Harris County leaders discuss budget deficit

Harris County commissioners to discuss budget deficit

Harris County leaders are grappling with a budget deficit, but they can't agree on how big that deficit actually is. On Tuesday, county leaders debated options for balancing the deficit.

Harris County leaders are grappling with a budget deficit, but they can't agree on how big that deficit actually is. On Tuesday, county leaders debated options for balancing the deficit.

Harris County leaders grapple with budget deficit

The backstory:

Last week, Judge Lina Hidalgo said Harris County is facing an over $200 million shortfall. On Tuesday, that number changed to $220 million. But County Commissioners Tom Ramsey and Leslie Briones say the deficit is around $48 million. 

One reason for the shortfall stems from a decision last year to give Harris County deputies pay parity with Houston police officers at a cost of $100 million. 

To balance the $2.9 billion budget, commissioners will be forced to reduce departments, scale down or cancel projects, and potentially reduce the county's non-law enforcement workforce.

Hidalgo claims commissioners in Precincts 2, 3 and 4 did not follow multiple budget recommendations.

County leaders lay out their priorities

What they're saying:

On the social media platform X, Hidalgo said, "Over the last year, three members of Commissioners Court consistently voted against the budget director’s recommendations, which created a $200M+ deficit that could have been avoided. Judge Hidalgo and Commissioner Rodney Ellis opposed those fiscally irresponsible votes, and also proposed multiple times going to the voters to ask if they wanted to see cuts, but they did not receive support from their three colleagues to allow voters to render a judgement. The county has already implemented tens of millions of dollars in savings."

On Tuesday, Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones held a press conference outlining her budget priorities and proposed cost-saving measures for the county’s fiscal year 2026 budget. Briones identified potential savings through vacancy control and strategic staffing, estimated to save $30 million; improved fleet management, estimated at $6 million in savings; and updated purchasing practices, projected to save $9 million. She also proposed a hiring freeze and ending one of three jail outsourcing contracts to help close the deficit. 

"We are on track to pass a balanced budget that protects all of our fundamental non-negotiable services in a way that finds smart savings and does more with less," said Commissioner Briones. "To me, raising taxes only when it is a last resort."

Her list of non-negotiables includes funding for public safety, such as pay parity, the district attorney’s office, public defender and courts, along with continued support for the HART and mental health programs. Briones also emphasized the importance of public health services, including mobile clinics, vaccinations and animal shelter operations. Disaster preparedness and infrastructure investments, such as flood mitigation, early warning systems, roads, sidewalks and parks, were also named as top priorities.

"The reason the numbers are changing, again this is a highly iterative process working with the 70 plus departments on what is most strategic and prudent, so we are preserving fundamental services, while making these strategic savings, so that is why the number has been going down," said Briones. "Ultimately, we had more revenue than expected. Ultimately, to achieve law enforcement pay parity cost less than the initial projections."

On Monday, Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said he's ready to present a balanced budget at Tuesday's commissioners' court meeting. 

"Core services are a priority in this budget. We’ve looked at discretionary spending. I’ve said it in the past, out of a $2.8 billion budget, there’s at least $500 million of discretionary funds that we could look at. We need to fund our core services, be it law enforcement, be it the courts, be it infrastructure, flooding, those sorts of things," said Commissioner Ramsey. 

What's next:

Public hearings about the budget will be held throughout the next few weeks. A final vote on the budget will happen in September.