Crickets from Harris County on Flood Bond, Subdivision Drainage Shortfalls

6/8/2025 – Harris County’s Flood Control District, Engineering Department, Budget Office and County Administrator’s Office have missed another deadline for an update on Flood Bond and Subdivision Drainage Project shortfalls.

After a request for an update in early February – 122 days ago – they missed two deadlines. And it wasn’t on the agenda for this week’s Commissioners Court meeting either.

Meanwhile, Commissioners worry whether the County will have enough money to complete promised projects. Inflation is chewing up their purchasing power and the rate of project initiation has fallen off radically. Eight years into a what was supposed to be a 10 year bond, less than a third of the money has been spent. And only three capital improvement projects were initiated in all of last year.

Commissioners Can’t Seem to Get Clear, Timely Answers

On February 6, 2025, Harris County Commissioners Court erupted into a rare display of bi-partisan outrage when it became clear that the County didn’t have enough money to deliver flood-mitigation projects promised long ago. The shortfalls had to do with the 2018 Flood Bond and Subdivision Drainage programs.

Commissioners used phrases, such as: “an abomination,” “abysmal failure,” “complete and utter dismay,” “major crisis,” and “no sense of urgency.” They demanded that Flood Control, Engineering, the County Administrator and Budget Office return by March 27 with a complete accounting of the money.

But the March 27 meeting wasn’t much better. Commissioners wrestled for more than an hour with a $100 million drainage funding shortfall. The normally diplomatic Precinct 4 Commissioner Leslie Briones bluntly said she felt she was “getting hosed.”

The County Administrator’s Office compiled this confusing 11-page outline showing how projects were moved, added, deleted or had their funding sources change over time and why. Reading it will also help you understand why Commissioners are demanding to know how much money they have to work with.

What Commissioners Demanded

They demanded all relevant departments to develop a standard reporting framework for the Subdivision Drainage Program and the 2018 Flood Bond Program to ensure Commissioners Court can easily see at a minimum:

Sources of funding
Status of each project
Expected time to completion
How cost has changed over time
Whether there was a change in scope

They required everyone to return with the information on May 22, 2025. But they didn’t meet that deadline. Focus then shifted to the June 12, 2025 meeting. But the update is not on that agenda either. To date, it has been 122 days since Commissioners’ initial request – a third of a year.

Impact of Inflation

The compound inflation rate between August 2018 when the flood bond passed and the end of May 2025 is approximately 27.5%. The Producer Price Index indicates that inflation during that same period in construction could range from 25-35%.

In the middle of all this, on April 11, 2025, Diana Ramirez, the County Administrator announced her resignation. Was her departure related to the chaos?

In 2023, I began sounding the alarm about the impact of inflation on the Flood Bond. It stood at a compound rate of 20% at the time. That’s out of a Flood Bond package totaling $5.1 billion between bond sales and expected matching funds.

So I suspect the shortfall may be considerably more than $100 million. And that means neighborhoods at the end of the Equity Prioritization line may see nothing for their tax dollars.

No Good or Easy Answers

If Flood Control, Engineering, the Budget Office and County Administrator can’t develop a spreadsheet with the information requested above in FOUR MONTHS, that doesn’t bode well for Harris County.

It says two things to me:

The County’s financial and IT systems lack functionality and/or interoperability.
There may be no good answers to the funding shortfall. People at the end of the Equity line may see no or little benefit from the flood bond.

Flood Control Still in Denial

Harris County Flood Control District’s website still insists HCFCD will complete all projects. But they don’t explain how.

*Screen Capture from Equity Prioritization Framework Page on HCFCD.org as of 8:30PM 6/8/2025*

The Flood Control District has two ways not to cancel projects. One: postpone them indefinitely. Two: Call them complete when you have no intention of pursuing them.

*Flood Bond Cumulative spending over time since start of Bond through end of Q1 2025.* *If annualized at the Q1 25 rate, total spending for 2025 would still decline – for the fifth straight year.* *Source: HCFCD*.org.

At the rate shown above, it could take another 15 years to complete bond projects…if inflation doesn’t undermine the purchasing power altogether by then.

Project Initiation Rate Plummets

HCFCD has advertised only THREE capital improvement projects for bids this year and THREE in all of last year.

That’s out of 139 active projects listed in the last bond update in July 2024.

With inflation robbing your purchasing power, slowing down construction spending (the largest component of any project) is the last thing you want.

I’d sure hate to be in the “How come?” Room on this one.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/8/2025

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