Harris County commissioners will meet Oct. 16 with more than 500 agenda items on the docket, including potential discussions on the countywide hiring freeze, the broadband task force and regulations on panhandling and roadside vending in unincorporated Harris County.
What you need to know
In the first meeting since Harris County commissioners adopted the $2.7 billion fiscal year 2025-26 budget Sept. 26, county administration officials will request to discuss hiring freeze exemptions.
Early in the budget process, county officials projected a $200 million-plus shortfall in FY 2025-26. In the eight months leading up to the September budget adoption, commissioners and department leaders weighed how to offset at least $102 million in cuts and other savings.
What resulted was the decision to implement a yearlong hiring freeze to save at least $25 million, and for the department leaders to identify at least 10% in cost savings within their current level of services.
Also on the agenda
Updates with the county’s broadband task force are also slated for discussion Oct. 16. Commissioners adopted the creation of the task force in late June to target internet access inequity throughout the county.
Universal Services, Harris County's information technology department, is spearheading the initiative and developing the broadband task force with county department representation and other partners, including:
- Communities with the lowest level of internet connectivity at the time of the motion
- Internet providers
- School districts throughout the county
- Nonprofits addressing the digital divide
- Workforce organizations
Also of note
Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey has an agenda item to create regulations on panhandling and roadside vending in unincorporated Harris County. Commissioners Court previously addressed changes to panhandling dating back to 2014.
The 2014 report proposed changes to solicitation in unincorporated Harris County and called for stopping all solicitation in lanes of traffic, citing safety issues as the main concern.
Ramsey’s discussion item comes as House Bill 2012, which was passed during the last state legislative session and allows counties to enforce regulations against roadside vendors, becomes law.
State Reps. Cecil Bell Jr., R-Magnolia, and Janis Holt, R-Liberty, authored the bill, which allows counties with a population greater than 600,000 people to issue regulations against roadside vendors if it is adjacent to a county with a population of more than 4 million people, such as Harris County.
Going forward
Harris County Commissioners Court meetings are held at 10 a.m. in Downtown Houston, 1001 Preston St., Houston. Meetings are also available to livestream here.
Jessica Shorten contributed to this report.
