Harris County Commissioners voted 3-2 to approve 'pay parity' to all Harris County law enforcement. It's not yet known exactly how much the pay raises will be, but the point is to match the recent historic pay raise given to HPD officers. The decision came just hours after all 8 elected Constables gathered for a news conference calling for a fair increase.
Earlier in the day, the Democrats went against their own party, and against Judge Lina Hidalgo by voting 3-2 against, a $23,000 trip to Paris for her and her staff. Hidalgo then tried to get the Commissioners to approve paying for just 2 members of her staff. That also failed.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey voted no, along with Democrats Lesley Briones and Adrian Garcia, while Lina Hidalgo and Rodney Ellis both voted 'yes'.
Hidalgo then left the Commissioners Court meeting for a 'group therapy' session.
The other big news from the meeting today is that Harris County is facing a $270 million dollar budget deficit, and that means local Democrats are either going to have to cut back on spending, or raise taxes. We've seen that movie before.
Hidalgo then tried to blame the lone Republican, Tom Ramsey and his former colleague Jack Cagle. Why? Hidalgo believes that if they would have voted in favor of a tax increase in 2022, the county wouldn't be facing it's largest deficit since at least 2018.