Nearly 40% of flood control infrastructure has less than 10 years left on its overall lifeline, with 35% of projects needing serious repairs in the next 20 years, officials said. At the upcoming Nov. 5 election, Harris County voters will choose whether to fund the HCFCD’s proposed tax rate of $0.04897 per $100 of valuation—a roughly 58% increase from the previous fiscal year.
“As these capital projects are put in place, there has not historically been an adequate amount of money to maintain them,” said Calvin Cobb, president of the Cypress Creek Drainage Improvement District. “So the idea of providing money for maintenance that has really not been there before is important.”
If the tax rate increase passes, HCFCD officials said an additional $113 million would go directly into a dedicated maintenance fund supporting critical maintenance projects, staffing needs and new resident-focused communication.
Zooming in
HCFCD officials shared 36 maintenance projects as examples of projects that could be funded should the tax rate increase pass, including eight in Precinct 3. In the Spring and Klein area, three projects are located in the Cypress Creek watershed, and one has been identified for the Spring Creek watershed.
“Part of the feedback that we’ve gotten from people is that they would like to see some shorter-term projects being completed that can help with the flood control as opposed to the longer-term projects that could take several decades to complete,” Cobb said. “This [tax rate increase] would allow more shorter-term projects to be undertaken.”
Projects planned for the Spring and Klein area include erosion repairs, gate replacements and silt removal from various channels throughout the watersheds in Spring and Cypress creeks.
“It’s important that as we recover from [recent storms] and look to make our area more resilient, that we invest in the maintenance side of it as well,” Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said.
To educate voters on the proposed tax rate increase, the HCFCD is hosting a series of in-person and virtual meetings through Oct. 19. For a complete schedule, click here.
How we got here
With the county’s continued population growth, the number of assets the flood control district has to oversee and maintain also grew. At least $1 billion in project maintenance costs have already been deferred, HCFCD Executive Director Tina Petersen said. While local tax incentives have supported various flood control projects, she said necessary maintenance funding has remained relatively flat over the past decade.
“This is a problem decades in the making. [The HCFCD] 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.
Cobb said voters will have to weigh the cost and benefits of approving HCFCD’s proposed tax rate increase before they head to the polls on Nov. 5.
“The only people that provide funding for flood control are taxpayers—whether it comes from the federal, state or local government,” Cobb said. “So it’s just a question of what is the route of the taxpayer’s money to flood control projects.”
What residents should know
If voters approve the measure, average Harris County homeowners with a $379,030 home and a homestead exemption would see a $60 increase per year in annual taxes, according to the county’s Office of Management and Budget.
“While residents cannot do anything to stop the above-average increase being levied on them by Harris County, one place where they can send a signal that they feel their property taxes are increasing too much is by a no-vote for the flood control district proposition,” said Mark Jones, political science professor at Rice University.
