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    Hegar Letter

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    The Texan
    The Texas Comptroller received a complaint that Harris County reduced funding for Precinct 5 Constable's office in the FY2023 budget compared to the previous year. After reviewing budgets, the Comptroller confirmed Precinct 5's annual funding was reduced by $2.3 million without voter approval, as required by law. The county must now seek voter approval for the reduction or reverse it before adopting a tax rate above no-new-revenue levels.

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    Hegar Letter

    Uploaded by

    The Texan
    522 views3 pages
    The Texas Comptroller received a complaint that Harris County reduced funding for Precinct 5 Constable's office in the FY2023 budget compared to the previous year. After reviewing budgets, the Comptroller confirmed Precinct 5's annual funding was reduced by $2.3 million without voter approval, as required by law. The county must now seek voter approval for the reduction or reverse it before adopting a tax rate above no-new-revenue levels.

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    20230210 Hegar Letter

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    20230210 Hegar Letter

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    The Texas Comptroller received a complaint that Harris County reduced funding for Precinct 5 Constable's office in the FY2023 budget compared to the previous year. After reviewing budgets, the Comptroller confirmed Precinct 5's annual funding was reduced by $2.3 million without voter approval, as required by law. The county must now seek voter approval for the reduction or reverse it before adopting a tax rate above no-new-revenue levels.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    522 views3 pages

    Hegar Letter

    Uploaded by

    The Texan
    The Texas Comptroller received a complaint that Harris County reduced funding for Precinct 5 Constable's office in the FY2023 budget compared to the previous year. After reviewing budgets, the Comptroller confirmed Precinct 5's annual funding was reduced by $2.3 million without voter approval, as required by law. The county must now seek voter approval for the reduction or reverse it before adopting a tax rate above no-new-revenue levels.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    The document discusses a determination made by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts that Harris County implemented a reduction in funding for the Harris County Constable Office Precinct 5 without voter approval as required by state law.

    Constable Ted Heap of Harris County Constable Office Precinct 5 complained that the Harris County 2023 fiscal year adopted budget reduced the resources available to Precinct 5 by $2,367,444 compared to the previous year's annualized budget.

    The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts determined that Harris County implemented a proposed reduction described by Section 120.002(a) of the Local Government Code without the required voter approval.

    Glenn Hegar Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

    February 10, 2023

    The Honorable Greg Abbott, Governor


    The Honorable Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor
    The Honorable Dade Phelan, Speaker of the House
    The Honorable Lina Hidalgo, Harris County Judge
    Harris County Commissioners Court

    Re: Notice of Determination under Local Government Code, Section 120.007(a)

    Ladies and Gentlemen:

    On December 14, 2022, my office received a request from the Criminal Justice division of the
    Office of the Governor to investigate a complaint from Constable Ted Heap of Harris County
    Constable Office Precinct 5. The complaint is summarized below:

    The Harris County 2023 fiscal year adopted budget reduced the resources available to
    Precinct 5 by $2,367,444 compared to the previous year’s annualized budget.

    Local Government Code, Section 120.007(a) requires my office, on request by the Office of the
    Governor, to determine whether a county has implemented a proposed reduction or reallocation
    described by Local Government Code, Section 120.002(a) without the required voter approval.

    After careful review, we find that the complaint provides evidence of a reduction of funding for a
    law enforcement agency when comparing the adopted and implemented budget for the current
    fiscal year to the adopted budget for the preceding fiscal year.

    Harris County adopted a budget for a 7-month Short Fiscal Year from March 1, 2022, to
    September 30, 2022 (SFY 2022). Harris County also adopted and implemented a budget for a 12-
    month fiscal year beginning on October 1, 2022 (FY 2023). The complaint alleges that the FY
    2023 budget reduces the overall funding for Precinct 5 when compared to the SFY 2022 budget,
    when annualized on a month-to-month basis. We confirmed that annualized SFY 2022 adopted
    budget for Precinct 5 was $48,949,795, as compared to $46,582,350 for the FY 2023 adopted
    budget. The funding shortfall is $2,367,444.86 (see Appendix).

    It is not relevant whether the reduction in funding resulted from an intention by the
    Commissioners Court to reduce funding for law enforcement agencies or the result of a decision
    to adopt a short fiscal year budget. The result is the same; Harris County did not allocate the
    same or more financial resources to the Precinct 5 Constable Office in the FY 2023 budget when
    compared to the SFY 2022 budget.

    The county could implement this budget reduction if the county receives voter approval for the
    reduction at an election held for that purpose; however, the county has not sought voter approval
    as of the date of this determination.

    Comptroller.Texas.Gov 512-463-4000

    P.O. Box 13528 Toll Free: 1-800-531-5441, ext. 3-4000

    Austin, Texas 78711-3528 Fax: 512-305-9711


    February 10, 2023
    Page Two

    In compliance with Local Government Code Section 120.007(c), we have determined that Harris
    County implemented a proposed reduction described by Section 120.002(a) without the required
    voter approval.

    We acknowledge that Harris County has adopted the No-New-Revenue ad valorem tax rate for
    FY 2023. Harris County may not, however, adopt an ad valorem tax rate that exceeds the
    county’s No-New-Revenue tax rate until the earlier of either the date my office issues a written
    determination the county has reversed the funding reduction that is the subject of this
    determination or the date when the funding reduction has been approved in an election. Tex. Loc.
    Gov’t Code §§ 120.007(c)(1), 120.007(c)(2).

    Sincerely,

    Glenn Hegar

    Comptroller.Texas.Gov 512-463-4000

    P.O. Box 13528 Toll Free: 1-800-531-5441, ext. 3-4000

    Austin, Texas 78711-3528 Fax: 512-305-9711


    Appendix
    Comparison of Harris County Adopted Budget for Short Fiscal Year 2022 and Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2023

    Short Fiscal Year 2022 Fiscal Year 2023 Adopted Budget2


    Adopted Budget1

    SFY22 FY23 Difference


    Total SFY22 Budget, per Total FY23 Budget, per between SFY22 Difference Per
    Department
    Budget month Budget month and FY23, per Year
    month
    301-Constable, Pct 1 $27,687,202 $3,955,314.57 $45,364,315 $3,780,359.58 $ (174,954.99) $ (2,099,459.86)
    302-Constable, Pct 2 $7,203,497 $1,029,071.00 $11,757,948 $979,829.00 $ (49,242.00) $ (590,904.00)
    303-Constable, Pct 3 $12,215,262 $1,745,037.43 $19,919,058 $1,659,921.50 $ (85,115.93) $ (1,021,391.14)
    304-Constable, Pct 4 $38,725,117 $5,532,159.57 $63,147,400 $5,262,283.33 $ (269,876.24) $ (3,238,514.86)
    305-Constable, Pct 5 $28,554,047 $4,079,149.57 $46,582,350 $3,881,862.50 $ (197,287.07) $ (2,367,444.86)
    306-Constable, Pct 6 $6,998,207 $999,743.86 $11,414,038 $951,169.83 $ (48,574.02) $ (582,888.29)
    307-Constable, Pct 7 $9,582,988 $1,368,998.29 $15,647,290 $1,303,940.83 $ (65,057.45) $ (780,689.43)
    308-Constable, Pct 8 $6,157,362 $879,623.14 $10,039,046 $836,587.17 $ (43,035.98) $ (516,431.71)

    Sources:
    1. Harris County Short Fiscal Year 2022 Approved/Adopted Budget (Excel)
    2. Harris County Fiscal Year 2023 Adopted Budget (Excel)

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