Flood Control Tax Meeting Tonight at Kingwood Community Center, 6 PM

10/16/24 – Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) and Precinct 3 will host a tax meeting at the Kingwood Community Center tonight starting at 6 PM. The purpose: discuss the thinking behind HCFCD’s request for what amounts to a 63% increase in taxes to cover operations and maintenance.

See details below.

HCFCD Prop A open house

Ask Tough Questions

Please come to the tax meeting. The community needs your support.

The 63% increase to tax bills will result from a 56% increase in the tax rate applied to a 7% increase in property valuations.

Is it worth it? Whether you see any benefit from the money depends on where you live in the county. Up here in the northeastern part, we’ve been fooled twice already.

When we were promised the 2018 flood bond would take care of the worst flooding first. And when we were told each of the four precincts would get at least $220 million from the 2022 bond. Commissioners Ellis and Garcia along with County Judge Hidalgo changed each deal after the fact.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

So come prepared to ask tough questions. Like:

  1. Why haven’t we seen any benefit from the flood bond after six years?
  2. Why does HCFCD need a 63% increase when it has trouble spending the money it already has?
  3. Is HCFCD capable of administering a larger budget in a timely way?
  4. Is there any guarantee the money will be spent here?
  5. If any money will be spent here, when?
  6. Why is the ballot language so vague and open ended?
  7. Will commissioners divert the tax proceeds to other purposes?
  8. Can you trust commissioners not to change the deal after the vote as they did with the 2022 bond?
  9. If capital improvement money is largely going elsewhere, shouldn’t we assume that maintenance money will follow it?
  10. Why does the HCFCD website no longer list active projects or show where they are?

The Robin Hood Plan

Six years in, money from the 2018 flood bond has not been distributed fairly across the county. The far northeastern part of the county has been severely punished for its Republican leanings, despite having some of the worst flooding in the county.

worst first
Chart showing feet above flood stage of 33 gages of misc. bayous in Harris County during Harvey. The four gages on the left all feed into Lake Houston

Harris County has 23 watersheds. Since Hurricane Harvey:

  • The top 11 have received $1.2 billion in flood mitigation funding.
  • The bottom 11 have received $172 million.

The average difference? 7X. Here’s what that looks like.

Spending by Watershed since Harvey
Through third quarter 2024. Source: HCFCD data obtained via a FOIA request.

The San Jacinto River, Luce Bayou and Jackson Bayou watersheds all fall into the bottom 11.

So now that we’ve funneled more than a billion dollars worth of capital improvement projects into low-income areas, who do you think will have the greatest maintenance needs?

I’m going to see what they say tonight at the tax meeting before I make any recommendations. Hope to see you there.

Bring a neighbor. Pack the room.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/16/2024

2605 Days since Hurricane Harvey