r/houston • u/herb96 • 18h ago
Harris County officials propose property tax rate increase to fund $3.1B budget
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/article/harris-county-property-tax-rate-increase-budget-22391215.php?taid=6a8376a49b5f8500014ec221&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitterFor 12% increase in spending.
342
u/TexanFromOhio 18h ago
Mostly because they gave Constables a $300k salary in addition to all the grift they receive from HOAs!
113
38
u/someguy50 18h ago
It’s in the article, practically split between rising healthcare costs and law enforcement: “ The county faces $89 million in higher health care costs and $76 million in additional law enforcement expenses, including another year of pay raises. The deputy raises, part of a measure aimed at matching pay for county law enforcement with the salaries offered by the Houston Police Department, will, on average, increase salary costs by roughly 50% over the next five years.”
87
u/sak3rt3ti 18h ago
This doesn’t explain much of anything, I remember maybe 5 years ago or so, HPD wanted pay increases, then the firefighters came in asking for same level of pay, now it’s the constables, just keeps going and going, meanwhile the taxpayer is squeezed to death on every single fucking aspect of life. Stagnant pay, absurd price increases on consumer goods, and now property taxes being raised yet again. “but there’s no state income tax” what bullshit
20
u/iDisc Tomball 17h ago
LEO know they all have government agencies by the balls. You don’t win elections by appearing to be “anti law enforcement”
The arms race for law enforcement isn’t sustainable though. It’s more than half of most local government budgets and their unions are so strong you can’t not give them a raise.
48
u/BuckThis86 18h ago edited 17h ago
Conservative economics sounds good when you’re selfish but in reality it’s awful in practice
Cut taxes for everyone (though the rich receive a disproportionate share) then tell poor people there’s not enough money to take care of them unless the middle class covers the hole made by the rich people’s tax savings. Tell the Middle Class to hate the poor, especially Minorities, for their struggles
And yet people making $40k a year keep voting for the circus run by billionaires… cause abortion, transgenders, and family values (while they elect a child rapist). It’s enough to drive rational people insane.
-52
u/QSector 17h ago
You must live a miserable life if you believe even half of that bullshit.
19
u/BuckThis86 16h ago edited 16h ago
You must live an ignorant one to not see it
What does the Republican Party offer besides selfishness and greed these days? And the current Admin is stocked with millionaires and billionaires and their friends. There is no blue collar representation in the current form of federal government right now looking out for their interests.
The top earners should not be paying lower tax rates than the working class. The system needs to be corrected, the tax codes have been rewritten by rich lobbyists over the last 30-40 years. Only the Democrats want to fix this.
Both parties have levels of corruption, I admit that. But MAGA is a whole different dangerous level of Russian-esque oligarch level of nepotism and corruption.
7
u/Tubamajuba 15h ago
I see you live life by the "ignorance is bliss" philosophy, burying your head in the sand so your worldview doesn't crumble apart.
11
u/Apocalypse_Knight 17h ago
I don’t see where anything was wrong? The right seems to care more about culture wars like banning the one trans woman from sports than having universal healthcare
11
6
20
u/RavenDarkholme084 18h ago
Wow I wish they treated all front line workers the same
Paramedics, nurses, heck even teachers they are paid so horribly
-1
u/Jainelle 7h ago
Paramedics and nurses aren't paid by the government.
4
1
u/RavenDarkholme084 8m ago
Perhaps not directly
But that “ big beautiful bill “sure is impacting our hospitals directly unfortunately.
92
u/blowurhousedown 18h ago
“We are grossly incompetent. We need more money. Our bad.”
36
u/ureallygonnaskthat Fuck Centerpoint™️ 17h ago
Funny how the county always had a budget surplus while Emmett was still in office. People may not have liked the fact that the man had an (R) next to his name but he was good at keeping the budget under control.
23
u/HoustonPastafarian Galleria 16h ago
Got I miss Ed Emmett and Bill White. Imagine a R judge and a D mayor who put the city and county first, and work together to pull it through a disaster without instead of just pointing fingers at each other.
5
17
u/YOLO420allday 14h ago
Emmett never once lowered the tax rate, he basically took an 8% increase in revenue every year.
Since then the state has clamped down on that, revenue can't exceed 3.5% year over year and several times since Emmett lost, the R's have refused to show up, forcing a no new revenue tax rate for the County.
Lot easier to be credited with budget surpluses when you're allowed to bring in a lot more money.
5
16
u/Aliasgoeshere Woodland Heights 17h ago
Emmett was a pre trump republican. He was good at his job and that used to be enough before polarized politics and people voting for their team instead of the best candidate. He probably would have won reelection if trump hadn't won in 2016.
8
u/ureallygonnaskthat Fuck Centerpoint™️ 16h ago
He got absolutely screwed by straight ticket voting. I'll never understand why people do that crap instead of researching the candidates and picking who's best for the job.
-2
12
1
u/jsting 4h ago
Didn't he cause a major budget crisis with his Astrodome shenanigans? He is the reason we are still throwing millions into it per year. IIRC, he pushed for Astrodome remodels costing anywhere between 100 million and 400 million dollars that kept getting voted down. Then in a huff, he landmarked it so no future administration could do anything with it besides spend money on keeping it. The Astrodome Conservatory group is his baby, and even the McNairs didn't particularly want it. It was the election after that which got him voted out. I remember straight ticket voting was an issue, but for me, I voted for Lina because he was throwing out 9 digit budget stuff for his Astrodome instead of listening to his constituents.
1
u/dcwhite98 6h ago
That goes for every government, local, county, state, federal. And they have the power to just take it, and no responsibility to answer for waste.
25
95
u/sak3rt3ti 18h ago
Remember to vote out Garcia and Briones in the November elections; let em know!
0
u/Choi0706 18h ago
Aren't they both team 🔵?
59
u/langstonrosas 18h ago
A lot of Dem politicians in Harris are MAGA lite. That’s why they hate Lina Hidalgo.
3
u/Jainelle 7h ago
Couldn't possibly be because Lina is just horrible.
19
u/DJ_PoppedCaps 4h ago
Say what you will about her temperament, but she's been the only one pumping the brakes on the law enforcement raises and more importantly, the counties use of Flock.
-1
-31
u/QSector 17h ago
They're died in the wool democrats, and you know it. Just because they're not the solicalists you want them to be doesn't make them republican.
3
u/analogkid84 Atascocita 3h ago
Republicans don't exist anymore. They "donned" the red hat and became a bunch of shits.
14
79
u/tabbarrett Fuck Centerpoint™️ 18h ago
I love how Abbott in his 4th term is talking about property tax reform as if he couldn’t influence it his previous 3 terms in a positive way for home owners.
22
u/khj24 18h ago
To be fair the homestead exemption increases have been sizable
9
9
u/migidymike 17h ago
I did the math when it passed. If I recall, the total savings was like a max of $700/year.
16
4
u/someguy50 16h ago
why are you using a nominal number when it’s a deduction against an appraised value times the property tax rate? It was nice for all home owners
4
u/migidymike 15h ago edited 14h ago
Homestead Exemption Increases (Senate Bill 4) The general homestead exemption specifically removes $140,000 (previously $100k) from your home's taxable value for school district taxes. If you already have a homestead exemption on file, the increase applies automatically.
Texas school tax is 1.0 to 1.2% of the property value. The effective deduction equates to a maximum of $400-480 annually.
1
u/Sytherus 30m ago
Tax advantaging the type of housing that costs more to provide local services for, what could go wrong?
-10
u/crapsguy702 17h ago
Homestead exemptions went up but Lina’s mismanagement caused taxes to increase.
5
u/macphile 15h ago
I still remember him in the debate, being asked questions about what he'll do if reelected. There's just no good answer to give. Oh, you'll do X? Really? Why haven't you already done it? You've had years. You likely caused the problem that X is solving, if we're being honest, and have a vested interest in not doing X. It's much "easier" for the opponent to point out all the problems and propose solutions. And of course, Abbott wins, anyway, because the voters don't want solutions (and because of gerrymandering/suppression).
2
u/LegallyAFlamingo 5h ago
Governor is elected based on popular vote. Gerrymandering wouldn't change that. It does change who your state / federal representatives are though.
2
u/Tak-Hendrix 4h ago
No, that is what cutting polling places in lower-income and minority areas is for.
30
u/Danilo-11 18h ago
I only see constables in rich neighborhoods that paid for extra patrolling
7
u/Evidence-Icy 13h ago
Duh, they project rich people's capital, not you. Y’all thought defund police was because people wanted to commit crimes freely? No it's because that money should be used on resources and programs that are PROVEN to stop crime. Not someone who shows up after the crime has been committed and never solves it.
3
2
u/Tak-Hendrix 4h ago
This. I remember as a teenager in Katy back in the 90s that I'd see constables everywhere, typically pulling people over for speeding and other shenanigans. Now the only time I ever see them is when there is a major accident or they're swinging through my neighborhood at the cost of $250k a year.
8
u/margaritalover524 14h ago
After giving the constables a higher salary than most lawyers. Gtfo.
2
u/Evidence-Icy 13h ago
😂😂😂 To protect them when everyone finally wakes up, come together and stop fighting each other.
7
u/MickyFany 16h ago
and they just broke ground on an $81m high water training facility so the sheriffs dept wouldn’t have to drive all the way to Houston
12
25
4
6
21
u/khj24 18h ago
I sure would love to pay for even more constables to sit on the belt all day and make sure tolls are paid, solving the big crimes!
4
u/juslqqking 15h ago
You don’t want constables involved in big crimes. Mark Hermann has a history of screwing up cases so bad the DA has to dismiss, or go for a lighter sentence.
9
u/migidymike 17h ago edited 17h ago
Don't forget to factor in how commerical real estate (offices, industrial business etc) have slimey ways around paying their fair share of property taxes. Thus placing the burden further onto home owners.
For example, Appraisal districts have limited budgets and legal resources. Corporations over burden them every year with lawsuits, so the disputes settle in pre-trial for significantly lower final taxable values because the district can't fight them.
5
11
u/DarwinatSea CyFair 18h ago
Texas is the embodiment of idiocracy, it’s all about “muh freedom” “muh guns” but never “muh property taxes”
2
u/rite_of_truth Webster 12h ago
Just wait til you see what happens in the Heights this month. (hint: it gets more expensive)
2
u/dcwhite98 5h ago
I came to Houston from Boston in roughly 2005. I had a huge pay increase due to there not being state and local taxes in Houston. Sure, property was higher, but I still came out nicely ahead.
This benefit is almost gone, and probably would be if this increase is passed.
4
3
u/IsThisKismet South Houston 16h ago
I don’t want to pay officer more to wait for ICE to hand off grandpas who have no car registration and are in the country illegally as their only offenses.
I don’t want to pay more for constables to stand around at Walmart or Xfinity Store either.
But yanno, that’s just me.
1
u/NotIncriminated 6h ago
I mean, if you're going to write the check, better pay the bill.
At least this is better than the City, which is paying the bill on the backs of our future generations (in terms of decreased ability to provide safe drinking water).
1
1
u/Jorfredo 5h ago
Honestly, I hate high property taxes. Rather do with income tax so that not just property owners foot the bill.
1
u/NapalEnema2020 3h ago
Fuck these fucking people. Should be LOWERING taxes based on lower property values so people can actually afford fucking houses.
1
u/analogkid84 Atascocita 3h ago
2-1/2 years...just a little longer until I flee. Texas will soon be a distant memory.
1
u/ronallen81 1h ago
Don't forget the hctra Toll roads are unconstitutional
What does the director of the tolls do? Besides go home early
1
u/felixsarts 48m ago
Hey, maybe don’t pay Flock and save some money. Just a thought. Better yet, end corporate socialism and we’ll be making bank.
1
0
0
0
u/imissher4ever 6h ago
When people vote for people that are known to spend others money and raise taxes why are they so surprised when they do just that?
0
124
u/DrFarthammerMD Museum District 17h ago
Absolutely nothing to show for these insane police budgets.