10/3/24 – For those who missed the meeting in Atascocita earlier this week, Commissioner Tom Ramsey, PE, has scheduled another meeting to explain the thinking behind Harris County Flood Control District’s Proposition A on the November ballot. The tax meeting will be on October 16 between 6:00 PM and 7:30 PM.
The venue will be the Kingwood Community Center, 4102 Rustic Woods Drive, Kingwood, TX 77345. See poster below.
…we haven’t yet gotten much help to reduce flooding from Harris County.
Flooding Vs. Funding
These two charts tell the story.
Chart showing feet above flood stage of 33 gages of misc. bayous in Harris County during Harvey.Humble/Kingwood area at far left.San Jacinto Watershed ranks 13th out of 23 watersheds despite being the county’s largest.
Then the same thing happened with the 2022 bond. The lone Republican precinct (which includes Kingwood) was promised a minimum of $220 million by Democratic commissioners. Then they changed the deal after the election. Again. And shortchanged the lone Republican precinct by almost $50 million.
We’re constantly adding to inventory that needs maintenance
Aging assets require more maintenance
Years ago, Commissioners looted HCFCD funds for the Hospital District
HCFCD could do a better job with more maintenance dollars.
On the other hand, it’s also true that:
The amount of the increase is 63%.
The publicity is all about maintenance. But the ballot language includes operations.
The proposition does not include any commitments about when, where or on what the money will be spent.
There’s nothing to preclude another switcheroo.
Since announcing the completion of Project Brays in May 2022, HCFCD has spent 2.5X more money on Brays Bayou than it has on the entire San Jacinto River Watershed. That’s through the end of 2Q2024 ($26.5 million vs. $10.5 million).
By the way, Democratic Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis lives in the Brays Bayou Watershed.
Commissioner Ramsey is a fair and honest man. He fights hard for us in every Commissioner’s Court meeting. He’s just outnumbered.
I will see you at the tax meeting. Come with an open mind.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/3/24
2592 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Flood-Control-Prop-A-Flyer-UPDATE.jpg?fit=1545%2C2000&ssl=120001545adminadmin2024-10-03 18:44:292024-10-03 18:44:30Save the Date: HCFCD Tax Meeting Scheduled for Kingwood on Oct. 16
10/2/24 – The Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority/TIRZ 10 has announced that it will reduce Northpark Drive outbound traffic to one lane Friday (10/4/24) from about 3AM to 1PM. Contractors will be pouring concrete next to existing lanes. Crews need part of one lane for both construction work and their safety.
Men will spread and smooth new concrete from the old roadway as they previously did in eastbound lanes two weeks ago.
The work will take place between Loop 494 and Russell Palmer Road. Currently crews are preparing the base with asphalt. They should be ready to create a rebar grid on all of part of the asphalt areas beginning tomorrow.
Another concrete pour is scheduled for the following Friday, 10/11/24, weather permitting.
Pictures of Progress
Below are pictures of the project’s progress since my last post in mid-September.
Looking ESE toward Russell Palmer intersection in upper left. Note new asphalt between inbound and outbound lanes. Looking WSW. Note: concrete for part of one westbound lane has already been poured to roughly Italiano’s.Looking at previous pours and area where new pour will extend past Kings Mill Entrance.Looking W.Area in front of Kings Mill entrance has already been completed on south side. Workers are removing forms. Forms have already been installed over asphalt on north side, but no rebar yet. Looking W toward 59 in background. More drainage work is underway on both north and south sides of Norpark.Looking W toward Russell Palmer from in front of Calvary Churchat new blacktop.Looking W at workers laying asphalt on both north and south sides of median over the drainage culverts.
Remember: the road will widen inward, not outward except near the bridge.
Visible Progress Accelerating
Contractors have completed most, but not all, of the underground drainage work at this point. They still have to:
Complete drainage from Loop 494 to US59
Build surface lanes that will parallel the new bridge over Loop 494.
Tunnel under the railroad tracks to install drainage that will convey stormwater from entry ponds to “Ditch One” behind the businesses that line the north side of Northpark.
Connect all the pieces of the drainage system.
But the lion’s share of underground work – the most difficult part of road construction – has finished.
Now contractors are focused on pavement that people can actually see. And it’s moving along rapidly thanks to cooperative weather.
Before then, though, contractors are returning dirt to the site that had been excavated and stored temporarily during installation of the culverts. They will then prepare the raised areas for future concrete pours by installing a base of asphalt and a grid of rebar.
The long-term vision for the thoroughfare is to create an all-weather access road that will facilitate both evacuation and growth. The six lanes will have the width of freeway lanes. A bridge will carry those six lanes of traffic over Loop 494. And four additional surface turn lanes will be built near the bridge. They will let traffic turn left and right from each of the four directions.
The extra runoff will be stored in stormwater retention basins that bracket the expansion project at 59.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241002-DJI_20241002161256_0915_D.jpg?fit=1100%2C619&ssl=16191100adminadmin2024-10-02 18:41:132024-10-02 18:54:33Northpark Reduced to One Outbound Lane Friday Morning
10/1/24 – Harris County is proposing tax increases four times greater than the rate of inflation in the U.S. The combined tax increase in the last two years is almost 30% while the rate of inflation in the US for 2023 and 2024 (estimated) is 7%. When looking strictly at Houston, inflation is slightly lower – about 6%.
The tax increases proposed by the Democrat-controlled Commissioners Court will fall most heavily on the low-to-middle income homeowners who can least afford them. And it’s unclear whether more affluent homeowners will actually see any benefit from them.
How Did We Get to 30%?
Bill King published an article today detailing the components of the 30% tax increase he computed for 2023 and 2024 combined. King added increases in tax rates and appraised values to compute total tax increases.
Said King, “Officials like to talk about tax rates but ignore appraised values, which for many years have been steadily moving higher. This allows elected officials to claim that they are holding taxes steady or, in this case, mislead taxpayers that an increase is not as dramatic as it actually is.”
According to King, Harris County Appraisal District notified Commissioners Court in advance of setting the new tax rates that appraised values would increase 9.3% in 2023 and 4.48% in 2024.
King multiplied the higher tax rates for various county departments times the appraisal-value increases both last year and this. The calculations included the County budget plus three other special entities: the Hospital District, Port Authority and Flood Control District. Flood Control wants a 64.79% increase for operations and maintenance this year alone.
King meticulously documents his calculations and sources.
“When added together, the taxes for the average homeowner will increase in just two years by 29.5% ($1062 → $1,379).“
Bill King
That’s roughly 4 times the rate of U.S. inflation (7%) for 2 years and 5 times the rate of inflation in Houston (6%).
Said King, “The total levy for all four entities has gone from slightly under $3.1 billion in 2022 to nearly $4 billion for this year, a staggering 28.7% increase in the overall tax burden from the County in just two years.” And that doesn’t even include the money the county has siphoned from the Toll Road Authority.
King, who also studies population trends, warned that, “In the last decade, Harris County’s net domestic migration has been a negative 200,000. I suspect these massive tax increases will send more running for the exits.”
We have a huge amount of drainage infrastructure requiring regular maintenance.
Much of the infrastructure is nearing the end of its useful life (when it costs more to maintain).
And every year, we add more and more infrastructure requiring more maintenance.
But investment in maintenance has been flat over time (see graph below).
Maintenance investment has lagged behind capital improvement spending by as much as 9 to 1.
Unfortunately, even though this is being pitched as a maintenance tax, ballot text doesn’t limit spending to maintenance. It’s for OPERATIONS and maintenance.
Harris County Flood Control District Proposition A says only, “APPROVING THE AD VALOREM TAX RATE OF $0.04897 PER $100 VALUATION IN HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT FOR THE CURRENT YEAR, A RATE THAT IS $0.01581 HIGHER PER $100 VALUATION THAN THE VOTER APPROVAL TAX RATE OF HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT, FOR THE PURPOSE OF OPERATING AND MAINTAINING THE DISTRICT’S FLOOD RISK REDUCTION INFRASTRUCTURE. LAST YEAR, THE AD VALOREM TAX RATE IN HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT WAS $0.03105 PER $100 VALUATION.”
Keep in mind that the 57% increase between $0.04897 and $0.03105 will be applied to higher appraised values bringing the total increase up to 64.79% increase calculated by King.
But just as troubling is the inclusion of operations and the absence of any detail about how, when, where or on what the money will be spent.
This has all the earmarks of a slush fund, in my opinion.
Harris County’s Commissioners have seen fit to move money around before and load up staff with patronage workers. Will they do it again?
Will Democrats use the money to maintain long-neglected ditches in Precinct 3, which reportedly has the highest number of maintenance requests in the county? Or, as with the flood bond, will they spend the money in their constituents’ neighborhoods?
Will they ignore the minimums they guaranteed to Precinct 3, as they did with the 2022 bond?
So many questions!
HCFCD is hosting a series of meetings around the county to “educate” voters about the so-called maintenance tax increase.
Save the Date: HCFCD Tax Meeting Scheduled for Kingwood on Oct. 16
10/3/24 – For those who missed the meeting in Atascocita earlier this week, Commissioner Tom Ramsey, PE, has scheduled another meeting to explain the thinking behind Harris County Flood Control District’s Proposition A on the November ballot. The tax meeting will be on October 16 between 6:00 PM and 7:30 PM.
The venue will be the Kingwood Community Center, 4102 Rustic Woods Drive, Kingwood, TX 77345. See poster below.
Why Tax Meeting is Important
Since Hurricane Harvey, the specter of flooding has cast a cloud over Kingwood’s future. Despite Kingwood residents:
…we haven’t yet gotten much help to reduce flooding from Harris County.
Flooding Vs. Funding
These two charts tell the story.
Shortly after the 2018 flood bond passed, Democratic commissioners changed the “worst first” deal.
Then the same thing happened with the 2022 bond. The lone Republican precinct (which includes Kingwood) was promised a minimum of $220 million by Democratic commissioners. Then they changed the deal after the election. Again. And shortchanged the lone Republican precinct by almost $50 million.
Will It Happen Again?
Go to the meeting and ask some tough questions.
I have mixed emotions about HCFCD Proposition A.
On one hand, it’s true that:
On the other hand, it’s also true that:
By the way, Democratic Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis lives in the Brays Bayou Watershed.
Commissioner Ramsey is a fair and honest man. He fights hard for us in every Commissioner’s Court meeting. He’s just outnumbered.
I will see you at the tax meeting. Come with an open mind.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/3/24
2592 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Northpark Reduced to One Outbound Lane Friday Morning
10/2/24 – The Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority/TIRZ 10 has announced that it will reduce Northpark Drive outbound traffic to one lane Friday (10/4/24) from about 3AM to 1PM. Contractors will be pouring concrete next to existing lanes. Crews need part of one lane for both construction work and their safety.
Men will spread and smooth new concrete from the old roadway as they previously did in eastbound lanes two weeks ago.
The work will take place between Loop 494 and Russell Palmer Road. Currently crews are preparing the base with asphalt. They should be ready to create a rebar grid on all of part of the asphalt areas beginning tomorrow.
Another concrete pour is scheduled for the following Friday, 10/11/24, weather permitting.
Pictures of Progress
Below are pictures of the project’s progress since my last post in mid-September.
Remember: the road will widen inward, not outward except near the bridge.
Visible Progress Accelerating
Contractors have completed most, but not all, of the underground drainage work at this point. They still have to:
But the lion’s share of underground work – the most difficult part of road construction – has finished.
Now contractors are focused on pavement that people can actually see. And it’s moving along rapidly thanks to cooperative weather.
The project paving plan and the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority website indicate they will attempt to complete a 1680 stretch of westbound lane on Friday. Additional segments will follow.
Before then, though, contractors are returning dirt to the site that had been excavated and stored temporarily during installation of the culverts. They will then prepare the raised areas for future concrete pours by installing a base of asphalt and a grid of rebar.
Here’s a schedule posted yesterday for the next three weeks.
Vision
The long-term vision for the thoroughfare is to create an all-weather access road that will facilitate both evacuation and growth. The six lanes will have the width of freeway lanes. A bridge will carry those six lanes of traffic over Loop 494. And four additional surface turn lanes will be built near the bridge. They will let traffic turn left and right from each of the four directions.
The extra runoff will be stored in stormwater retention basins that bracket the expansion project at 59.
For More Information
The posts below contain a history of the project.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/2/24
2591 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Combined Harris County Tax Increases 4-5x Greater than Inflation
10/1/24 – Harris County is proposing tax increases four times greater than the rate of inflation in the U.S. The combined tax increase in the last two years is almost 30% while the rate of inflation in the US for 2023 and 2024 (estimated) is 7%. When looking strictly at Houston, inflation is slightly lower – about 6%.
The tax increases proposed by the Democrat-controlled Commissioners Court will fall most heavily on the low-to-middle income homeowners who can least afford them. And it’s unclear whether more affluent homeowners will actually see any benefit from them.
How Did We Get to 30%?
Bill King published an article today detailing the components of the 30% tax increase he computed for 2023 and 2024 combined. King added increases in tax rates and appraised values to compute total tax increases.
Said King, “Officials like to talk about tax rates but ignore appraised values, which for many years have been steadily moving higher. This allows elected officials to claim that they are holding taxes steady or, in this case, mislead taxpayers that an increase is not as dramatic as it actually is.”
According to King, Harris County Appraisal District notified Commissioners Court in advance of setting the new tax rates that appraised values would increase 9.3% in 2023 and 4.48% in 2024.
King multiplied the higher tax rates for various county departments times the appraisal-value increases both last year and this. The calculations included the County budget plus three other special entities: the Hospital District, Port Authority and Flood Control District. Flood Control wants a 64.79% increase for operations and maintenance this year alone.
King meticulously documents his calculations and sources.
That’s roughly 4 times the rate of U.S. inflation (7%) for 2 years and 5 times the rate of inflation in Houston (6%).
Said King, “The total levy for all four entities has gone from slightly under $3.1 billion in 2022 to nearly $4 billion for this year, a staggering 28.7% increase in the overall tax burden from the County in just two years.” And that doesn’t even include the money the county has siphoned from the Toll Road Authority.
King, who also studies population trends, warned that, “In the last decade, Harris County’s net domestic migration has been a negative 200,000. I suspect these massive tax increases will send more running for the exits.”
Flood-Control Operations and Maintenance
On 9/7/2024, I posted an article about deferred flood-control maintenance in Harris County. This was the basis for the proposed flood-control tax increase.
Key points:
Unfortunately, even though this is being pitched as a maintenance tax, ballot text doesn’t limit spending to maintenance. It’s for OPERATIONS and maintenance.
Harris County Flood Control District Proposition A says only, “APPROVING THE AD VALOREM TAX RATE OF $0.04897 PER $100 VALUATION IN HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT FOR THE CURRENT YEAR, A RATE THAT IS $0.01581 HIGHER PER $100 VALUATION THAN THE VOTER APPROVAL TAX RATE OF HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT, FOR THE PURPOSE OF OPERATING AND MAINTAINING THE DISTRICT’S FLOOD RISK REDUCTION INFRASTRUCTURE. LAST YEAR, THE AD VALOREM TAX RATE IN HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT WAS $0.03105 PER $100 VALUATION.”
Keep in mind that the 57% increase between $0.04897 and $0.03105 will be applied to higher appraised values bringing the total increase up to 64.79% increase calculated by King.
But just as troubling is the inclusion of operations and the absence of any detail about how, when, where or on what the money will be spent.
This has all the earmarks of a slush fund, in my opinion.
Harris County’s Commissioners have seen fit to move money around before and load up staff with patronage workers. Will they do it again?
Will Democrats use the money to maintain long-neglected ditches in Precinct 3, which reportedly has the highest number of maintenance requests in the county? Or, as with the flood bond, will they spend the money in their constituents’ neighborhoods?
Will they ignore the minimums they guaranteed to Precinct 3, as they did with the 2022 bond?
So many questions!
HCFCD is hosting a series of meetings around the county to “educate” voters about the so-called maintenance tax increase.
Humble 77346
Cypress 77433
Channelview 77530
Houston 77091
Spring 77379
Houston 77074
Houston 77089
Houston 77076
Fool Me Twice?
I ended my 9/7/24 post with the following. I said that I could not support the HCFCD request if:
Now that I’ve seen the ballot language, I see none of those guarantees.
As the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
Given the language in HCFCD Prop A, I fear the Lake Houston Area will get screwed again, exactly like we did with the 2018 and 2022 Bonds.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/1/2024
2590 Days since Hurricane Harvey