this month<\/a> also noted a business tax break the Legislature approved last session removed $8 billion from Harris County\u2019s property tax roll this year.<\/p>\nAfter passing the budget, the Democratic commissioners who\u00a0supported it \u2014 Lesley Briones, Rodney Ellis and Garcia \u2014 paused Thursday’s meeting to call a news conference denouncing decisions by Republican lawmakers\u00a0they said had forced local governments to absorb costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident (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,\u201d Ellis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis 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,\u201d Briones said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
State. Sen, Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, agreed with Ramsey that spending was the issue, not legislative mandates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cYou have a huge chunk of non-statutory spending,\u201d Bettencourt said in a Monday interview with the Houston Chronicle.\u00a0 \u201cSo this idea that you have to just keep smashing the property taxpayers every year for more really really runs thin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioners have authority over four distinct taxing entities: The county itself \u2014 which accounts for a majority of the combined rate \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s thanks in part to a $140,000 school tax exemption that went into effect this year, but Bettencourt said the county\u2019s tax rate is nonetheless \u201cstunning.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Deputy raises major line item<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Law enforcement officials and supporters said Thursday the raises were long overdue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Houston City Council adopted Mayor John Whitmire\u2019s 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\u2019s new salary scale by giving deputies 50% raises over 5 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0 a tax increase proposal. Supporters, meanwhile, said law enforcement should be the county\u2019s top priority and cuts should be made elsewhere to make room for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
SEE THE DATA: Houston-area officials received over 600 free Texans suite tickets over the past 3 years<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cIt’s not that I don’t believe that law enforcement deserves pay increases. I’ve long advocated for this,\u201d Hidalgo said. \u201cMy point is, let’s go to the voters and ask them what they would like to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dozens of speakers criticized the tax hike ahead of Thursday\u2019s meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cVote against this unprecedented tax increase,\u201d said Jacqueline Lucci Smith, the Republican nominee for Harris County attorney. \u201cLet’s show Harris County that leadership means doing what’s hard, not what’s easy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Harris County Commissioners listen as citizens voice concerns with Harris County flood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-439782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439782","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=439782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}