Primary Department: County Judge
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Lina Hidalgo
Secondary Department: N/A
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official: N/A
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Supplemental RCA
Type of Request: Discussion Item
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A - Not a grant item
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the County Judge for discussion and possible action for a proposed 2026 tax rate for Harris County. Potential action may include directing relevant departments to post notices of a hearing for a tax rate adoption that is above the Voter Approval Rate.
end
Background and Discussion:
Commissioners Court normally proposes tax rates for all entities it sets the tax rate for at the same time. To propose any 2026 tax rates above the Voter Approval Rate (VAR), the discussion of tax rates must be expedited to meet statutory timelines for proposing tax rates, holding a public hearing, adopting tax rates, and calling a Voter Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE) for the purpose of maintaining a portion of critical Harris County early childhood programming. Should voters not approve an adopted tax rate at the election, the 2026 tax rate would revert to the VAR. Per the Texas Tax Code, any VATRE must be held on the November uniform election date, which is November 3 this year.
Should Commissioners Court desire to propose a tax rate above the VAR, Court would propose tax rates at the August 6 meeting, and a Public Hearing should be properly called and noticed so that it can be held at the August 17, 2026 meeting of Commissioners Court, after which the Court can adopt the proposed tax rates and call for...
Click here for full text