HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Every day, Harris County says it spends $1.2 million on healthcare costs for employees and retirees.<\/p>\n
While surrounding local governments and private companies typically ask employees to split healthcare premiums with employers, taxpayers continue to pay for base healthcare premiums for Harris County employees on employee-only medical coverage plans. Depending on the plan, Harris County’s 46,000 employees and retirees may still be responsible for deductibles, copayments or coinsurance, the Office of County Administration said on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
As Harris County property owners face the possibility of another tax hit, 13 Investigates is digging into how the county is spending your money.<\/p>\n
It’s an employee benefit that has doubled in price over the last decade, creating a “unique” financial challenge as the county faces a $181 million deficit and a potential 10% property tax hike to help balance the budget.<\/p>\n
“While many employers have responded to their soaring healthcare costs by shifting the burden to employees and retirees through increased deductibles, copayments, and premiums, the County has absorbed nearly all of these costs over the past decade,” according to the proposed budget book for fiscal year 2027.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the county’s budget shows medical claims and other healthcare benefits are projected to exceed revenue and reserves by $8 million in fiscal year 2026 and $102 million in fiscal year 2027.<\/p>\n
“If there are no changes made to benefits or employee and retiree premiums in FY27, the County’s healthcare contribution would need to increase by $110 million,” the county’s current proposed budget shows.<\/p>\n
Even when Harris County employees opt for a higher plan, their cost is still on the lower end compared to other major Texas counties.<\/p>\n
On a mobile device? Click here.<\/a> <\/p>\n Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) premiums cost $191 for Tarrant County employees, $190 for City of Houston employees, $93 for Dallas County employees and $79 for Harris County employees who buy up to a higher plan, according to the county’s budget office.<\/p>\n “I’d ask the viewers, how many of you ended up paying more for your health insurance last year? And I would bet it’s going to be almost anybody,” said Bill King, a Baker Institute fellow.<\/p>\n Harris County commissioners did not approve of changes to its healthcare plan that would require its employees to buy into a base plan.<\/p>\n But commissioners did agree to make one change to its healthcare plan that it says will impact just five employees or retirees while saving the county $9 million.<\/p>\n The county says this change relates to pharmacies, and they are proactively reaching out to those five impacted individuals with other pharmacies they can use to ensure the change to the plan causes minimal disruption.<\/p>\n “Everything I see over there, they seem to be a lot more concerned about the employees than they do the taxpayers. Now look, I’m sure the vast majority of Harris County employees do a really good job and we need them to do their job and when I was running companies, employee morale was one of the most important things,” King said. “But at some point in time, you got to look at the other side of the equation. Everything you’re doing to help those employees is being paid for (by) some family trying to afford a house.”<\/p>\n Despite the increased costs, Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Leslie Briones called healthcare benefits a “sacred promise” that the county has made to its employees.<\/p>\n Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey’s office said in a statement to 13 Investigates that “Commissioners Court is working continuously to not balance the budget on the backs of retirees and employees.”<\/p>\n Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis told 13 Investigates in an email that while families are paying more for basic needs, like housing, food, childcare and healthcare, the county’s “significant” budget shortfall is because of “state and federal attacks that have drained local governments of vital resources to meet growing needs.”<\/p>\n “Those choices were made in Austin and Washington, D.C., but Harris County taxpayers have been forced to foot the bill, leaving fewer resources to meet the needs here at home,” Ellis said in an email. “I will never support balancing the budget on the backs of working people.”<\/p>\n Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia suggested one cost-saving method during commissioner’s court last month. He said the county could grandfather in current employees on the county’s current healthcare plan while requiring new employees to pay a premium.<\/p>\n So far this year, Harris County has hired at least 1,750 new employees across all departments, according to county HR data. This doesn’t include employees who were hired this year and have already left.<\/p>\n In commissioner’s court last month, the county’s benefits director said early estimates in one model show the county could save $540,000 in fiscal year 2027 if it required new employees to pay for basic healthcare benefits. But, she said the technology to make those changes in the county’s internal system isn’t easy and might not be worth the initial savings.<\/p>\n Still, Garcia suggested, “over time, as the workforce would presumably transition, that would be a huge savings to the county, so I do want to see how we can model that out and understand it better.”<\/p>\n Another driver of high healthcare costs for the county is an increase in employees. The county’s current payroll is $1.6 billion for about 20,800 employees.<\/p>\n Our investigation found there are 13 percent more employees on Harris County’s payroll now compared to 2022. Meanwhile, payroll costs have increased by 51 percent, in part due to a pay parity study the county implemented that raised salaries of law enforcement and top elected officials.<\/p>\n “We’ve added a lot more employees a lot faster than the population has gone up,” King said.<\/p>\n 13 Investigates looked at Harris County departments with more than 100 employees and identified which ones had the highest percent increase in employees compared to 2022.<\/p>\n Our analysis used data from Harris County HR and looked at the actual number of employees on the county’s payroll in May 2022 compared to May 2026, instead of just the positions that each department had budgeted for the year.<\/p>\n