Budget Officer Amanda Carter on Tuesday presented a $503 million budget, an increase from the 2025 adopted budget of $466 million.
Commissioners will begin budget workshops next month.
Topping the list for priorities were law enforcement pay parity, cybersecurity, economic development, employee and public health and legislative mandates. Carter said those priorities account for around $17 million.
Commissioners in June agreed to create a committee to study law enforcement salaries after the city of Houston boosted pay for police officers 36% over the next five years.
"We know we have to fund pay parity," Carter said. "We are working through the committee, so we don't know what that is going to look like but we will have it going into workshops."
In September, commissioners approved 23 new full-time law enforcement positions as part of their $466 million budget for 2025.
"We can't sacrifice law enforcement," County Judge Mark Keough said during a September meeting. "We have a culture of deterrence. If you are a criminal, you are going to get punished; the punishment will fit the crime, and we are going to do it quickly."
Carter said 108 new positions were requested, including 45 for the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and 15 new positions between all five constable's offices. Additionally, there were requests for 14 new positions in information technology, seven for the county tax office and 6 for the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.
Those requests totaled $15 million, Carter said.
Carter said departments such as the sheriff's office that had significant increases in their budgets have been asked to attend workshops.
The 2026 budget submitted for the sheriff's office was $124 million, Carter said. That is a $108 million increase over the current budget. Information technology also had a large preliminary budget increase, jumping from $19 million to $39 million.
"There is a lot of stuff in IT that we don't understand," Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley said. "This $39 million, (they) are going to need that as years go by."
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