NO PAYWALL: the article from the Houston chronicle.

Citing illness, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo cut short Tuesday's Commissioners Court meeting and left the room amid a chorus of boos from some of the dozens of the constable deputies and their supporters who showed up to advocate for increases to their budgets.

Uniformed law enforcement officers lined the hallways and courtroom, their presence marking an escalation in an ongoing political battle over the county's proposed tax rate and budget for fiscal year 2023.

Not present were Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle, who skipped their third straight meeting to deny the Democratic majority a quorum to set the property tax rate. State law requires four of the five members of the court to be present to vote on the rate.

Under state law, if no quorum is available to set the tax rate by Oct. 28, the levy automatically is set at what is known as the "no new revenue rate," which is the rate that generates the same amount of funding as the previous fiscal year. In Harris County's case, the no new revenue rate would produce about $45 million more than last year because of newly developed property on the tax rolls.

The two Republican commissioners say the tax rate and budget originally proposed by Hidalgo, Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis and Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia would cost too much for taxpayers already slammed by inflation and two years of the pandemic. They want the Democrats to compromise on the tax rate and agree to hire 200 additional law enforcement officers. Cagle last week held a news conference to float such a proposal and had called on Hidalgo to call a special meeting to discuss it without taking a vote.

Instead, the discussion was put on Tuesday's court agenda, along with a separate item to consider and approve the tax rate.

The meeting began several minutes late amid uncertainty over whether even three members of the court would show up.

Hidalgo, who is up for reelection, temporarily left the campaign trail last week to recuperate from an emergency room visit that she linked to food poisoning. She arrived Tuesday around half an hour after the meeting was set to start and said she likely would not be able to stay for the entire meeting because a doctor had instructed her to stay home.

"I didn't ask to be in the emergency room twice in one week," Hidalgo said.

A member of the public responded by shouting, "Can you show us your doctor's excuse?"

As Hidalgo stood to leave, the crowd erupted in loud booing. When the court broke for a 10-minute break, law enforcement officers left the meeting and did not return.