9/28/26 – This morning, Dr. Dawn Buckingham, Texas General Land Office (GLO) Commissioner, announced a one-year deadline extension to finish projects that use Community Development Block Grant Funds for Disaster Recovery and Mitigation (CDBG-DR and -MIT) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The GLO administers HUD grants in Texas. And the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) was in danger of losing hundreds of millions of dollars because of delays on CDBG-DR projects, which had a rapidly approaching February 28, 2027, deadline.
Potential Loss of Funding Led to Shake-up at HCFCD
Because of those delays, former HCFCD executive director Dr. Tina Petersen resigned under pressure after the June 11, 2026, Harris County Commissioners Court Meeting. At that meeting, Commissioners discussed her continued employment in executive session.
Commissioners then appointed a new HCFCD executive director, Marcus Stuckett on 6/25/26 to replace Petersen. Stuckett previously worked at HCFCD as Director of Engineering. So, he was familiar with projects in the 2018 flood bond. And ever since, he has reportedly been scrambling to accelerate CDBG work, so he can bill as much as possible and minimize or eliminate the potential loss of funds.
The HUD/GLO extension will help Stuckett complete projects without resorting to a complicated billing plan hatched by his predecessor.
Ditching a Complicated “Swap Billing” Plan
Petersen’s plan involved applying CDBG monies for completed Mitigation projects to meet CDBG-DR billing requirements, and thereby minimize the loss of funding.
However, putting everything in one big, billing bucket and swapping funds between programs created a compliance-tracking nightmare. The extension will let HCFCD finish projects and let GLO close out them out in a more orderly manner. The plan to “swap” billing is now dead.
Harris County must now finish the projects according to the original, contractual plan.
No More Extensions
The deadline extension also comes with a warning to Harris County. No more extensions will be forthcoming. A GLO spokesperson emphasized, “People MUST cross the finish line with these projects before the deadline. There will be NO MORE EXTENSIONS.”
The extension also requires sub-recipients such as HCFCD with multiple projects to document the need for a deadline extension on each.
“Failure to comply with all regulations and deadlines can result in remaining funding being withheld. It could also result in expended funding being recaptured.”
GLO Press Release
HUD approved this deadline extension based on the GLO’s strong track record of managing DR funds.
This one-time extension will apply to more than $1.1 billion in disaster recovery and mitigation project funding allocated to Harris County, but…
Buckingham’s Warning to Harris County: “Grave Concerns”
“As I’ve said before, Harris County needs shovels, not scapegoats.”
GLO Commissioner Dawn Buckingham in letter to Harris County Officials
Separately, in a video released today, Buckingham said, “The GLO has committed millions of our own agency funds, along with nearly a thousand meetings and countless hours of staff time to support the Harris County Flood Control District.
“Flood Control proposed a complicated and administratively burdensome plan in May. The GLO has done everything in our power to make this plan work. Unfortunately, more than four months later, Harris County has failed to provide the information necessary for HUD’s approval and almost no additional progress has been made on these time sensitive projects.
“With the additional year now available, the projects will proceed under their original proposals using the disaster recovery funds I allocated to Harris County more than three years ago.
“The county now has one additional year to complete the projects, I pray the projects get completed, because if they do not the Harris County flood victims are the ones who suffer. If Harris County fails to meet the new benchmarks, the GLO will be forced to swiftly reallocate the unused balance to shovel-ready projects. Our priority will remain benefiting Harris County residents.”
Extension Requirements
This deadline extension applies to all CDBG programs in all parts of the state. Here’s how it affects three Harris County programs.
Harris County Housing & Community Development CDBG-MIT
From August 31, 2027, to August 31, 2028.
Harris County Flood Control District CDBG-MIT
From March 31, 2028, to March 31, 2029.
Harris County Flood Control District CDBG-DR
From February 28, 2027, to February 28, 2028.
The deadline extension will also be available for existing 2017 Hurricane Harvey Local Buyout and Acquisition Program contracts as well as existing mitigation contracts (2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 funded).
The County will need to submit requests documenting the need for more time and that the additional time will be sufficient to complete the projects. To remain compliant with federal regulations, timelines, and the terms of the GLO’s grant agreement with HUD.
The extension also does not include additional administrative funding. Nor does it allow the addition of “new work.” Adding to project scope will not be allowed when the funding was awarded through a competitive process as it changes the application under which it was scored and awarded.
For More Information
To learn more about the GLO’s disaster recovery and mitigation grants, visit recovery.texas.gov.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/28/2027
3317 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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Buckingham-Video-Screen-Capture.jpg?fit=1100%2C625&ssl=16251100adminadmin2026-09-28 13:54:102026-09-28 13:58:44GLO Grants Harris County 1-Year Deadline Extension on All Harvey Grants
9/27/26 – Harris County just passed the largest tax increase in its history. But it provides very little transparency in how it spends taxpayer money. For example, try digging into how the county spends money from its 2022 Bond Program.
What Voters Approved in 2022
In November 2022, voters approved Harris County Engineering’s three-part $1.2 billion bond program. It included:
Proposition
Purpose
Authorized
A
Public Safety Facilities
$100 million
B
Roads, Bridges, Transportation
$900 million
C
Parks and Trails
$200 million
Total
$1.200 billion
No Spending Data on Engineering Department Website
Yet, I can find no discussion of bond expenditures on the Engineering Department’s website. It contains only one mention of dollars “committed” (see below). ALTOGETHER, the county has so far committed $242 million. But Engineering doesn’t tell us what for.
Breakdowns of spending among Public Safety, Roads and Parks
Project lists
Spending by precinct
Explanation for the sudden drop-off in spending for 2026.
I had to look elsewhere, without much luck, for that information.
The County’s Universal Services Department contains a dashboard that includes Engineering expenses for FY2025. But I couldn’t find one for the current fiscal year.
And the County’s Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) “Open Budget Dashboard” hasn’t worked for months.
No data loads for any of the categories/groups nested on left.
The hunt was on. A 2023 presentation on the 2022 Bond by Dr. Milton Rahman, the County Engineer, showed that within the $900 million dollars designated for Roads, Bridges and Transportation, six sub-categories existed:
$200 million for neighborhood drainage
$100 million for Road Rehabilitation
$50 million for Multimodal Transportation
$50 million for Vision Zero
$200 million for Partnership Opportunities
$300 million for General Road improvements.
Falling into an Information Black Hole
So, what did that money buy and where? That’s even harder to determine. Of the $242 million supposedly “committed” to date from the 2022 Bond, I could find no detailed information on money actually spent. However, I did find high-level information in the County’s 531-page Proposed FY2027 budget about totals “encumbered” in the three main categories. Encumbered means purchase orders have been issued for projects; it does not mean work has been paid for.
The Proposed 2027 budget says that:
All of the $100 million in the Public Safety portion of the 2022 bond has been committed to eight projects (see page 81). But the budget provides no further breakdown.
Approximately a third of the 2022 Park bonds have been issued or encumbered, but we don’t know where or for what.
$45.3 million (5%) of the $900 million in Road bonds has been encumbered, leaving approximately $855 million remaining. NO bonds have been issued yet in this category, which includes $200 million for Drainage Improvements.
So, it would seem that Harris County is about to ask for more bond money to improve Road Drainage when it has only encumbered 5% ($45.3 million) of the money approved in 2022 for Road Bonds.
The budget contains no breakdown showing how much each of the six subcategories has received from Road Bonds to date. But even if all of the $45.3 million went to Drainage Improvements, the percentage encumbered to date would still only amount to 22.7% ($45.3 out of $200 million).
So where is all the money going? Why does Harris County need more?
In fairness, many drainage projects started to date may still be in the engineering phase. Construction comes last and is usually the most expensive phase of a project’s lifecycle. So the percentages cited above may climb.
Perpetual Tax Increases Thrive in Perpetual Darkness
But the point is that perpetual tax increases thrive in perpetual darkness.
I’m not implying fraud. But…
The absence of reliable information makes informed debate impossible. It also makes results impossible to track and accountability impossible to determine.
Harris County Engineering:
Provides no or little insight into how it spends taxpayer money
Against that backdrop, Harris County property taxes are going up by 7.6% next year – the largest increase in history.
For the record, Dr. Milton Rahman, executive director of Harris County Engineering, used to be Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia’s head engineer. Garcia voted FOR the massive tax increase and also proposed the 2022 Bond.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/27/26
3316 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.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2022-Bond-2026-09-27-at-11.20.33-AM.png?fit=1452%2C716&ssl=17161452adminadmin2026-09-27 19:12:182026-09-27 21:17:54As Harris County Increases Taxes, Spending Remains a Mystery
9/25/26 – At the 9/22/26 Meeting of the Harris County Community Flood Resilience Task Force, Harris County Engineering discussed its effort to develop a drainage master plan for the county. The presentation discussed the project’s purpose, the team’s organization, regions within the county, the process, next steps and a public viewer.
Here is the presentation by Steve Albert with the engineering firm DCCM. Drainage and water resource engineering are among their core specialties. And Albert acts as a consultant on the Drainage Master Plan, which he said is a little more than halfway complete.
Focusing on Unincorporated Harris County Neighborhoods
The plan will recommend neighborhood flood reduction projects in unincorporated Harris County areas not covered by previous or ongoing drainage projects. That includes roughly two-thirds of the county’s approximately 1,800 square miles.
Responsibilities
The Office of the County Engineer under Dr. Milton Rahman leads the effort. DCCM serves as program manager over four vendors that each cover about a quarter of the county: AECOM (Region 1, northwest), Michael Baker International (Region 2, south), HR Green (central), and LAN (east). A $12.5 million Texas General Land Office (GLO) grant originally funded the project.
Project Phases
The project has six phases and is currently in the prioritization phase.
Data collection includes flood claims and predicted flooding from the County’s new MAAPnext modeling. Mr. Albert noted that Precinct 3 contains a large share of the unincorporated area and is therefore likely to have more projects.
Focus on Neighborhood Drainage, Street Flooding, Mobility Impacts
While Harris County Flood Control focuses on bayous, Engineering focuses on getting water to them.
Mr. Albert explained the plan focuses on smaller, more frequent storm events and neighborhoods whose local drainage systems cannot convey water to the bayous, since many communities experience flooding well outside formal floodplain boundaries. Street flooding and mobility impacts are a key concern.
Equal Distribution of Projects Throughout County
So far, 200 project areas have been identified (50 per region). Each has a focus-area data sheet describing location, watershed, estimated cost, and expected benefits.
Of those, 60 projects (15 per region) will undergo enhanced modeling to develop realistic project costs. Enhanced modeling is expected to be complete in January 2027, with the final report issued before March 2027 for Commissioners Court approval.
The hexagons shown on the map do not represent projects. Mr. Albert explained they represent roughly 200-acre units used to score flood potential. The 200 displayed represent the highest-scoring areas in the county. Note the large cluster in Atascocita.
Mr. Albert explained that projects are sized by local drainage area and may span several hexagons.
No Funding Identified Yet
Projects will generally range from $1–20 million and target more frequent (1- to 2-year) storm events.
There is currently no funding for any of the projects identified to date. However, a future bond program has been discussed. (See Page 5 of meeting minutes.)
The intent of the drainage plan is to give precincts an engineering-based list from which to select projects. It will be based on:
Local knowledge and priorities
Ability of projects to reduce flooded homes
Flooded roadway length
What Types of Comments Can Residents Submit?
Mr. Albert said comments can be as simple as reporting backyard or street flooding from a small rain event. Or they might identify specific intersections or routes that become impassable.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/CFRTF-Meeting-2026-09-22_Page_08.jpg?fit=2550%2C1433&ssl=114332550adminadmin2026-09-25 18:23:062026-09-27 21:52:44Harris County Engineering Developing Drainage Master Plan
GLO Grants Harris County 1-Year Deadline Extension on All Harvey Grants
9/28/26 – This morning, Dr. Dawn Buckingham, Texas General Land Office (GLO) Commissioner, announced a one-year deadline extension to finish projects that use Community Development Block Grant Funds for Disaster Recovery and Mitigation (CDBG-DR and -MIT) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The GLO administers HUD grants in Texas. And the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) was in danger of losing hundreds of millions of dollars because of delays on CDBG-DR projects, which had a rapidly approaching February 28, 2027, deadline.
Potential Loss of Funding Led to Shake-up at HCFCD
Because of those delays, former HCFCD executive director Dr. Tina Petersen resigned under pressure after the June 11, 2026, Harris County Commissioners Court Meeting. At that meeting, Commissioners discussed her continued employment in executive session.
Commissioners then appointed a new HCFCD executive director, Marcus Stuckett on 6/25/26 to replace Petersen. Stuckett previously worked at HCFCD as Director of Engineering. So, he was familiar with projects in the 2018 flood bond. And ever since, he has reportedly been scrambling to accelerate CDBG work, so he can bill as much as possible and minimize or eliminate the potential loss of funds.
The HUD/GLO extension will help Stuckett complete projects without resorting to a complicated billing plan hatched by his predecessor.
Ditching a Complicated “Swap Billing” Plan
Petersen’s plan involved applying CDBG monies for completed Mitigation projects to meet CDBG-DR billing requirements, and thereby minimize the loss of funding.
However, putting everything in one big, billing bucket and swapping funds between programs created a compliance-tracking nightmare. The extension will let HCFCD finish projects and let GLO close out them out in a more orderly manner. The plan to “swap” billing is now dead.
Harris County must now finish the projects according to the original, contractual plan.
No More Extensions
The deadline extension also comes with a warning to Harris County. No more extensions will be forthcoming. A GLO spokesperson emphasized, “People MUST cross the finish line with these projects before the deadline. There will be NO MORE EXTENSIONS.”
The extension also requires sub-recipients such as HCFCD with multiple projects to document the need for a deadline extension on each.
HUD approved this deadline extension based on the GLO’s strong track record of managing DR funds.
This one-time extension will apply to more than $1.1 billion in disaster recovery and mitigation project funding allocated to Harris County, but…
Buckingham’s Warning to Harris County: “Grave Concerns”
Commissioner Buckingham wrote a strongly worded letter to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and County Commissioners expressing grave concerns she had about the County’s performance with CDBG funds dating back to 2021.
Separately, in a video released today, Buckingham said, “The GLO has committed millions of our own agency funds, along with nearly a thousand meetings and countless hours of staff time to support the Harris County Flood Control District.
“Flood Control proposed a complicated and administratively burdensome plan in May. The GLO has done everything in our power to make this plan work. Unfortunately, more than four months later, Harris County has failed to provide the information necessary for HUD’s approval and almost no additional progress has been made on these time sensitive projects.
“With the additional year now available, the projects will proceed under their original proposals using the disaster recovery funds I allocated to Harris County more than three years ago.
“The county now has one additional year to complete the projects, I pray the projects get completed, because if they do not the Harris County flood victims are the ones who suffer. If Harris County fails to meet the new benchmarks, the GLO will be forced to swiftly reallocate the unused balance to shovel-ready projects. Our priority will remain benefiting Harris County residents.”
Extension Requirements
This deadline extension applies to all CDBG programs in all parts of the state. Here’s how it affects three Harris County programs.
Harris County Housing & Community Development CDBG-MIT
From August 31, 2027, to August 31, 2028.
Harris County Flood Control District CDBG-MIT
From March 31, 2028, to March 31, 2029.
Harris County Flood Control District CDBG-DR
From February 28, 2027, to February 28, 2028.
The deadline extension will also be available for existing 2017 Hurricane Harvey Local Buyout and Acquisition Program contracts as well as existing mitigation contracts (2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 funded).
The County will need to submit requests documenting the need for more time and that the additional time will be sufficient to complete the projects. To remain compliant with federal regulations, timelines, and the terms of the GLO’s grant agreement with HUD.
The extension also does not include additional administrative funding. Nor does it allow the addition of “new work.” Adding to project scope will not be allowed when the funding was awarded through a competitive process as it changes the application under which it was scored and awarded.
For More Information
To learn more about the GLO’s disaster recovery and mitigation grants, visit recovery.texas.gov.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/28/2027
3317 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.
As Harris County Increases Taxes, Spending Remains a Mystery
9/27/26 – Harris County just passed the largest tax increase in its history. But it provides very little transparency in how it spends taxpayer money. For example, try digging into how the county spends money from its 2022 Bond Program.
What Voters Approved in 2022
In November 2022, voters approved Harris County Engineering’s three-part $1.2 billion bond program. It included:
No Spending Data on Engineering Department Website
Yet, I can find no discussion of bond expenditures on the Engineering Department’s website. It contains only one mention of dollars “committed” (see below). ALTOGETHER, the county has so far committed $242 million. But Engineering doesn’t tell us what for.
After four years, Engineering’s website shows NO:
I had to look elsewhere, without much luck, for that information.
The County’s Universal Services Department contains a dashboard that includes Engineering expenses for FY2025. But I couldn’t find one for the current fiscal year.
And the County’s Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) “Open Budget Dashboard” hasn’t worked for months.
The hunt was on. A 2023 presentation on the 2022 Bond by Dr. Milton Rahman, the County Engineer, showed that within the $900 million dollars designated for Roads, Bridges and Transportation, six sub-categories existed:
Falling into an Information Black Hole
So, what did that money buy and where? That’s even harder to determine. Of the $242 million supposedly “committed” to date from the 2022 Bond, I could find no detailed information on money actually spent. However, I did find high-level information in the County’s 531-page Proposed FY2027 budget about totals “encumbered” in the three main categories. Encumbered means purchase orders have been issued for projects; it does not mean work has been paid for.
The Proposed 2027 budget says that:
And yet earlier this month, the Engineering Department indicated that it had no money identified for projects in its Master Drainage Plan and that it would likely have to pass a new bond to pay for them.
So, it would seem that Harris County is about to ask for more bond money to improve Road Drainage when it has only encumbered 5% ($45.3 million) of the money approved in 2022 for Road Bonds.
The budget contains no breakdown showing how much each of the six subcategories has received from Road Bonds to date. But even if all of the $45.3 million went to Drainage Improvements, the percentage encumbered to date would still only amount to 22.7% ($45.3 out of $200 million).
In fairness, many drainage projects started to date may still be in the engineering phase. Construction comes last and is usually the most expensive phase of a project’s lifecycle. So the percentages cited above may climb.
Perpetual Tax Increases Thrive in Perpetual Darkness
But the point is that perpetual tax increases thrive in perpetual darkness.
I’m not implying fraud. But…
Harris County Engineering:
Against that backdrop, Harris County property taxes are going up by 7.6% next year – the largest increase in history.
For the record, Dr. Milton Rahman, executive director of Harris County Engineering, used to be Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia’s head engineer. Garcia voted FOR the massive tax increase and also proposed the 2022 Bond.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/27/26
3316 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.
Harris County Engineering Developing Drainage Master Plan
9/25/26 – At the 9/22/26 Meeting of the Harris County Community Flood Resilience Task Force, Harris County Engineering discussed its effort to develop a drainage master plan for the county. The presentation discussed the project’s purpose, the team’s organization, regions within the county, the process, next steps and a public viewer.
Here is the presentation by Steve Albert with the engineering firm DCCM. Drainage and water resource engineering are among their core specialties. And Albert acts as a consultant on the Drainage Master Plan, which he said is a little more than halfway complete.
Focusing on Unincorporated Harris County Neighborhoods
The plan will recommend neighborhood flood reduction projects in unincorporated Harris County areas not covered by previous or ongoing drainage projects. That includes roughly two-thirds of the county’s approximately 1,800 square miles.
Responsibilities
The Office of the County Engineer under Dr. Milton Rahman leads the effort. DCCM serves as program manager over four vendors that each cover about a quarter of the county: AECOM (Region 1, northwest), Michael Baker International (Region 2, south), HR Green (central), and LAN (east). A $12.5 million Texas General Land Office (GLO) grant originally funded the project.
Project Phases
The project has six phases and is currently in the prioritization phase.
Data collection includes flood claims and predicted flooding from the County’s new MAAPnext modeling. Mr. Albert noted that Precinct 3 contains a large share of the unincorporated area and is therefore likely to have more projects.
Focus on Neighborhood Drainage, Street Flooding, Mobility Impacts
While Harris County Flood Control focuses on bayous, Engineering focuses on getting water to them.
Mr. Albert explained the plan focuses on smaller, more frequent storm events and neighborhoods whose local drainage systems cannot convey water to the bayous, since many communities experience flooding well outside formal floodplain boundaries. Street flooding and mobility impacts are a key concern.
Equal Distribution of Projects Throughout County
So far, 200 project areas have been identified (50 per region). Each has a focus-area data sheet describing location, watershed, estimated cost, and expected benefits.
Of those, 60 projects (15 per region) will undergo enhanced modeling to develop realistic project costs. Enhanced modeling is expected to be complete in January 2027, with the final report issued before March 2027 for Commissioners Court approval.
Project Online Viewer
Mr. Albert demonstrated the project’s public online viewer. It includes:
He walked through how users can add comments directly to the map. The viewer will remain open for comments through approximately the end of October.
The hexagons shown on the map do not represent projects. Mr. Albert explained they represent roughly 200-acre units used to score flood potential. The 200 displayed represent the highest-scoring areas in the county. Note the large cluster in Atascocita.
Mr. Albert explained that projects are sized by local drainage area and may span several hexagons.
No Funding Identified Yet
Projects will generally range from $1–20 million and target more frequent (1- to 2-year) storm events.
There is currently no funding for any of the projects identified to date. However, a future bond program has been discussed. (See Page 5 of meeting minutes.)
The intent of the drainage plan is to give precincts an engineering-based list from which to select projects. It will be based on:
What Types of Comments Can Residents Submit?
Mr. Albert said comments can be as simple as reporting backyard or street flooding from a small rain event. Or they might identify specific intersections or routes that become impassable.
To see video of his presentation go to the Harris County Community Flood Resilience Task Force website. The meeting lasted two hours. Mr. Albert’s presentation starts at 31 minutes.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/25/26
3314 Days since Hurricane Harvey