Dissing the Deputies
We hope we’re not interrupting Lina Hidalgo’s latest meltdown, but we wanted to add our voice to the growing calls of pay raises for the front line law enforcement officers of Harris County.
Dissing the Deputies
“And as I said, I’m emotional because of the Pope,” Lina Hidalgo said.
We all know our Harris County judge, Lina Hidalgo, is kind of fragile, but now she’s having trouble focusing on your safety.
“I’m a little overwhelmed with what’s going on here,” Hidalgo said.
But why? It’s simple.
Harris County constables and sheriff’s deputies simply want to get paid just like Houston cops do.
“I’m sitting here saying, praise the Lord,” Commissioner Tom Ramsey said.
“If the Commissioners Court doesn’t want to pay them, the Houston Police Department will. We’ll take every single one of them,” said Doug Griffith, HPOU President.
“We’re trying to figure out how we’re going to not be in the red next year,” Hidalgo said.
The reason is because Harris County has a spending problem.
We’ve been exposing the waste for months, but public safety should be job one.
“We haven’t been receiving raises and we are now a training ground for other departments,” said Byron Garrett of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Harris County constable requests for pay hikes have gotten little attention over the years, but now the pay disparity between deputies and Houston cops simply can’t be ignored.
“And this is a huge step, huge step of showing the rank and file our appreciation for putting their lives on the line each and every day,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire made police officers in this city the best paid first year officers in the state, giving them a 36% pay raise over the next five years.
It starts with a 10% increase in July.
“It’s a real disparity when you have officers that are making $20,000 more starting pay, for the same exact job. And if Harris County wants to have professional, highly trained, competent police officers, they’ve got to raise the pay of our officers,” said Constable Alan Rosen.
Right now, deputies make, on average, $23,000 less per year than Houston police do. In July, that gap will grow to $32,000.
“There’s so many of us standing up here because we would like to have a decent salary,” Garrett said.
Wait a minute. Where’s Lina?
“Thank you, and I stepped out to watch the first words of the Pope. It’s very meaningful for me. I hope you understand,” Hidalgo said.
When Hidalgo finally started paying attention again, constables got excuses.
“Then the county is going to be really in the red, okay? That’s what it’s about,” Hidalgo said.
Didn’t they do it to themselves?
“I see you rolling your eyes back there,” Hidalgo added.
“I’m rolling my eyes, Lina, because I’ve seen the numbers. The property taxes you collect from us up 16% in the last five years,” Dolcefino told the camera.
That means you folks have $346 million more to spend than you did before Covid hit. An explosion in spending the county judge keeps defending.
“Because the population is growing and demands on the community are growing,” Hidalgo said.
“That doesn’t explain what’s happening. The population in Harris County is up only 3% from the 2020 census,” Dolcefino told the camera.
You know how much the spending has gone up? More than 50%, and Lina knows that.
“We are in this situation of having a deficit because some of us have been behaving as though there is some magic bucket of funds somewhere that we can give and give money while not bringing in enough revenue,” Hidalgo said.
As long as we’re talking about the magic bucket of money in Harris County, look what happened when Hidalgo tried to get commissioners to fund a $23,000 trip to Paris for her and four staff members.
“It’s an international trade mission. The travel was already included in my office approved fiscal year 2025 budget. In the past, these kinds of requests have been approved without issue,” Hidalgo said.
But, not this time.
“Okay, so I have a motion to second, all in favor? Any opposed? Okay. Motion fails,” said Hidalgo.
But Hidalgo wasn’t done. Apparently, she’s so paranoid, she thinks she needs to be protected while she’s in France.
“You know what? Let me make another motion here, because I’m really concerned about my security detail in a place that this body has already leaked to my conspiracy theorists,” Hidalgo said.
Hidalgo said she’d agree to cut the cost of the trip in half for just two staff to go with it, but that still failed.
“Three people voted against it, right? Okay,” Hidalgo added.
A trip to France wouldn’t bust the budget, but it’s kind of a symbol of what’s wrong in Harris County. Priorities.
Let’s take care of our front-line protectors first, shall we?
“We have over $500 million of discretionary spending in the county. Surely we can find the necessary $141 million to do pay parity,” Ramsey said.
Commissioner Tom Ramsey has created a list of county spending that’s not legally mandated, ripe for the chopping block.
“The county administrator’s office, that’s $25 million a year. So that’s a good place to start. Why don’t we start there?” Ramsey asked.
That county administrator’s office was started by Hidalgo in ‘21. In the same year, Commissioner Rodney Ellis got the county to create a DEI department that has simply failed to do its job.
“Would you please tell me about the Harris County Opportunity Fund?” Reporter Andrea Palacio asked.
“You can submit questions to my office,” DEEO Executive Director Estella Gonzalez answered.
Her budget has exploded more than 500% since 2021, from $1.5 million to nearly $9 million this year.
“Why did you pay Baker Ripley money to send people to programs they could get online for free?” Palacio asked.
Ramsey says even bigger chunks of discretionary spending can be found in the county engineering department, close to $100 million. General administration is at $63 million more.
We can also see the budgets of the county judge and every single commissioner. They’ve gone up 60% in the past three years.
But, Lina Hidalgo says we need even higher taxes.
“I had done the hard work of requesting that we raise the taxes to pay for these raises both in 2022 and in 2024,” Hidalgo said.
“Let’s suggest another way. Why don’t we blow away some of the bureaucracy?” Dolcefino asked the camera.
“The hard thing to do is do the hard work of going through the budget, going through it line item by line, item by line item, starting with the discretionary spending. And I think we’ll get there,” Ramsey said in a press conference.
Ramsey is eyeing budget cuts to take care of the deputies and he’s not alone.
“I do believe that we have money currently in the budget. We just need to be smart and redirect it to a package that would support these men and women,” Commissioner Adrian Garcia said.
“Harris County departments are supposedly being asked to cut 7% from their budget. I’ll believe it when I see it,” Dolcefino told the camera.
The pay unfairness is a problem now. Deputies are lining up to leave.
“I have had approximately 60 employees approached me and say they’re leaving, not just to HPD, but to DPS Baytown, anyone else that is paying more. These deputies have 15 to 20 years of experience. When they’re gone, we’re not getting that back,” said Sidney LaBove of the Harris County Deputies’ Organization.
“Our department is like a revolving door. Everything we are doing, we are training for another department,” said Deputy Lee Niño.
HPD needs more cops too. It’s understaffed by 1,200 officers, thus the raises.
Harris County is understaffed by 350 deputies. Why make a higher?
Our property taxes are apparently now training deputies who then leave for better pay once they graduate. Why don’t we listen to this guy, commissioners?
“Leadership means making hard choices and having a strong backbone. Don’t be the one who turns your back on law enforcement and public safety,” said Jose Lopez of the Harris County Deputies’ Organization.
When it came down to it, two of Harris County’s well-known politicians did turn their back on law enforcement.
Hidalgo and Ellis simply couldn’t accept possibly giving up pet projects and refuse to guarantee pay parity.
“A motion by Commissioner Ramsey. Second by Commissioner Briones. All in favor? Any opposed? I’m opposed,” said Hidalgo.
“But it wouldn’t be a meeting of commissioners court without a little freak out from our friend, Lina,” Dolcefino told the camera.
The meeting was apparently cutting into her mental health group time.
“If we kill an hour without anything productive, it really sets my schedule off. So, I would also like some consideration for my schedule,” Garcia said in a meeting.
“That is you joining the ranks of those who are trying to pick on me over mental health treatment,” Hidalgo said.
“No, please. We are not going to go there,” Garcia responded.
“I cannot make all of the Planning Commission meetings, so I have my proxy there and we are able to continue business,” Garcia said.
“I cannot send a proxy to my mental health treatment. Let’s just move on. People can see your behavior and I, frankly, think it is embarrassing, but that’s okay. Let’s move on,” Hidalgo responded.
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