HCFCD Document Shows It Misled Commissioners, Public on CDBG Funding Worth Hundreds of Millions

5/4/2026 – On May 1, 2026, Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) finally submitted a detailed spreadsheet demanded by Harris County Commissioners. It shows key milestones in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) projects receiving $868 million in federal funding.

The data raises two red flags:

Only 11 of 28 projects will meet deadlines
Construction bids far below initial estimates could leave tens of millions of dollars on the table.

Here is the detailed spreadsheet. The data directly contradicts rosy, high-level claims made by Dr. Tina Petersen, HCFCD’s executive director, in Commissioners Court on January 8, 2026. At that time…

Petersen assured commissioners that HCFCD was “ahead of schedule.”

So, let’s look at the deadlines with the detailed information now in hand. This story has the sad feeling of a football game with the home team down 30 points and only three minutes left on the clock.

Deadlines Looming

The 28 CDBG projects are split into two groups with different deadlines:

11 CDBG-Disaster Relief (DR) worth $322 million
17 CDBG-Mitigation (MIT) worth $546 million.

DR projects have by far the tightest deadline – February 28, 2027. MIT projects have longer; 50% of that money must be spent by March 31, 2028 with the remainder spent by 2032. So let’s look at DR projects now and save the MIT discussion for another day.

New Doc Predicts Only Five DR Projects Will Beat 2/28/27 Deadline

Of the 11 DR projects, HCFCD now predicts that only five will beat their deadline. (Substantial completion dates shown in parentheses below.)

Brookglen Stormwater Detention Basin (SWDB) (12/21/2026)
Keegans Bayou SWDB (12/18/26)
Arbor Oaks (10/25/26)
Lauder SWDB (12/26/2026)
Jackson Bayou SWDB (9/3/2026)

Of these five projects, HCFCD is only actually moving dirt on two so far.

Arbor Oaks (30% complete with 51% of construction days elapsed)
Brookglen (8% complete with 9% of construction time elapsed).

Can they be completed in time? The Arbor Oaks job is a cautionary example. Contractors have completed only 30% of the job in half the allotted time.

Six DR Projects Now Predicted to Miss 2/28/27 Deadline

According to HCFCD’s latest spreadsheet, the six projects below will miss their deadlines. Construction bids on four of the six have not even been awarded yet (Genoa, Kluge, Isom, Dinner).

Genoa Red Bluff Regional SWDB (11/72027)
East TC Jester SWDB (3/4/2027)
Kluge SWDB (6/10/2027)
Greens Bayou Midreach Channel Conveyance Improvements (5/11/27)
Isom SWDB (6/19/2027)
Dinner Creek SWDB (3/24/28)

HCFCD is not moving dirt on ANY of the projects in this second group yet, though a construction trailer is on the East TC Jester Site and clearing reportedly started last week.

Less than 10 months remain on the game clock for the 11 DR projects.

How Reliable are Completion-Date Estimates?

But how much can we depend on HCFCD projections given delays and promises to date? We should remember that under Petersen, HCFCD attempted to build the Mercer SWDB on an expedited basis in ONE YEAR. It took FOUR!

Is There Flexibility in Deadline?

The Texas General Land Office (GLO), which administers US Department of Housing and Urban Development CDBG funds in Texas, has given itself a year after 2/28/27 to close out DR jobs.

GLO might be able to give up a few months of that year – if projects are close to completion. For instance, several projects in the second group are currently projected to miss the deadline by less than three months.

However, GLO needs the rest of the year to do its work. Beyond that year, it would literally take an act of Congress to extend the deadline. Good luck with that given the current political gridlock in Washington.

All Construction Bids Lower than Estimates So Far

Close examination of HCFCD CDBG spreadsheet shows that ALL DR construction bids so far have come in lower than engineers’ estimates. This could create a budget surplus.

A GLO spokesperson says that in cases like that, the money could be shifted to other projects within the group that might have a deficit. Potentially, extra projects might also be possible.

However, at this stage of the game, finding a shovel-ready project that could be bundled into the DR group would be difficult. Any surplus would likely be grouped into a Disaster Recovery Reallocation Program (DRRP) at some future date.

We saw this recently when the GLO allocated unspent funds from disasters before Harvey to Harvey-related projects. That sweetened the HCFCD’s DR pot by more than $100 million.

At this very moment, county and GLO officials are scrambling to identify eligible projects. But construction experts I talked to doubt there’s time to do them before the deadline even if one or more could be identified.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/4/2026

3170 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.