News - Reduce Flooding

HCFCD Spending Drops Even As It Seeks Massive Tax Increase

10/15/24 – Even as Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) pleads with voters for a 63% tax increase, its spending continues to decrease – on both a quarterly and annual basis.

Come to the meeting Wednesday night at the Kingwood Community Center to learn more about HCFCD’s Proposition A on your ballot.

According to HCFCD data obtained via a FOIA request, HCFCD spending declined:

36% from the second to third quarter of this year ($67,983,033 to $43,179,077).
13% from 2023 to 2024 ($252,949,555 to $219,207,447 annualized. I estimated the annualized 2024 figure by adding the average of the first three quarters to their totals.)

See the first two graphs below.

*Unless we see a dramatic turnaround in the fourth quarter of this year, spending will decline for four straight years since its peak in 2020.*

Spending ramped up rapidly after Hurricane Harvey with the passage of the 2018 flood bond. But since 2020, it has declined precipitously and is now almost down to pre-bond levels. Why?

Possible Reasons for Decline

In fairness, the pandemic slowed many businesses, not just HCFCD. But the pandemic is behind us. And flood mitigation spending continues to fall.

The decline also coincides with a change in leadership at HCFCD and a change in direction from Commissioners Court.

The Democratic majority in Commissioners Court has burdened HCFCD processes with frequent changes to the “Equity Prioritization Framework.” The framework prioritizes projects that benefit low-to-moderate income (LMI) areas, not necessarily those with the most flood damage, the most severe flooding, the most frequent flooding or the highest flood risk.

HCFCD hasn’t yet even released flood-risk data requested by the Harris County Community Resilience Flood Task Force four years ago. If this were a poker game, I’d call that a “tell.”

Money Waiting to be Used

To its credit, HCFCD has secured enough matching partnership funding to more than double the $2.5 billion dollars approved by voters. But the District isn’t spending it.

It has taken two years to compile a project list for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Texas General Land Office (GLO), which administers HUD funds in Texas.

Meanwhile, $825 million dollars are waiting in the wings.

HCFCD keeps trying to get the LMI percentage of that $825 million up to 70%, even though HUD requires only 50%. And the deadline for those 13 Disaster Recovery Projects worth $290 million is rapidly approaching.

Roughly 37% of Bond Spent in 60% of Time

More than six years after the passage of the flood bond, HCFCD has spent only about $1.9 billion out of the $5.1 billion available through bond and matching funds. So, the District has used only 37% of the money committed in 60% of the 10 years originally projected for the bond program.*

Meanwhile inflation has taken its toll on purchasing power, putting the future of many projects at risk. HCFCD has requested extensions on CDBG projects, but GLO is still evaluating them on a case-by-case basis.

The LMI Imperative

Currently, LMI considerations heavily influence HCFCD spending. Brays, Greens, White Oak, Halls, Hunting and Sims Bayous all have a majority of LMI residents. Brays is the first bayou to top $200 million in HCFCD spending since Harvey. Greens has topped $175 million. And White Oak is a whisker short of $150 million.

Meanwhile, the San Jacinto watershed ranks 13th out of 23 watersheds. Yet it had the highest flooding in the county during Harvey.

Why vote? Worst flooding in the county. — *San Jacinto at US59 circled in red. Note locations of areas on right that didn’t even flood.*

Current Priorities Shifting a Bit

When looking only at the third quarter of 2024, the picture has somewhat improved for the San Jacinto. During the last quarter, the San Jacinto watershed ranked 7th, but still fell behind White Oak, Halls, Greens and Brays watersheds, all of which have LMI-majority populations.

HCFCD announced the completion of Project Brays more than two years ago. And yet HCFCD still spends more money there than in the San Jacinto watershed, which is the county’s largest … with the county’s worst flooding.

But alas, Commissioner Rodney Ellis lives in the Brays Bayou Watershed. So, we in the San Jacinto will have to wait to see if any money is left to improve Taylor Gully, Woodridge Village or the Diversion Ditch.

And those poor souls who live near Spring Creek, which had the second highest flooding? Well, they’ll have to wait too.

Strange how most of the waiting is being done in Republican-dominated areas. For instance, Jackson and Luce Bayous (both east of Lake Houston) barely register as blips on the graph above.

Tough Tax Questions

So, should you vote for the new flood tax? Not until you learn more.

HCFCD is pushing the 63% tax increase as a maintenance tax, even though nothing in the ballot language restricts the tax to maintenance.

Wednesday night, HCFCD will hold a meeting at the Kingwood Community Center from 6 to 7:30 PM. Be there!

Ask whether you will see any benefit from the tax.

Why does HCFCD need a 63% increase when it has trouble spending the money it already has?
Is HCFCD capable of administering a larger budget in a timely way?
Is there any guarantee the money will be spent here?
If money will be spent here, when?
Why is the ballot language so vague and open ended?
Will commissioners divert the tax proceeds to other purposes?
Can you trust commissioners not to change the deal after the vote as they did with the 2022 bond?
If capital improvement money is largely going elsewhere, shouldn’t we assume that maintenance money will follow it?

I’m going to see what they say before I make any recommendations. Hope to see you there.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/15/24

2604 Days since Hurricane Harvey

* A word about data. The data provided by HCFCD includes maintenance spending, not just capital improvement expenditures from the bond. So $1.9 billion is an estimate. If it varies, it would vary downwards, making the disparity in the percentages greater.

It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

10/14/24 – Looking at the National Hurricane Center’s afternoon update, Yogi Berra’s famous quote comes to mind – “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Of course, Yogi was speaking of baseball and I’m speaking of the 2024 hurricane season.

NHC posted a new 7-day outlook at 1:28 this afternoon showing two areas of concern. One in the middle of the Atlantic has a 50% chance of development. The one in the western Caribbean has a 20% chance.

The first is where Cat 5 Hurricane Kirk just formed. The latter is the same general area where Cat 5 Hurricanes Helene and Milton formed within the last three weeks.

Central Atlantic Formation Chance Now 60 Percent

Here’s what NHC has to say about the orange area in the Central Atlantic.

A well-defined area of low pressure located roughly midway between the Cabo Verde Islands and the Lesser Antilles is producing limited shower and thunderstorm activity. This system is currently embedded in a dry air environment, and development is unlikely over the next couple of days.

However, this system will move generally westward toward warmer waters. There, environmental conditions could become more favorable for gradual development by the middle to latter part of this week.

A tropical depression could form as the system begins moving west-northwestward and approaches or moves near the Leeward Islands late this week.
National Hurricane Center

Formation chance through 48 hours is only 10 percent. However, formation chance through 7 days is currently 60 percent. The formation chance has steadily increased for this area during the last few days.

Western Caribbean

Regarding that area in the Western Caribbean, NHC says this.

A broad area of low pressure is likely to form over the southwestern Caribbean Sea by the middle to latter portions of this week.

Some development is possible thereafter if the system stays over water while it moves slowly west-northwestward towards northern Central America.

Regardless of development, locally heavy rainfall is possible across portions of Central America later this week.

Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent. However, formation chance through 7 days is 20 percent at this hour.

This is near where Helene and Milton began.

Remember: six more weeks of hurricane season. And it ain’t over till it’s over. So keep checking NHC daily.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/14/24

2603 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Tree Lane Bridge Repairs Nearing Completion

10/12/24 – According to the minutes of latest Houston Public Works progress meeting Tree Lane Bridge repairs over Bens Branch were 57% complete as of 10/1/24 with 80% of the budget consumed. However, the contractor has completed a significant amount of additional work since then.

The million dollar project began in February. At the time, Public works predicted it would be complete by summer 2024. Unfortunately, that didn’t quite work out.

Status of Tree Lane Bridge Repairs

Completed as of mid-October:

Work under half of the bridge
Three of the four wing walls on either side of the Bens Branch, upstream and downstream of the bridge
Placement of rip rap next to the two eastern wing walls
Additional pilings/supports under both east and west sides of the bridge
A new storm-drain outfall on the southeast side

Not yet started:

Upstream work on the northwest wing wall
Soil grading (change order still pending)
Clean up
Reseeding

Still not moved:

Several pipes and cables

It’s unclear at this time whether the utilities are holding up any additional work, or whether they even have plans to move their property.

Downcutting of the stream bed through erosion exposed the pipe and cable, which used to be buried.

Pictures taken 10/12/24

In the progress meeting, the contractor estimated completion of Tree Lane Bridge repairs during the first week in November. The pictures below show the status of the work as of 10/12/24.

*A new, concrete bed has been poured to reduce the rate of downcutting by the stream and protect the piers. Note, however, that it only extends halfway under the bridge so far.*

*SE wing wall, new storm drain outfall and rip rap.*

*The four round pilings are new and will provide additional support for the bridge.* *Similar supports have been placed on the opposite side.* *Look closely in picture above.*

*Water pipe and cable still have not been moved.*

*Note new rip rap to the right of the outfall. Rip-rap (the concrete chunks) reduces the velocity of concentrated, flowing water and therefore erosion.*

*NW wing wall is complete, but new concrete bed under north side of bridge has not yet been started.*

*Neither has the* *NW wing wall been started.*

Pictures Taken Earlier

Chris Bloch, a Bear Branch Trail Association board member and local flood fighter, took the three Tree Lane Bridge repair pictures below.

Work in progress on new pilings on 10/3/24. Original bottom of stream bed was approximately three feet higher than current level, as you can see from the concrete still clinging to one of the old pilings.

Luckily, we have been having ideal construction weather since Beryl in early July. The mild drought has kept flow in the channel low, allowing work under the bridge to proceed safely.

Will These Repairs Hold?

Additional upstream development has increased the flow in Bens Branch in recent years. The bridge stood for more than 40 years without problems. However, this is the third set of repairs since 2020.

The current repairs appear more substantial than previous ones. But if the amount of water coming downstream continues to increase, even these repairs won’t last long. Water routinely comes up to the bridge deck.

*Photo by Chris Bloch of Tree Lane Bridge during TS Imelda.*

One cannot overstate the potential danger. Bear Branch Elementary is next to the bridge. More than 600 students attend the school and dozens of school buses routinely cross over the bridge every school day.