Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle told commissioners Wednesday, Aug. 12, that his department needs 21 new positions and a $5.8 million budget increase to keep pace with what he described as a 56% spike in calls for service, a request that would directly affect patrol staffing in The Woodlands and surrounding unincorporated areas.

The ask amounts to a 4.8% increase over the current sheriff's budget. Salaries account for $3.1 million of the total, according to Community Impact's report on the budget workshop in Conroe.

"I've often heard some folks on this court say you need at least one officer for every 1,000 new residents. And we're adding 60 to 70,000 new residents. We're going to have to add some cops," Doolittle said.

The sheriff said his department could use 150 new positions but is requesting only 21. He warned that when the county reaches a million residents, it will be "in real trouble" relying on the Texas Department of Public Safety to handle growing demand.

Growth driving the numbers

Montgomery County added 30,011 residents between July 2024 and July 2025, reaching a population of 781,194, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. That ranked the county fourth nationally for numeric growth. Doolittle cited a pace of 30,000 to 40,000 new residents per year in his presentation.

The county's population has grown from 620,551 in the 2020 Census to more than 781,000 in five years.

The Sheriff's Office operates a South Patrol Command covering the southern portion of the county, including unincorporated areas around The Woodlands.

Other budget details

Beyond salaries, Doolittle's request includes $268,296 for IT hardware, including replacement monitors and laptops, and $428,500 for overtime. That overtime figure is $113,500 more than the $315,000 preliminary amount the county had budgeted.

The sheriff's request is part of a broader proposed county budget of $537.3 million for fiscal year 2026-27, which holds the property tax rate steady at $0.3770 per $100 valuation and includes up to 103 new positions countywide. As we reported Aug. 13, commissioners have been weighing a slight tax rate reduction alongside employee raises.

What's next

No decisions were made Aug. 12. Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley said commissioners would decide on the positions Aug. 13.

"We gotta figure out a way to do something," Riley said. "I think there's a way to get to it."