Lesley Briones, Adrian Garcia, and Tom Ramsey, the three MAGAs in the commissioners’ court, admit they were wrong. They blame the “Clerk.”
Of course, they won’t admit it by apologizing to Judge Hidalgo. Still, County Judge Hidalgo was right about the budget deficit that their little parlor tricks wouldn’t balance the budget. So they quietly lowered the pay raise of the constables by $100 million.
The largest source of savings came from scaling back a previously approved law enforcement raise. Originally, $142 million had been allocated for the increases. However, after review, that figure was reduced by $101 million, leaving $41 million allocated and returning the difference to the general fund.
The change is due to a clerical error in the original salaries entered being projected too high.