Texas officials accuse Harris County of slashing constables’ budgets — but they’re actually going up

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Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar threatened to dam Harris County from enacting its proposed $2.2 billion annual spending plan over accusations that officers within the state’s most populous county have reduce spending on its constables — regardless that these places of work would get massive boosts to their budgets.

Hegar claims the county has violated state legal guidelines handed final 12 months to cease cities and counties from chopping police spending within the wake of nationwide protests following George Floyd’s demise by the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

In a letter despatched Monday and first reported by The Houston Chronicle, Hegar accused Harris County officers of flouting a type of new state legal guidelines when it ended a coverage final 12 months that allowed county businesses to “roll over” unspent funds to the following 12 months’s price range — an uncommon budgeting methodology not seen in most Texas cities and counties or on the state degree.

That led two county constables to complain to Gov. Greg Abbott’s workplace that Harris County officers had reduce the constables’ budgets as a result of greater than $3 million wasn’t allowed to roll over to the following price range 12 months, in response to Hegar.

“I urge the Harris County Commissioners Court docket to overview its budgetary help for its Constables Workplace and restore funding misplaced as a result of choice to finish ‘rollover’ budgeting,” Hegar wrote to Harris County Choose Lina Hidalgo in addition to county commissioners.

Republicans used Hegar’s accusation as a chance to bash Hidalgo, the county’s Democratic chief govt who’s seen as a rising star within the get together, as she faces a grueling reelection battle in November.

“The damaging actions taken by Choose Lina Hidalgo and Harris County signify a brazen disregard for the protection and safety of the Texans they’re sworn to guard,” Abbott stated in a information launch.

Hidalgo fired again — accusing Hegar and Abbott of spreading “outright lies,” stating that the county has solely boosted legislation enforcement funding since she took workplace in 2018 and vowing to “battle this difficulty in court docket.”

“The reality is, earlier than I took workplace, Harris County was not far more than a rubber-stamp for Abbott and his far-right agenda, and so they resent the change,” Hidalgo stated in an announcement. “We’re about two months away from my re-election and so they’re throwing the whole lot — together with outright lies — on the wall to see what sticks.”

On this 12 months’s proposed price range, Harris County commissioners plan to spend virtually $232 million to fund the county’s eight constable places of work — an almost 10% improve from the earlier fiscal 12 months. The 2 constables who complained to Abbott’s workplace that they had been shedding funds — Mark Herman and Ted Heap — would obtain 12% and seven.7% price range will increase below the plan in comparison with final fiscal 12 months, respectively. In addition they obtained price range will increase the earlier 12 months — together with the opposite constables.

A spokesman for Heap stated the constable was “happy” with Hegar’s transfer. Herman didn’t instantly return a name requesting remark.

Within the wake of protests over Floyd’s demise two years in the past, Abbott and Republicans within the Texas Legislature handed legal guidelines aimed toward punishing officers within the metropolis’s Democrat-controlled city areas in the event that they reduce spending on their police departments.

It’s unclear how these legal guidelines apply in Harris County’s case. One of many legal guidelines handed in 2021 requires counties to ask voters to approve proposed cuts to public security budgets. If a county strikes forward with these cuts with out calling an election, they’re not allowed to extend their budgets.

However that legislation didn’t take impact till January 2022 — 10 months after Harris County modified its price range coverage to finish rollovers. A spokesperson for Hidalgo stated county departments had virtually a 12 months’s discover earlier than the coverage took impact — and will request to maintain their unspent funds, which some constables did. Unspent funds now movement into the nation’s basic fund.

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