Tom Ramsey - Harris County Pct. 3 Commissioner Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Except in this case, there is a good guy. He's
our next guest, Harris County Precinct three Commissioner Tom Ramsey.
And there is a bad guy. It's Lena Hildago, and
it's it's the typical argument, is it not, Commissioner. Here
we have a situation where HBD has gotten a much
deserved raise. Harris County Sheriff's Office says, hey, I think
it's our turn now we need a much deserved raise.

(00:22):
Lead hill Doggo says sure, but I'm going to have
to raise taxes. And of course your answer to raising
taxes to give them a raise.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Is I think we need to focus on statue told
responsibilities and if we would do that, we would address
a lot of wasteful spending. And that's one thing that
Judge Hidalgo does not want to talk about, does not
want to acknowledge. And that was really the debate yesterday.
It's really two different ways of looking at the issue.

(00:53):
Number One, I congratulate the City of Houston Mayor Whittmeyer
and giving those increases to HP. They've set a great
new standard in this county for law enforcement. We need
to respond. We had Sheriff's Deputy's there to remind us
that we've They've waited patiently for many years. Now it's

(01:15):
time that we address it. I totally agreed with it.
And the pushback from Jeff Fildalgo is she brings up
the story of when I refused to come to court
because they wanted to raise a lot of money through
taxes and she wouldn't tell me what it was for.

(01:36):
She says that she'll spend it on law enforcement, but
I'm not believe in it. And at this point, if
we'll focus on a wastefl spending, get that under control,
we'll have plenty of money to take care of the raises.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Well, and you brought me I was gonna say, you
brought up a mayor. Whitmeyer is a prime example. He's
got seven billion dollar budget that they have wiped out
out their deficit. They have rearranged departments, They've done the
heavy lifting and the hard work to balance the budget.
The City of Houston has a balanced budget. Why can't
Harris County do the same.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
We'll have a balanced budget, but it'll be balanced on
the backs of law enforcement, and that's not what we
should do. He did it right, He did it the
hard way. He did. He rolled up his sleeves and
got in the middle of it. The easy way to
do it is what Lena Hildalgo wants to do. She

(02:33):
just wants to go to the credit card, get more
money through taxes, and raise it. She doesn't want to
do the hard work of elemonade, the wasteful spending of
access Harris twenty five million, County Administrator's office twenty five million,
consulting firms over fifty million. I can get to one

(02:56):
hundred and forty one million, which is what it would
take to fund they share deputies and the Cospels a hundred.
We can get to one hundred and forty one million,
pretty easy.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, I was going to say, it really is that.
That's what's shameful about it. It's not that hard. All
you'd have to do is it's not that hard to
find fraud and waste in Harris County. It really isn't.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, Jimmie, you and I can get in a run
about fifteen minutes. We get to hundred and forty one.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
It wouldn't be hard. You're right. No, nobody's gonna elect
me to do that work. But you keep doing what
you do, sir, you're you're the you're the lone wolf
in the wilderness. It's keeping us saying in Harris County.
We appreciate it. You take care, have a great weekend.
That's Harris County Precinct three Commissioner Tom Ramsey