Harris County weighs $3.1B budget as commissioners debate cuts, property taxes

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - Harris County commissioners spent hours Monday debating how to pay for a proposed $3.1 billion general fund budget, with questions remaining over what could be cut, what services should be protected and whether property owners could ultimately be asked to pay more.

Commissioners did not adopt a budget or set a tax rate during Monday's meeting.

The proposed FY27 general fund budget includes about $3.096 billion in operating expenses — roughly $327 million, or 12%, more than the FY26 adopted budget. 

What's driving costs?:

According to the county's Office of Management and Budget, some of the largest increases include $89 million in healthcare costs, $76 million connected to law enforcement pay parity and vacancies, and $69 million to restore obligations previously funded through one-time sources.

Other increases include departmental requests, previously approved employee pay increases and higher costs tied to inflation. Those expenses are partially offset by savings identified elsewhere in the budget.

Public safety was a significant part of Monday's discussion.

The proposed budget allocates about $1.135 billion to law enforcement, including $45.5 million in additional pay increases across several agencies and classifications. It also includes $41 million to continue outsourcing inmates while the sheriff's office works to fill vacancies and increase capacity within the Harris County Jail.

Commissioners heard Monday that 1,098 inmates are currently being housed outside the Harris County Jail. They also discussed roughly $45 million needed to complete Level 7 of the jail, which could provide space for about 500 inmates.

Finding Savings:

County budget officials have identified $186 million in potential savings and additional revenue — $110 million through revenue opportunities and $76 million through cost-saving measures.

Those measures include operational savings, interest earnings and the sale of surplus county property.

But Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo warned that some of those solutions do not address what she described as a "structural deficit."

"So I think people need to know that the budget, as it's drawn up right now, has close to $200 million in a deficit," Hidalgo said. "And the way that that deficit is bridged, the proposal in which it's bridged is in large part with one-time expenses, for example, the sale of buildings are a big chunk of that."

Hidalgo said the problem is using money available only once to pay for expenses that continue year after year.

"You can't have a one-time line item in the revenue that pays for continual expenses," she said.

Could Property Taxes Go Up?:

The tax rate remains one of the biggest unanswered questions.

The county's presentation shows that under the no-new-revenue rate, projected general fund revenue would be about $2.878 billion compared with $3.096 billion in proposed spending — a difference of about $218 million.

Under the voter-approval rate scenario presented by the county, projected revenue would be enough to balance the proposed general fund budget.

Hidalgo did not commit Monday to a particular tax-rate option.

When asked about a possible higher rate, she said it "may be something to do in order to not cut services."

"That said, I don't think it's fair because we brought this upon ourselves," Hidalgo said. "If you decide to spend and spend and spend against the recommendations of the budget director and against the objections of some of your colleagues, eventually you have to figure out how to pay for things."

Cause Disagreements:

Commissioner Lesley Briones argued during Monday's discussion that Harris County is facing growing demand for services as its population increases, while also dealing with the loss of temporary federal funding and state limits on property-tax revenue growth.

Materials distributed by Briones' office identified $186.2 million through a combination of operational savings, revenue and fee adjustments, interest earnings, property sales, surplus revenue, departmental offsets and fund reallocations.

Commissioner Tom Ramsey, meanwhile, argued county leaders should take a harder look at how money has previously been spent.

Ramsey criticized the use of government funding to fill other budget needs rather than disaster-related expenses and said his precinct is still awaiting reimbursement for money it fronted for disaster response.

He also pushed back against characterizing law enforcement as a primary driver of the county's rising budget, pointing to what he said was a crime rate in unincorporated Harris County about 5% lower than in the City of Houston.

FOX 26 has not independently verified that crime-rate comparison.

Federal Funding Ezpires:

The county is also deciding what to do with programs previously supported by temporary federal American Rescue Plan Act funding.

The proposed FY27 budget would use county money to continue several of those services, including $11.8 million for food and nutrition assistance, $5.8 million for behavioral health, $4.2 million for maternal and child health services and $3.7 million for youth and women's services.

What's next:

Commissioners did not vote Monday on the proposed FY27 budget or a property-tax rate.

The one item commissioners approved before going into executive session was separate from the broader budget discussion.

Commissioners voted to terminate a $70,000 federally funded Community Development Block Grant agreement with Healthcare for the Homeless-Houston that was intended to provide comprehensive dental care for people experiencing homelessness.

According to county documents, Healthcare for the Homeless-Houston determined it could not implement the program because of staffing challenges and changing organizational priorities. The county says the $70,000 will be reallocated to another project.

That leaves the largest decisions still ahead for commissioners: how much to spend, what services to prioritize and how much property-tax revenue will be needed to pay for them.