Today, Republican Harris County Commissioners Ramsey and Cagle skipped Tuesday’s Commissioners Court meeting, preventing the Democratic majority from adopting a tax rate and budget that best serves Harris County. In response, Commissioner Ellis issued the following statement:

“Three of us showed up to Commissioners Court to do the job we were elected to do while my other two colleagues walked off the job today and betrayed the people of Harris County. The no-show Commissioners put politics ahead of the people to recklessly gamble with the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in Harris County for their own political payout.

By forcing the county to revert back to a budget that doesn’t meet our current needs and challenges, we can’t do what’s needed now to fully serve and protect Harris County families or plan for the future. This political stunt forces draconian cuts to essential services for public safety, elections, health care, flood protection, pollution control, and other services that Harris County communities deserve and rely on to stay safe and healthy.”

Background: County Commissioners walking off the job today prevents Harris County from adopting the best budget on the table and a tax rate that meets the current needs and population growth of Harris County. By forcing the county to adopt a No New Revenue tax rate and an inadequate budget, Harris County will have more people to serve each year with a shrinking budget. For decades, Harris County has underfunded essential services like flood control, public safety, health care, environmental protection, and infrastructure maintenance, especially in underserved neighborhoods that have been ignored and neglected.

Public Safety Impacts:

-Under the No New Revenue tax rate and inadequate budget, Harris County will not be able to make the proposed $100+ million in investments to provide already-approved raises for law enforcement, hire more investigators for violent crimes, and other critical safety investments:

*The Sheriff’s Office will have $44 million less for fighting crime and maintaining the jail

*The Constables’ budgets will go down by $8 million.

*The District Attorney will lose $5.4 million in proposed increases.

_The preferred budget that Commissioners Court was blocked from adopting would have continued its historic investments in justice and safety, with $1.4 billion—64% of the County General Fund spending— going toward Justice and Safety.

Flood Control Impacts:

-Under the No New Revenue tax rate and inadequate budget, Harris County will cut its maintenance and operations budget by $23 million and stop important projects.

-Prior to Harvey, deferring maintenance on flood control infrastructure was standard operating procedure and contributed to our region’s overall vulnerability to flooding. Forcing the county to once again defer routine maintenance will jeopardize the progress made since Harvey, increase vulnerability, and stall vital projects.

-Flood Control will have less ability to respond to urgent situations—like severe unforeseen erosion or slope failures. These emergencies jeopardize other public infrastructures such as outfalls, pipelines, or even bridges.

Health Care Impacts:

Under the No New Revenue tax rate and inadequate budget, Harris Health, which is the largest provider of indigent health care in the county, may have to cut services for more than 10,000 patients:

-1,500 people will not get inpatient behavioral healthcare.

-Almost 4,500 people will not get dialysis and colonoscopies and other screenings.

-2,700 people will not receive home health care and wound cleaning, and 646 patients will not get rehab, long-term care, or Hospice.

-Over 700 people will not be able to access inpatient care.

Over the past three years, the Hospital District tax rate has been cut twice — resulting in an annual net revenue reduction of close to $50 million. The No New Revenue rate will force an even deeper operating loss when Harris Health already faces a $45 million deficit.

Public Health Impacts:

-Under the No New Revenue tax rate and inadequate budget, Public Health will be forced to make cuts that will result in:

*Reducing immunizations, wellness exams, and disease screenings

*Serving fewer mothers and babies through WIC and home-visiting programs

*Reducing mobile health village programs in neighborhoods with limited healthcare access

*Less surveillance and testing of mosquito-borne diseases

*Jeopardizing the Holistic Assistance Response Team (HART) and Violence Prevention Program pilots.

*Since it launched in March, HART has already freed up law enforcement from responding to more than 500 calls—the equivalent of more than 16 full-time deputies.

*The Violence Prevention Program has intervened in at least three cases where a shooting was likely to occur, were it not for the outreach specialists.

Pollution Control Impacts:

1The No New Revenue tax rate and inadequate budget will cause Pollution Control to cut vital services that protect residents from dangerous chemicals. Pollution Control will be short of much-needed resources to:

*Conduct air quality monitoring in our region, which has

some of the most polluted air in the country and high rates

of childhood asthma.

*Prevent the expansion of concrete batch plants and

properly inspect existing concrete batch plants. The

Concrete Batch Plant Program started in 2020, this

program has inspected 371 facilities resulting in 294

violation notices. Of these, 89% came into compliance and

11% were subject to more aggressive enforcement. This

program provided the groundwork for the information that

set in motion the County litigation against TCEQ.

*Assist communities experiencing environmental

emergencies and injustices. Pollution Control is assisting

communities in the Fifth Ward that have been exposed to

creosote contamination from past industrial waste. Cancer

clusters have been detected in those neighborhoods; for

example, children in Fifth Ward are getting childhood

leukemia at 5 times the rate of children in other

neighborhoods.

Voting and Elections:

-The Elections Administrator will not be able to provide the same level of service in the May elections as proposed for November.

-Processing ballots will take longer, which means the County may not be able to report results within 24 hours, as required by the Secretary of State.

-Funding cuts to elections mean thousands of Harris County voters could be disenfranchised.