Harris Co. Constables face budget loss as commissioners reallocate some funds - What's Your Point?
Harris County Constables facing budget reallocations
Houston's Sunday morning political debate show! The WYP panel continues the conversation about last week's Harris County Commissioners Court session which went into the wee hours of the morning as Constables spoke up about budget cuts in their departments.
HOUSTON - Harris county constables are quietly furious.
After saving dollars in so-called "roll-over" accounts - a Democratic majority on Commissioners’ Court clawed back a portion of those surpluses into the general fund, which led some constables to report they would have to cut services and potentially layoff officers.
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Judge Lina Hidalgo says the roll-over funds will be spent elsewhere to improve public safety, " With crime going up we can't afford to have these savings account. We can't. We've got to spend the money on tackling the rise in violent crime."
Precinct 5 Constable Ted Heap said, "The reality to me is I had 52 million dollars last year at this time, and at this time, this year I have 44 million dollars. And my numbers are; if you take my labor cost, my non-labor costs I have a deficit of $2.48 million. Which correlates into about 22 positions of officers."
While Judge Hidalgo calls it budget discipline, critics are calling it "defunding police".
Host Greg Groogan asks the panel: "What's your take on what's going down, is this just shifting surplus funds into the immediate fight against crime?