Where’s Our Money?
The Harris County Attorney Christian Menafee is pulling out all the stops to try and stop us from exposing wasteful spending…..Mattress Mack has asked to find out where our money has been going to help get deputies the pay raise they so desperately deserve.
Where’s Our Money?
“We’re trying to figure out how we’re going to not be in the red next year,” Lina Hidalgo said.
Wait a minute.
We just raised taxes, yet Lina Hidalgo is crying, ‘we’re so poor’ when it comes to giving constables pay raises.
Now Harris County is getting a rare second chance to allocate nearly $20 million, and it appears they’ve already squandered more than a million of the money they got in the first place.
With a budget deficit staring us in the face, and a critical need for a pay raise for our deputies, Dolcefino calls them out again.
“County leaders waving the white flag today on a program that would have given families a guaranteed income before it could even begin,” News anchor said.
Harris County’s universal basic income program is now officially dead.
It was going to cost us all $20 million to give away 500 bucks a month to about 1,500 low-income residents for just 18 months.
Using money from a pandemic that ended three years ago…
State lawmakers and the Texas Attorney General’s office thought it was unconstitutional in the first place. Called it “lottery socialism.”
And thankfully, there were never any payouts.
“I can’t say how I felt because I never got the money, but I got to continue. I work with other organizations,” Robert Holley said.
“GiveDirectly connects you to the poor using mobile payments technology so that you can, well, give directly to them,” said GiveDirectly ad.
GiveDirectly is a New York non-profit, and our Harris County government hired them to administer the Uplift program.
Seventeen months ago, we sent them $5 million to just… hand out.
The company has already been paid $845,000 in administrative fees — even though they didn’t hand out a penny. The last payment was as recent as May 27th of this year.
Even Commissioner Ellis knows canceling the contract is the right thing to do.
“We’re spending 15 to 20 thousand dollars a month with that administrator to administer a program they can’t do,” Rodney Ellis said.
The county already wasted $786 thousand in fees after the state of Texas first challenged the program’s constitutionality back in April of 2024.
Had the program been put on hold then, pending the challenge, the county — I mean, taxpayers — would have saved all that money, plus another $350 thousand we paid to a company called ‘Elite Research’ for a program that’s now not going to happen.
“More than a million dollars was spent even when Harris County knew that Uplift might never get off the ground,” Wayne Dolcefino told the camera.
Harris County wasn’t the only place where the government decided to give our tax money to folks just ’cause.
“Bringing back a guaranteed income program to give 100 families an extra financial boost every month,” News anchor said.
Austin hopes to renew a universal basic income despite the state challenge.
San Antonio’s UBI ended in 2023.
And El Paso County has put their program on hold, awaiting the outcome of the state’s lawsuit against Harris County.
“So next time you want to help… don’t give to charity,” said GiveDirectly ad.
For weeks, Harris County auditor’s office has been questioning where the five million bucks is.
“Thank you for calling GiveDirectly,” said GiveDirectly phone system.
“I’m trying to talk to somebody about the $5 million that Harris County gave to GiveDirectly to disperse in its guaranteed income program,” Andrea Palacio said.
We didn’t get a return phone call.
But the money suddenly appeared back in the county bank account.
“Why didn’t taxpayers get the benefit of all the interest that was earned on that $5 million?” Dolcefino told the camera.
The county always knew the guaranteed income program was going to be fought in court.
The Attorney General first took legal action against Harris County in April of last year — fifteen months ago.
“But Harris County doubled down on giving away the money,” Dolcefino told the camera.
Despite opposition from Commissioner Tom Ramsey.
“I agree that it may be time to end that,” Tom Ramsey said.
Uplift was to pay out $17 million to Harris County recipients. There’s still no final ruling from the Texas Supreme Court, but Harris County is now out of time to spend the money because of the deadline to spend COVID relief dollars.
“But since the county never gave away any money to those 1,500 folks, there should be almost $20 million to spend in other ways, right?” Dolcefino told the camera.
“I would like to see those dollars, which I think is 14 million,” Tom Ramsey said.
“14 million bucks? What about 17 million? Or 20 million?” Dolcefino told the camera.
“Anything related to help reduce the deficit,” Tom Ramsey said.
The auditor’s office believes all 17 million — and perhaps a little more in unspent money — will be freed up once the numbers all settle out.
But it appears the county is not planning to spend the money for deficit reduction or increasing deputy pay.
“And that would be my motion,” Tom Ramsey said.
“Is that seconded?” Rodney Ellis asked.
(Crickets sound)
“Okay,” Ellis said.
Instead of using the money to help lower the deficit or pay the deputies, the county plans to divert what was the Uplift money to more social programs: rental assistance, homelessness, and food nutrition.
“The least we ought to do is go back and spend this money that was for those ten poor zip codes in areas that will help poor people throughout the county,” Rodney Ellis said.
The pay gap between constables and Houston Police is now soaring, averaging $32,000 a year.
Reallocating 14 million to go toward the deficit could give 437 deputies a raise.
With 17 million, 531 deputies could get a raise.
“It’s long past time that someone called out Harris County for the bad choices they are making on spending money. Whether they like it or not, we’re here to help,” Dolcefino told the camera.
Keep up with us on social media:
