Harris County commissioners voted 4-1 Thursday to raise the salaries of the county’s eight elected constables to $305,000. It is the fourth increase to constable pay in three years, more than doubling their compensation over that time span.
Constable pay has risen more than 129 percent since 2024.
The raises will not take effect automatically. They still require formal approval as part of the county’s budget process in September.
Democrat County Judge Lina Hidalgo cast the lone vote against the increase. Commissioner Rodney Ellis (D) initially opposed it as well but changed his vote after commissioners agreed to consider similar raises for other elected officials, including the district attorney and county attorney. None of the eight constables attended Thursday’s meeting.
The size of the constable offices varies widely. Precinct 4, the largest, employed roughly 750 people as of fiscal year 2025. Half of the eight precincts employ fewer than 200 staff. By comparison, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office oversees more than 5,000 employees across law enforcement, civilian, and jail operations.
Commissioner Tom Ramsey (R) said homeowners could see a significant property tax increase later this year as a result of the county’s spending decisions. Commissioners expect to receive a formal budget proposal later this month and vote on it by October.
Commissioner Adrian Garcia (D) said part of the motivation behind the raise traced back to a letter that State Rep. Sam Harless (R–Spring) sent the Texas attorney general roughly a year earlier, arguing that Harris County’s elected constables should be paid the same as the sheriff.
Harless had authored a bill, passed by the Legislature, requiring that pay increases to any Harris County law enforcement agency be distributed equally across other agencies. That law exempts department chiefs and defines “employee” in a way that legal observers say may not apply to elected officials. Harless withdrew his letter before the attorney general issued a ruling.
County Attorney Abbie Kamin told commissioners the raises were not necessarily mandated by state law, but were “recommended and agreed to.”
Commissioners also discussed a proposal that would let voters decide in November whether to raise property taxes to fund early childhood programs. Hidalgo said more than 30,000 Harris County families are currently on a waiting list for subsidized child care.
Under her proposal, a one-cent property tax increase would cost the average taxpayer about $26 a year and generate an estimated $66.6 million annually. Hidalgo framed the measure as putting the decision in voters’ hands rather than asking commissioners to approve a tax hike outright. A similar “penny tax” effort she pushed in 2025 failed to gain traction.
Thursday’s meeting comes as Harris County faces its fifth consecutive year of a projected budget shortfall heading into the next fiscal cycle. County budget officials have said the deficit could land anywhere from $129 million to $287 million depending on which property tax rate commissioners adopt this fall, and that the county has largely run out of easy fixes like leaving positions vacant.
Last year’s budget, approved in September 2025, closed a roughly $200 million gap in part by cutting other departments, including a 72 percent reduction to the sheriff’s office medical division, even as constable pay rose. That same budget cycle, county officials acknowledged that a $140 million pay increase for sheriff’s and constable’s deputies contributed directly to the shortfall.
