Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo held a press conference Tuesday morning to address the county’s $220 million budget deficit and outline her commitment to protecting critical services for residents.
The event took place at 9 a.m. in the Commissioners Court Lobby at the Harris County Administration Building.
Hidalgo presented documents to the public and press to clarify the size of the deficit and explain the county’s proposed budget solutions.
“I’ve always been a straight shooter, particularly when it comes to the budget,” Hidalgo said. “Transparency is the best disinfectant, and facts are friendly. This shows exactly how we got here and why the deficit is $220 million.”
She criticized the approach taken by some commissioners, saying their proposed solutions rely on what she described as “doublespeak” and unsustainable one-time funding.
“Instead of calling it cuts, they are calling it efficiencies,” Hidalgo said. Sometimes they slip a little, like when one of the commissioners said a thoughtful hiring freeze and then went back to vacancy control. It’s window dressing. It’s putting lipstick on a pig."
Hidalgo warned that the deficit cannot be resolved without affecting services, pointing to potential impacts on emergency response, domestic violence programs, mental health care for foster youth, reentry programs, and homelessness prevention initiatives.
“A hiring freeze is a cut, and it’s not just a cut. It’ll affect quality of life. The hiring freeze would make county operations more inefficient. It’s a workforce wipeout,” she said.
The judge also addressed questions about a recent $22 million adjustment in the budget’s general administrative fund.
“It’s additional cuts to various countywide programs,” Hidalgo explained. “The question is, from which department and what does that department usually do with that money? Some of that money is normally used for trainings, trainings we still need.”
Hidalgo emphasized that a final vote on the budget is scheduled for the Sept. 9 Commissioners Court meeting.
“We have nine working days to decide—or for them to decide—what cuts they’re going to make. The community really needs to be paying attention because there are going to be cuts. We can’t just let folks get away with political CYA because they’re denying that there is a deficit,” she said.
Regarding the county’s tax rate, Hidalgo noted that state law limits how much revenue can be collected.
“We can only collect so much revenue because of a law that the state legislature passed in 2019. The only way out is either not [to] commit to money we don’t have or ask the taxpayers if they want additional expenses,” she said.
Hidalgo ended by urging her colleagues to provide clarity for residents.
“I would like to see them just show us exactly what the cuts are. And if they won’t, I will show them to you. At least the public deserves to be informed,” she said.
Before Hidalgo’s press conference, Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones addressed the media at 8:30 a.m. in Commissioners Court.
MORE: Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones, Judge Lina Hidalgo hold separate budget briefings
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