Harris County Commissioners Court ordered the county’s engineering department to return with more information on its subdivision drainage program after reporting an anticipated $130 million funding shortfall on Feb. 6.
The setup
Harris County’s subdivision drainage program was designed to reduce the risk of flooding for 45,000 homes countywide upon completion, as previously reported by Community Impact. The program was originally part of the Harris County Flood Control District's 2018 bond package and called for 91 projects estimated to cost $451 million, County Engineer Milton Rahman said during a presentation Feb. 6.
In April 2021, Commissioners Court voted to remove the subdivision drainage program from HCFCD's bond program, and management and funding of the program has since been controlled by the county's engineering department, according to a Feb. 11 email from HCFCD.
Since 2021, the county's engineering department has been seeking revenue sources to fund the subdivision drainage program, as previously reported by Community Impact. Funding sources include county revenue, state grants and surplus revenue from the Harris County Toll Road Authority.
In February 2023, Commissioners Court voted to pause 33 projects under the subdivision drainage program due to a $277 million funding gap, as previously reported by Community Impact. Twenty of the paused projects were located within Precinct 3's boundaries.
Inflation of construction materials due to the coronavirus pandemic has led to the second anticipated funding gap, Rahman said Feb. 6.
Who it affects
Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis said $115 million of the program’s most recent funding gap fall within his precinct, and that county personnel did not follow equity protocol put in place, skipping over projects impacting poorer neighborhoods.
“This is a problem that ought to be resolved, or I’m telling you it would be very challenging to go to voters in Precinct 1 to ever trust this county with money again. ... This is an abomination,” Ellis said.
Rahman said he and his team followed best practices and began projects that were ready.
Going forward
On Feb. 6, Commissioners Court unanimously voted to direct the county's engineering office to work with the Office of Management and Budget and to bring back options for closing the $130 million shortfall to a future court meeting.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said he hopes to revisit subdivision drainage program projects that were cancelled in February 2023.
Hannah Brol contributed to this report.
