Harris County is expected to vote on the $2.7 billion annual budget on Sept. 24 for the fiscal year 2026, spanning Oct. 1, 2025, to Sept. 30, 2026, with no tax hikes. The proposal was prepared by the Office of Management and Budget and reflects months of coordination between commissioners, department heads and county staff.
The budget discussion in Commissioners Court so far has transformed into a tense debate, with a walkout by County Judge Lina Hidalgo, dueling charts about cuts and a running argument over whether public safety pay raises should come before social programs. Commissioners, however, approved increasing the constables’ salaries to around $260k.
The budget episode unfolded during a marathon Sept. 9 meeting as officials tried to close a deficit projected between $200 million and $275 million for fiscal year 2026.
At the heart of the clash is how to balance the books without a broad tax hike, after commissioners earlier approved sweeping law-enforcement pay raises. Hidalgo and Commissioner Rodney Ellis have pushed to delay or phase in the raises. Ellis even proposed staggered increases: 75% this year, 25% next year, but that failed, 3–2 votes.
The previous meeting’s crescendo came when the judge, frustrated that colleagues would not agree to fund an early-childhood study and a juvenile probation initiative, handed the gavel to Ellis and walked out, saying, “Shame on you.”
What do the commissioners say?
Commissioner Lesley Briones told the Defender that Harris County is on track to pass a balanced budget with the deficit reduced to zero. She credited months of work across over 70 departments to identify strategic savings while preserving the county’s priorities.
“So what I would say is rest assured, we will protect, preserve and continue delivering core services. We have gotten thousands of data points from community members. What we have heard as the top priorities track these non-negotiables and statutory responsibilities, what the county government must provide to the people.”
Commissioner Lesley Briones
“So what I would say is rest assured, we will protect, preserve and continue delivering core services,” Briones said. “We have gotten thousands of data points from community members. What we have heard as the top priorities track these non-negotiables and statutory responsibilities, what the county government must provide to the people.”
Her proposals include:
- Expansion of the Holistic Assistance Response Team (HART) countywide
- A $20/hour minimum wage for county employees and $21.65/hour for contract workers
- Funds for a countywide pay equity study
- Continued investments in diversion and mental health programs through the District Attorney’s office
Briones also outlined several efficiency measures, while prioritizing non-negotiables like public safety, health, infrastructure and disaster preparedness:
- $30M in vacancy control and targeted hiring freezes (non-critical positions only)
- $9M from modernized purchasing practices
- $6M from fleet management
- $11M through centralized technology contracts
- $50M by better aligning special revenue funds (e.g., food permit fees funding inspections)
But Hidalgo argued Briones’ savings are theoretical, particularly for law enforcement raises.
“No resident is facing programs that are being cut,” Commissioner Adrian Garcia said. “The public will continue to see the same level of service.”
Ellis criticized the budget for failing to prioritize working families and cutting a wide range of public health, housing and social programs. This was despite the county already being underfunded and facing federal and state political pressures, which have impacted affordable housing initiatives, lead abatement and maternal/child health services, disaster response funding and expansion of the Holistic Assistance Response Teams (HART), among others.
“A budget is a moral document. Everyone deserves a life of dignity, and our budgets should reflect that,” he said.
What happened?
The county’s budget director told officials the deputy raise package added roughly $100 million to the hole, part of an estimated $200 million shortfall. Briones and Garcia countered that a hiring freeze, attrition and property sales could balance the budget with minimal impact to residents.
Hidalgo called one of Briones’ charts “fake,” warning that real pain would be felt in air testing, libraries and diversion programs.
Local media reported the budget director later identified a clerical error that reduced the net cost of the raises by about $101 million, helping close the shortfall through “strategic cuts and reallocations” while avoiding new taxes. Even so, officials and advocates are bracing for ripple effects in youth services, libraries and criminal-justice reform programs if proposed trims stick.
Garcia tweeted, however, “All essential services — libraries, pollution control, affordable housing, infrastructure, flood control will continue.”
What is at stake?
A breakdown shared by the judge’s office after the meeting pointed to department-level impacts: About $14.5 million less for engineering (affecting facility improvements), $1.6 million trimmed from pretrial services (electronic monitoring and case supervision) and $900,000 each from the Library and Juvenile Probation. More than 100 vacancies would go unfilled and a one-year hiring freeze would kick in. Briones insisted most residents will not notice the service cuts, while Hidalgo said “neighbors will.”
Meanwhile, in a parallel but related move, commissioners voted 3-2 to raise the overall countywide property tax rate by 2 cents per $100 of value, largely to shore up Harris Health after a big federal Medicaid cut and to service debt tied to voter-approved hospital upgrades.
For a $500,000 home, that’s roughly $100 more per year. Commissioners Tom Ramsey and Garcia dissented, but supporters argued that without the increase, costs would spill into pricier Emergency Room care and private insurance. The health-care vote does not change the county’s push to balance its general-fund budget without a broader tax hike.
Hidalgo has dubbed the majority that backs the raises, the bipartisan trio of Briones, Garcia and Ramsey, the “GOP three,” accusing them of pushing unaffordable pay bumps to appease voters worried about crime. Her motion to delay the raises failed 3-2.
