic commissioners said they were forced to support the increase. Commissioner Adrian Garcia described the budget as “the most painful and difficult” proposal he has ever voted on.
They pointed to what they label “unfunded mandates” — duties and offices the court must fund by law — including healthcare and attorneys for defendants who cannot afford their own counsel. Daniel Ramos this month also noted a business tax break the Legislature approved last session removed $8 billion from Harris County’s property tax roll this year.
After passing the budget, the Democratic commissioners who supported it — Lesley Briones, Rodney Ellis and Garcia — paused Thursday’s meeting to call a news conference denouncing decisions by Republican lawmakers they said had forced local governments to absorb costs.
“President (Donald) Trump has put deep cuts to the Affordable Care Act. That impacts us, and that means that we have to make up for that. Deep cuts to programs that protect women and domestic violence. When that happens, we’re where the rubber meets the road,” Ellis said.
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The decision to raise taxes was a hard one, Briones said, but doing nothing would mean many residents lose access to basic services.
“This is local government. These are our roads. This is our port. This is our public safety, our infrastructure, our public health. We will not turn our backs,” Briones said.
Yet the county is also adding hundreds of positions to its general fund, according to budget materials. While some departments, such as the Harris County attorney’s office, lost positions, a majority added one or more to their payroll for the next fiscal year.
State. Sen, Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, agreed with Ramsey that spending was the issue, not legislative mandates.
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“You have a huge chunk of non-statutory spending,” Bettencourt said in a Monday interview with the Houston Chronicle. “So this idea that you have to just keep smashing the property taxpayers every year for more really really runs thin.”
Commissioners have authority over four distinct taxing entities: The county itself — which accounts for a majority of the combined rate — Harris Health, the Port of Houston and the Harris County Flood Control District. The county accounts for a little over 60% of the proposed increase, with Harris Health responsible for a majority of the remainder.
Bettencourt, who was county tax-assessor collector from 1998 to 2008, said the new combined rate will cost the average homeowner about $2,100 this year, almost as much as that homeowner pays to the Houston Independent School District, which has a much higher rate than the county.
That’s thanks in part to a $140,000 school tax exemption that went into effect this year, but Bettencourt said the county’s tax rate is nonetheless “stunning.”
Deputy raises major line item
Pay increases for county law enforcement and other workers, rising healthcare costs and expenses related to attorneys appointed for defendants who cannot afford them are some of the most significant expenses driving the deficit. Law enforcement raises alone account for $72 million in new spending next fiscal year.
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Law enforcement officials and supporters said Thursday the raises were long overdue.
After Houston City Council adopted Mayor John Whitmire’s May 2025 proposal to give Houston police officers 36.5% raises over five years, fears of a mass exodus of county law enforcement led commissioners to match the city’s new salary scale by giving deputies 50% raises over 5 years.
Hidalgo and most of the commissioners have said they agree the raises were necessary. But Hidalgo sparred with commissioners Thursday over the decision not to take the raises to the voters as part of a tax increase proposal. Supporters, meanwhile, said law enforcement should be the county’s top priority and cuts should be made elsewhere to make room for it.
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“It’s not that I don’t believe that law enforcement deserves pay increases. I’ve long advocated for this,” Hidalgo said. “My point is, let’s go to the voters and ask them what they would like to see.”
Dozens of speakers criticized the tax hike ahead of Thursday’s meeting.
Among them were several conservative candidates and officials, including Marc Cowart, Republican nominee for Harris County treasurer; Aliza Dutt, the former mayor of Piney Point Village who ran in the Republican primary for Harris County judge, and Harris County GOP Party chair Cindy Siegel.
“Vote against this unprecedented tax increase,” said Jacqueline Lucci Smith, the Republican nominee for Harris County attorney. “Let’s show Harris County that leadership means doing what’s hard, not what’s easy.”