Harris County’s prolonged political battle over the budget came to an end today. For over a month, the two GOP members of Commissioners Court have broken quorum, skipping meetings to prevent Democrats from passing their proposed tax rate and budget for fiscal year 2023.
They skipped again Tuesday, despite multiple major items on the budget that impacted millions in funding for law enforcement, flood control and the Harris Health System. Here’s a play-by-play of how it all went down, from the Houston Chronicle’s government reporter Jen Rice.
You can read the rest, but it’s more of what we’ve seen before. If you don’t like the cuts to the Sheriff, the DA, and the constables that will now happen, take your complaints to Commissioners Cagle and Ramsey. They’re the ones that made this happen.
UPDATE: Chron editorial: Harris County Republicans just defunded the police.
I’ll be expressing my complaint to Cagle at the ballot box later today.
Cagle’s latest ad is particularly rich when he vows to “reform the property tax system.” If he really wanted to do that, he’d be running for an office that actually has a hand in such things, like the Lege or Senate.
I saw a Cagle ad where he was going to put a stop to violent offenders being given jail. I had not realized that a County Commissioner had that sort of power(/sarcasm)
Obviously I meant bail, not jail.
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