Texas officials accuse Harris County of cutting constables’ budgets

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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 officials within the state’s most populous county have lower spending on its constables — though these places of work would get huge boosts to their budgets.

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

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

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

“I urge the Harris County Commissioners Court to review its budgetary support for its Constables Office and restore funding lost due to the decision to end ‘rollover’ budgeting,” Hegar wrote to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo in addition to county commissioners.

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

“The dangerous actions taken by Judge Lina Hidalgo and Harris County represent a brazen disregard for the safety and security of the Texans they are sworn to protect,” Abbott mentioned in a news launch.

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

“The truth is, before I took office, Harris County was not much more than a rubber-stamp for Abbott and his far-right agenda, and they resent the change,” Hidalgo mentioned in an announcement. “We’re about two months away from my re-election and they’re throwing everything — including outright lies — at the wall to see what sticks.”

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

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

In the wake of protests over Floyd’s loss of life two years in the past, Abbott and Republicans within the Texas Legislature handed legal guidelines geared toward punishing officials within the metropolis’s Democrat-controlled city areas in the event that they lower spending on their police departments.

It’s unclear how these legal guidelines apply in Harris County’s case. One of the 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.

But that regulation didn’t take impact till January 2022 — 10 months after Harris County modified its finances coverage to finish rollovers. A spokesperson for Hidalgo mentioned county departments had nearly 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 move into the nation’s common fund.

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