Harris County’s Workplace of Administration and Finances has launched its proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Proponents are hoping to make up misplaced floor from final 12 months, after a battle that compelled the county again on an austerity finances with no-new-revenue tax charges.
The county’s Fiscal 12 months 2024 proposal for the Common Fund is available in at $2.395 billion. By comparability, Finances Director Daniel Ramos mentioned, “Our general finances’s going to be about $267 million greater than what ended up getting adopted (final 12 months).”
A lot of the rise incorporates additional appropriations the county has made for the Harris County Jail and Harris County District Lawyer’s Workplace since final fall.
“The county’s consuming loads of prices that we had deliberate for, had put within the Fiscal 12 months ‘23 finances, and are having to construct these again in into the Fiscal 12 months ’24,” Ramos mentioned.
Final 12 months, Republican County Commissioners Jack Cagle and Tom Ramsey boycotted Commissioners Courtroom conferences for practically two months, denying Democratic members the required quorum to cross their desired tax charges. Cagle subsequently misplaced his reelection bid, giving Democrats a supermajority on the court docket and making a repeat of final 12 months’s finances battle unlikely.
One of many triggers for the battle was Cagle and Ramsey’s allegation that Democratic members had lower funding for legislation enforcement. Practically two-thirds of the proposed FY ‘24 finances, $1.518 billion, would go in direction of justice and security.
The finances can even embrace about $57 million to pay for value of dwelling will increase for county staff. He says county wages have fallen relative to neighboring jurisdictions in recent times.
“In that three-and-a-half fiscal years,” Ramos mentioned, “civilian staff’ salaries solely went up 2.2%, the place there are jurisdictions that gave 5% in a single 12 months throughout that point interval.”
Ramos will current the finances proposal to Harris County commissioners on August 22 for dialogue, and the commissioners are anticipated to vote on the finances on September 19. FY ’24 begins October 1 and runs via September 30, 2024.
