Harris County commissioners have more than 500 agenda items for the Aug. 7 court meeting. Topics being requested for discussion by commissioners include the county’s 2018 flood bond, the county's non-emergency 911 call response program, as well as third quarter budget projections.
Items worth mentioning
Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey is requesting an updated discussion on the 2018 flood bond program. In June, commissioners approved several motions for the Harris County Flood Control District to address regarding the voter-approved $2.8 billion initiative, such as creating a list of high-need projects to fund.
Ramsey cast the dissenting vote at the June court meeting, but voted in favor of the creation of a public dashboard so residents can view status updates for projects in their community.
The context
In 2018, Harris County voters approved $2.5 billion in bonds to finance flood damage reduction projects after Hurricane Harvey left widespread flooding, property damage and displacement along the Texas coast in August 2017.
The bond was designed to complete flood control and mitigation projects over approximately 10 years, HCFCD Executive Director Tina Petersen said, although the original timeline was shortened from 15 to 10 years.
Also on the agenda
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is requesting a discussion on the proposed fiscal year 2025-26 tax rate.
In August 2024, commissioners unanimously voted to move forward with a tax rate of $0.04897 per $100 of valuation, a nearly 58% increase from the fiscal year 2023-24 tax rate. No additional details were provided on the agenda.
Also of note
Harris County Public Health is looking to expand two programs by hiring staff for its community health and violence prevention service division.
One initiative, the non-emergency 911 call response program–also referred to as the Holistic Assistance Response Teams, or HART–was launched in 2022, and dispatches unarmed first responder teams trained in behavioral health and other non-emergency social medical assistance. The program first served communities in north Houston but is looking to expand throughout the county, according to officials.
HCPH officials said at the county’s 2025 violence prevention conference in July that since HART's launch, more than 4,500 non-violent 911 calls in Cypress Station were rerouted to HART responders, alleviating resources from the county sheriff’s office.
The second program, HCPH’s R.I.S.E., provides wraparound services to communities in need of violence prevention resources, including Cypress Station. Community outreach specialists, HCPH officials said, go out on a daily basis and engage with individuals who are at the highest risk of being perpetrators or victims of crime and help them if they need access to jobs and medical or mental health services.
What residents should know
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.
