Harris County voters will head to the polls during the Nov. 5 election to determine whether or not to approve the county Flood Control District’s proposed property tax rate, which aims to fund ongoing and future flood mitigation infrastructure and projects.
What happened
At an Aug. 15 court meeting, Harris County commissioners unanimously voted to move forward with a tax rate of $0.04897 per $100 of valuation, a nearly 58% tax rate increase from the fiscal year 2023-24 tax rate, according to agenda documents.
The HCFCD's proposed rate is higher than the voter-approval rate of $0.03316 per $100 of valuation, which is the highest rate that can be set before a taxing entity must seek voter approval to adopt a rate. If voters reject the measure in November, the flood control district's tax rate would default to the voter-approval rate.
The impact
If approved by voters, the proposed tax rate will provide an extra $100 million in annual funding, which district officials said they would use to accelerate and improve infrastructure rehabilitation and replacement from a 283-year lifecycle to once every 67 years, according to the county office of management and budget. Under the proposed rate, a homeowner with a property valued at $300,000 would pay an additional $146.91 in annual taxes before homestead exemptions are taken into account.
At a July 15 Harris County Commissioners Court meeting, Tina Petersen, Harris County Flood Control District executive director, addressed the district's deferred maintenance projects and the price tag associated with aging infrastructure. With the county's population growth and the increasing number of assets the flood control district has to oversee, Petersen said at least $1 billion in project maintenance costs are being deferred.
"This is a problem decades in the making. [The Harris County Flood Control District] is 87 years old. Many large investments have been made in the organization's history, but quite a number of them were in the '50s and '60s," Petersen said.
What else
In addition to the flood control district's tax rate, commissioners also considered the county's tax rate at the Aug. 15 meeting.
The motion to adopt the county's proposed tax rate of $0.38530 per $100 of valuation failed with a 2-3 vote, with Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis voting in favor of the rate. With the motion failing to pass, Harris County's tax rate for fiscal year 2024-25 will be set as the voter-approval rate of $0.38529 per $100 of valuation, according to county documents.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said funding the flood control district's tax rate increase is important because the county has numerous construction projects to complete in the next couple of years.
"The reason I can bring this unashamedly to the voters of Harris County is that it is for a specific purpose. It is for maintenance of our flood control. We've got 22 watersheds [and] over 2,500 miles of infrastructure that we have to maintain. So I am very strongly in support of this," Ramsey said.
