Harris County approves budgets with modest increases in law enforcement spending

The Democratic majority on Harris County Commissioners Court passed new budgets Tuesday that included modest increases for county departments, not the drastic cuts Republicans sought to shift spending toward law enforcement. County Judge Lina Hidalgo framed the approved spending plans as a responsible use of limited funds caused in part by Republicans forcing tax rate cuts the past three years. The two Republican commissioners, Jack Cagle and Tom Ramsey, accused the three Democrats of failing to address rising violent crime in the county by not giving the sheriff, district attorney and constables the funding they asked for in their budget requests. “When we had 600 murders last year, our top priorities are crime, crime and crime,” Ramsey said. “If we lose focus on that… we’re not going to do better.”

Houston police logged 469 homicides in 2021, while the unincorporated county recorded 125. Overall violent crime in Houston was down slightly from the year before. The county passed two budgets, for $1.3 billion and $2.2 billion, because it is switching to a new fiscal year calendar beginning in October instead of March. They include a 2 percent raise for all 17,000 county employees; an amendment Tuesday added an additional 3 percent raise for rank-and-file constable and sheriff’s office deputies, aimed at improving retention. The approved budget for the next full fiscal year represents an increase of 2.5 percent over current spending. The Cagle and Ramsey proposals would have eliminated roughly 1,000 county jobs in non-law enforcement positions to fund an equal number of police, prosecutors, investigators and their support staff, according to a budget office analysis.