Texas governor, comptroller backing off from investigating Harris Co. budget, commissioner says

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Comptroller Glenn Hegar are backing off from investigating Harris County over two constables’ claims of law enforcement defunding, a county commissioner said on Tuesday.

Adrian Garcia, who represents the county’s precinct 2, said Abbott and Hegar are walking back their public claims that the county’s proposed budget violates Senate Bill 23, which went into effect in January and punishes any government organization that reduces or defunds law enforcement by hamstringing its budget.

The commissioner added that both Abbott and Hegar, through their attorneys, are admitting the state has not determined the county’s budget for the next fiscal year reduces funds for law enforcement and is not investigating whether the county’s proposed budget reduces funding for law enforcement.

“The parties are expected to reach an agreement making clear that neither the Governor nor the Comptroller will be investigating nor making a determination of the County’s proposed budget under Senate Bill 23,” Garcia wrote in a news release.

“This latest admission by state officials proves Harris County has and continues to prioritize public safety spending to the highest degree. I’m glad that Gov. Abbott and Comptroller Hegar seemingly have come to their senses and recognize the same,” Garcia wrote, adding that this is also a win for local governments across the state of Texas “who know better than anyone in Austin does on how to govern to keep their counties safe.”

Eyewitness News reached out to Abbott and Hegar’s offices and is awaiting responses over Garcia’s announcement.

Harris County’s budget was in flux after constables Mark Herman and Ted Heap filed a complaint with the state about the county’s move to disallow the carryover of unused funds. Hegar issued a letter shortly after, effectively preventing the county from adopting its budget without making changes.

Since that point in late August, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo defended the budget and denied the claims.

“Our latest budget has $1.4 billion toward crime and for those who might say they would do more, that is 2/3 of the county budget going toward justice and going toward safety,” Hidalgo said on Aug. 24. “That is an increase over the last three and half years of $175 million when it comes to criminal justice and crime.”

The county provided numbers that show an increase in funding to both Herman and Heap’s departments in each of the last four years and shared with us that Harris County’s budget for all constables is more than four times as large as the constables for Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis, and El Paso counties combined.

What exactly do the constables claim?

This has to do with the concept of rollover funds. That policy, which was eliminated after the fiscal year 2021, said that any money leftover from a previous year’s budget would automatically roll over to the next fiscal year.

Numbers provided by the Harris County Office of County Administration show Herman’s office used $6 million in rollover funds in 2021.

If they have that much left at the end of this year, and it doesn’t automatically get added to the upcoming budget, the thought around defunding stems from that loss would negate the $4 million budget increase the agency is set to receive in 2023.

The Harris County Administrator said those agencies can still get that leftover money, which is why it isn’t defunding law enforcement