Investing in Harris County’s Future

19 Sep, 24

Dear Friends,

Today, Commissioners Court passed a budget to invest in Harris County’s future. Balancing competing priorities with limited resources is never easy. Nevertheless, it’s our job to pass a 2025 budget that reflects our shared values and invests in our priorities.

As we look to the future, the county must work to make up for decades of under-investment in essential services and critical infrastructure, which has left many of our communities underfunded and overburdened by growing inequality, mass incarceration, health disparities, climate change, disasters, and aging infrastructure.

This budget strives to meet the needs of our county while facing new challenges and demands from a growing population. Our job is made harder due to the state’s war on local government that is intentionally starving the county of the resources it needs to better serve and protect our communities. In 2019, the state shackled the county to an unfair revenue cap that by design makes it harder to keep pace with our growing population, deliver vital services, address past neglect, and plan for the future.

As a result, every year Commissioners Court has to make hard budget decisions with limited resources while working to ensure every community in Harris County is safe, healthy, and thriving and has access to the opportunities and resources they need and deserve.

This budget reflects that effort, and we made progress with investments that will help:

  • Expand programs like the Holistic Assistance Response Team and other services to improve the health, safety, and well-being of our communities;
  • Reduce health disparities related to maternal health and chronic diseases that rob people of their lives and good health every day;
  • Increase access to safe and affordable housing and help families stay in their homes;
  • Bridge the economic divide for people struggling to get by without a way to get ahead by creating good jobs, leveling the economic playing field, and expanding access to affordable quality childcare;
  • Fight the ongoing impacts of climate change and disasters with a focus on equity, resilience, and environmental justice;
  • Maintain and build 21st-century infrastructure—flood protection, safe streets, parks, and greenspace—that will enable people in every neighborhood to live and thrive in Harris County.

But there is still a distance to go. The progress today comes in the face of a hostile state government that micromanages local priorities while refusing to accept billions of dollars for health care or use historic budget surpluses to invest in Texas families here in Harris County and across the state. Without greater investments and sustainable resources each year, the county will not be able to meet our growing needs and tackle complex challenges.

I will continue to fight for greater investments in our communities and work with them to address the harms of neglect, right past wrongs, and make the investments needed to ensure every community is healthy, safe, and thriving.

Sincerely,

Rodney Ellis