On Tuesday, Hays County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the allocation of more than $7.4 million of disaster-recovery grant funds to cities throughout the county that sustained damage during the two destructive floods in 2015. The allocation plan will be submitted to the Texas General Land Office for final approval.

The allocations are broken into two categories: housing, which will be used to assist homeowners in rehabilitating or rebuilding their property, and nonhousing, which includes infrastructure projects to improve flood resiliency.

The allocations are as follows:

Nonhousing
Unincorporated Hays County—$3,210,051.10
Buda—$307,432.16
Kyle—$1,319,986.40
Uhland—$198,147.35

Housing
Unincorporated Hays County—$1,851,226
Wimberley—$518,476

The city of San Marcos is not eligible to receive funding from the grant because the city was awarded a separate $25.08 million disaster-recovery grant by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in February.

The county’s grant includes a requirement that at least 70 percent of funds be used to benefit low- or moderate-income residents.

“We don’t set these criteria,” county Judge Bert Cobb said. “They’re set by the state and the feds. I think [County Grants Administrator Jeff Hauff has] done a remarkable job in what you’ve given us to work with.”

Hauff said a precise list of projects has yet to be created, but when the GLO approves the funding allocations, each city will begin work on identifying which projects will receive funding.

Dripping Springs declined to participate in the grant program because the city did not believe it would have any projects that met the requirement that at least 70 percent of the grant funds help low- to moderate-income residents.

Wimberley declined to use any of the grant for infrastructure projects but will use $518,476 on projects aimed at rehabilitating or rebuilding flood-damaged homes in the city.

Hauff said there is not an exact timeline for when the GLO may approve the allocations. It is also working with Harris, Hidalgo and Travis counties to administer disaster-recovery money.

“Initially [the GLO was] talking about probably [approving the allocations] by January, but I’m not sure that still holds,” Hauff said. “I’m hoping we’ll have a fairly quick turnaround.”