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Harris County, TX, July 14, 2026, During Harris County’s second day of budget hearings for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) on Tuesday, multiple Harris County department heads called for more investment to meet the level of service that Harris County residents expect. Department heads warned that more cuts – on top of cuts already made in FY26 – could hurt critical public health and safety services in the community.

Harris County is currently facing a $129 million deficit for FY27. The Harris County Office of Management & Budget (OMB) asked each department to provide 8% worth of options for cuts to close the deficit. While final budget decisions won’t be made until September, departments are already sounding the alarm that they need more funding in order to adequately serve the public and keep pace with demand on everything from air monitoring to criminal justice services.

Harris County Pollution Control Services (PCS) Interim Director Jesse Dickerman highlighted that while Commissioners Court has made significant investments in air monitoring equipment since the ITC fire in 2019, staff growth and retention have not grown at the same pace: “We’ve seen a full staff turnover in five years. We have more equipment today than we have people who can use it. That’s unacceptable. Commissioners Court has made significant investments in air monitoring equipment and we have to be able to make the best of it. We will operate with whatever resources that we’re given, but it will be hard for us to stabilize and grow with these proposed offsets,” said Director Dickerman during Tuesday’s budget hearings.

“We are having a very difficult time retaining staff at the Joint Processing Center. When we can’t staff the jail, it has a ripple effect throughout the justice system…Pretrial Services is one of many cogs in the justice system, but if it’s not functioning at its full capacity, then we will resort back to where we were a few years ago with delays in service and delays in supervision notification,” said Harris County Pretrial Services Director Natalie Michailides during Tuesday’s budget hearings.

District Clerk Marilyn Burgess asked for additional positions to staff the five new district civil courts mandated by the state legislature in 2025: “Without targeted staffing and support, the added courts will not have what they need to be fully functioning. This isnot about comfort or convenience. It’s about whether we can deliver what the legislature and the public expect. When we are understaffed, the impact is felt by judges, attorneys, victims, defendants and residents in each of your precincts,” Clerk Burgess said during Tuesday’s budget hearings.

“The majority of cuts will have to come from services we provide to young people and families in the community – mental health services, education advocacy, treatment, counseling. That would severely impact our young people in our department. Without services to prevent future crime for kids receiving those services, the chances are you'll see an increase in recidivism,” said Henry Gonzalez, Harris County Juvenile Probation Department Executive Director, during Tuesday’s budget hearings.

“Each [Public Health] function is underfunded relative to comparable jurisdictions. We’re spaying and neutering about 6,000 animals per year. San Antonio will spay/neuter almost 40,000 animals per year. On mosquito surveillance, we can get to the whole county every other week. The best practice is to do it every week. There is potentially a delay in detection of disease, and we need to increase our level to get up to best practices,” said Leah Barton, Harris County Public Health Executive Director, during Tuesday’s budget hearings.

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