Harris County commissioners voted 3-2 Tuesday to adopt the highest county property tax rate in modern history in a bid to bridge a more-than $180 million projected budget deficit.
Residents will pay 67 cents for every $100 in taxable property value, more than prior rates approved by Commissioners Court each year since at least the mid-1980's. The deficit is the fourth consecutive shortfall county budget officials have projected since 2023, and is driven largely by law enforcement raises, rising healthcare costs and fees paid to attorneys appointed to represent defendants who cannot afford a lawyer.
Highest tax rate in 20 years? Harris County commissioners have some explaining to do.
The increase will cost the average homeowner $198 more this year, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
Judge Lina Hidalgo, a Democrat, voted against the increase alongside Republican Commissioner Tom Ramsey. Ramsey proposed leaving the rate unchanged.
"We have been irresponsible with our spending," Hidalgo said. "But the programs that I've been proud to support over my seven and a half years in office, I have never, never funded a program when I knew there was no money for it. I think that's what's truly fiscally responsible."
The rate will generate a projected $15 million surplus, which the county plans to use for programs previously funded using one-time revenue sources, such as federal grants. That money has yet to be allocated - commissioners are expected to earmark it for specific programs at a meeting Sept. 17.
Commissioner Adrian Garcia, a Democrat, proposed a slightly lower rate that would have used the surplus to buy down debt. Garcia said his proposal would cost the average homeowner roughly $24 less than the rate that was ultimately adopted, but commissioners rejected the motion. Garcia reluctantly voted for the 67-cent rate.
Garcia said in a statement he was disappointed by the court's decision not to support his proposal and said he felt forced to support the hike to not "shut down essential services."
"I would have loved to be proposing a major property tax cut but thanks to President (Donald) Trump and Gov. (Greg) Abbott we have yet again incurred costs that the federal and state governments should be paying," Garcia said.
Commissioners have authority over four distinct taxing entities: The county itself - which accounts for a majority of the combined rate - Harris Health, the Port of Houston and the Harris County Flood Control District. The county accounts for a little over 60% of the proposed increase, with Harris Health responsible for a majority of the remainder.
At least some of the proposed increases stem from voter-approved bond initiatives for county projects, such as the $2.5 billion flood bond passed in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and another $2.5 billion bond approved by voters in 2023 to fund a new hospital for Harris Health, according to budget documents.
Commissioners also voted to sell several underutilized commercial properties in the hopes of freeing up more cash.
Among the largest drivers of the county's budget woes is a decision commissioners made in May 2025 to match county law enforcement salaries to those offered by the Houston Police Department, whose officers had recently received a huge pay hike.
The deputy raises account for roughly $191 million in additional spending in the coming fiscal year compared to before the raises were adopted, according to budget documents. Deputies will get additional raises through fiscal year 2030.
That expense is compounded by commissioners' decision not to pass the full cost of the raises on to the neighborhoods and businesses that pay for some 1,200 additional law enforcement personnel through the county's contract patrol program.
The contract patrol program lets organizations pay a portion - usually 70% - of a deputy's salary in exchange for that deputy spending an equivalent amount of time patrolling only the contracted area – often, wealthy neighborhoods or commercial areas. Most contract deputies work for the county's eight constables, and some for the sheriff.
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The program has always enjoyed some level of subsidy - typically 30%. Officials previously said that figure matches the time deputies spend patrolling outside their contract areas.
But taxpayers paid $76 million this budget year to subsidize the cost of all contract deputies. That's nearly 50% of the total cost of the program, and more than double the share previously covered by county taxpayers.
Officials said the gap between deputies' actual salaries and the amount charged to customers was intended to prevent mass cancellations.
"The county is trying to strike a balance to recover the costs from customers while also ensuring that the price increase in one year is not so high that customers cancel because they can't absorb the increase," said Bhumit Shah, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Commissioners instead voted to build the raises into the contract program using a "phased approach," and expect deputies' contract and salary costs to align by fiscal year 2030.
Counties and cities across the state are grappling with the rising cost of healthcare.
San Antonio is $40 million over its healthcare budget, and Dallas City Council voted in August to cut benefits amid rising drug prices.
It's a national trend that's become especially pressing for Harris County, which offers a generous benefits package to its more-than 20,000 employees.
Unlike other major Texas jurisdictions, Harris County employees on the basic health plan do not pay premiums and have annual deductibles of just $600.
Commissioners' decision not to pass rising healthcare costs on to their workers has left the county's healthcare fund with a deficit for three of the past four fiscal years. Officials have used a combined $102 million in reserve funding to bridge the gaps.
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County healthcare expenses are expected to top $577 million this year - a 33% increase over four years. That cost primarily has been carried by taxpayers.
The county's cost of providing lawyers for defendants who cannot afford their own counsel – a constitutional right – also have doubled in the last five years, to $126 million in the current fiscal year.
Budget officials expect a modest drop in these indigent defense costs next fiscal year, but their estimates have consistently been too optimistic.
Costs for private attorneys have ballooned since a 2023 fee change, which let attorneys bill not only for the time they spend arguing the case before a judge but for their work on cases outside of the courthouse.
The intent was to incentivize attorneys to work on poor defendants' cases outside of their court appearances - unlike in many other counties, where attorneys typically are paid a flat fee per case. But the change has led costs to rise each year since it was approved.
Commissioners have expanded the Public Defender's Office with the goal of assuming half of all indigent cases, as government attorneys are typically far cheaper. The office's proposed $86 million budget for the coming budget year is more than twice what it was just three years ago. But the county has yet to see major savings.
Now entering the fourth year of what was intended to be a three-year plan, the office is still representing less than a quarter of all indigent defendants – partly because judges often choose to assign private attorneys rather than public defenders.
But Allison Mathis, an attorney appointed to represent dozens of indigent defendants each year, said judges typically opt to appoint attorneys whom they view as more experienced, whereas many public defenders are early in their careers.
"There are plenty of reasons to encourage a robust public defender's office, but it cannot happen as fast as they want it to happen. It just can't," Mathis said.
Commissioners have until Oct. 1 to finalize the budget.
Now that the court has set the tax rate, commissioners will rely on those revenue projections to finalize cuts for the coming fiscal year at a meeting scheduled for Sept. 17.
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This article originally published at Divided Harris County Commissioners Court approves highest property tax rate in modern history.