Harris County budget: Engineering, pre-trial services, library among departments that could be impacted by cuts: Judge’s office

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Having settled on a budget, we’re getting a clearer look at how the cuts to make it balanced could impact different Harris County departments.

A day after commissioners worked on the budget for hours, Judge Lina Hidalgo’s office sent ABC13 a breakdown of department impacts they said were given to them by the budget office.

The judge’s office said nearly 50 departments will see cuts ranging from millions to thousands of dollars. The cuts, according to the judge’s office, were largely brought on by the decision by commissioners to increase deputy pay.

To increase pay, the budget director said it added an extra $100 million to the budget. Overall, commissioners were told they faced a $200 million deficit.

RELATED: Judge Lina Hidalgo says Harris County’s $200M deficit puts libraries, hurricane readiness at risk

Here are some of the department cuts shared by the judge’s office:

Engineering could lose $14.5 million, which could impact beautifying county facilities.

The judge’s office says pre-trial services could lose $1.6 million, which impacts electronic monitoring and case supervision. The library, the documents show, could lose $900,000, which could impact staff.

Another department, the judge’s office says, that could lose $900,000 is juvenile probation, which has programs to help young people stay out of trouble.

It’s not just services impacted. There could be fewer county workers.

More than 100 open positions won’t be filled, and there’s scheduled to be a year-long hiring freeze. This means if someone leaves the county, the position may not be replaced.

Hidalgo says neighbors will feel impacts; however, Commissioner Leslie Briones says most won’t.

“This budget preserves and protects core services,” Briones said. “There will be minimal impact to any forward-facing services that the county offers to the community. We have a zero deficit. We have a balanced budget, and we did it without having to go to the voters and ask them to raise their taxes.”

RELATED: Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and commissioners remain on opposite side of budget battle

“We didn’t need to be in this situation in the first place,” Hidalgo said. “You just simply don’t spend money. You don’t go on a shopping spree when you don’t know how you’re going to pay for it. This stuff is not a credit card. It’s not. We have to balance the budget every year.”

This isn’t a done deal. Commissioners will vote on the budget next week.

You won’t have to wait that long to hear commissioners explain how these cuts could impact you. This Saturday, Briones will join Tom Abrahams on This Week on Texas, which you can watch on ABC13’s 24/7 stream at 9:30 p.m.

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