8 Harris County Department Heads Make More Than U.S. President
2/19/25 – Eight Harris County department heads make more in salary than the President of the United States. All are women or minorities. The mega salaries go to the heads of the:
- Institute of Forensic Sciences
- Toll Road Authority
- Engineering Department
- Universal Services
- Public Health Services
- Flood Control District
- Office of County Administrator
- Office of Management and Budget
Moreover, 17 Harris County department heads make more than U.S. cabinet-level officials such as the Secretaries of Defense, State, Homeland Security, Commerce, etc., in the U.S. Government.
The President of the United States makes $400,000 per year. Members of the President’s Cabinet make close to $250,000 per year.
The salaries of the Harris County department heads vary. See below.
Harris County “Going for Broke”
The U.S. President supervises roughly 3 million employees (as of January 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Yet the head of Harris County Flood Control has roughly 300 and makes more money.
Her $434,137 salary is also $185,000 more than the U.S. Secretary of Defense makes. The Secretary of Defense oversees the nation’s largest department. He coordinates the national defense with more than 1.4 million active-duty service members and 800,000 reserve personnel.
In contrast, the head of the Flood Control District coordinates the design, construction and maintenance of infrastructure projects in Harris County. That’s certainly no small job. But it’s not nearly as large as the national defense.
The head of the Flood Control District got a raise this year of almost $90,000 – approximately one third of the total salary made by the Secretary of Defense. And far larger than what the average Houstonian makes in an entire year.
Is Harris County the land of opportunity or what!!!
The heads of six other Harris County departments received even bigger raises. Several received those raises despite severe, withering criticism of their performance in open Commissioners Court. For example…
Billions of Dollars Being Eroded by Inflation
The latest head of the Flood Control District has roughly $3 billion of 2018 flood-bond/matching-grant dollars at her disposal. Yet Flood Control spending has seen its fourth straight year of decline.
And if adjusted for construction-industry inflation, the spending rate shows she’s producing projects at a slower rate now than the Flood Control District did before flood-bond passage in 2018. Reportedly, her predecessors initiated virtually all of the HCFCD projects now entering the construction phase.
The loss of purchasing power to inflation means that many Flood Bond projects may never get built. And that will most affect people at the bottom of the county’s priority list, such as residents of the San Jacinto River watershed.
Pay More, Get Less
Overall, Harris County has increased taxes (rates x appraisals) 30% in the last two years. That’s 4-5X greater than the rate of inflation. And that included a 63% Flood Control tax increase last year.
So, how does the leader of an organization with plummeting performance get a salary increase for almost $90,000?
It’s all Monopoly money to the Democrats who control Commissioner’s Court. It’s not coming out of their pockets. It’s coming out of yours.
And they’re probably betting on the fact that you won’t realize you’re paying one of their political pals more money than the President of the United States to manage 10,000 times fewer employees.
But hey. We keep re-electing them. Maybe it’s time to get loud.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/19/2025
2731 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
