report<\/a> shows the county faces a near $130 million deficit for the upcoming budget. In the next couple of years, if things remain the same, the report shows it could go to more than $200 million.<\/p>\nIf costs rise, it could climb to $300 million. While the city of Houston recently closed its budget deficit in part by introducing a new trash fee, researchers say the county can’t do the same.<\/p>\n
“I’m not sure there’s much they can do to generate revenue,” King said. “As I said, 80% of their revenue comes through property taxes. There’s not a lot they can do to affect that.”<\/p>\n
When it comes to property taxes, King said the county may want to follow the city and not raise them.<\/p>\n
“If you just keep raising taxes all of the time, people get tired of that,” King explained. “If they don’t feel like they’re getting a lot in services, they can go someplace else.”<\/p>\n
King said the analysis found that the county has many managers. In the public health services department alone, they found that, on average, one manager supervises four people.<\/p>\n
The budget director plans to present his proposal next month.<\/p>\n
Executive Director Daniel Ramos sent ABC13 a statement about the report that read in part:<\/p>\n
“Harris County has been transparent about the fiscal challenges facing local governments, including rising costs, changing revenue conditions, the expiration of one-time federal funding, reductions in federal grant funding, uncertainty surrounding disaster recovery funding, and unfunded state mandates. These are all factors the Office of Management and Budget is actively evaluating as we develop the FY 2027 budget.”<\/p>\n
“The projected shortfall reflects current forecasts before potential savings options, operational efficiencies, or other budget decisions are implemented. Harris County has adopted balanced budgets over the past two years and is preparing to present its proposed balanced FY 2027 budget to Commissioners Court on Aug. 17.”<\/p>\n
“Our focus remains on responsible financial management, maintaining essential services for residents, and making thoughtful decisions that support Harris County’s long-term financial sustainability.”<\/p>\n
Commissioners will vote on a new budget in September.<\/p>\n
“They’re going to have to cut some spending,” King explained. “Cut some positions, eliminate some programs. It’s going to have to get more efficient, or they’re going to have to find better productivity with AI or something.”<\/p>\n
King said the county could also do a better job of showing neighbors how they’re spending their money. He said the county’s online portal<\/a> isn’t user-friendly and is too document-dependent.<\/p>\nCopyright \u00a9 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — A new report shows the financial challenges Harris County faces just weeks before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[131790,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-372093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-131790","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}