HOUSTON – Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee announced Thursday that the county is set to file a lawsuit against Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar over “defunding the police” allegations, according to a release.
On Friday, Hegar’s recent allegations accused Harris County’s method of annualizing its short fiscal year 2022 budget would defund the Precinct 5 Constable’s Office under state law.
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“Once again, Comptroller Hegar has abused his authority. His math is wrong. His application of state law is wrong. There’s no explanation for it—he’s just flat wrong,” Menefee said. “If Hegar’s goal was to make headlines while insulting the basic intelligence of Harris County residents, I guess he achieved that. But we don’t plan to let him abuse his power. We’ll see him in court.”
According to the release, officials said the accusations could possibly block commissioners court from adopting a property tax rate higher than the no-new-revenue rate. The lawsuit will ask the courts to block Hegar from using his approach against the county.
According to the release, Hegar has made similar accusations last fall.
In the fall, the county filed a lawsuit and stated that Hegar’s lawyers entered into a court-approved agreement walking back his claims, making clear that none of the “actions taken or statements made” by his office amounted to a determination that Harris County’s proposed budget violated the law, according to the release.
Hegar’s office released the following statement in response to Harris County’s lawsuit:
Harris County has always had the opportunity to resolve this by communicating with my office and with the constables who have remained at the negotiating table. Law enforcement has been consistently available and open to finding a local solution that is mutually acceptable to all parties. Instead, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and the Harris County commissioners would prefer to waste taxpayer resources with more frivolous legal action.
Taxpayers already paid for a lawsuit in fall 2022 that changed absolutely nothing because the outcome simply restated the Comptroller’s position: Harris County can resolve this by fully funding the constables’ office or getting voter permission to defund law enforcement. Unfortunately, Judge Hidalgo’s actions only served to poison previously fruitful negotiations with the Harris County constables.
Harris County law enforcement deserves a county judge and commissioner’s court that support their efforts to keep county residents, businesses and communities safe. Instead, Judge Hidalgo is wasting taxpayer dollars in her crusade to defund the police, satisfy her liberal donors in New York and San Francisco and further her own political career.
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