League City moved one step closer to addressing regional flooding issues with an interlocal agreement the City Council unanimously approved Sept. 10.

After Hurricane Harvey, the council directed city staff to lead an effort to address flooding issues in the Clear Creek and Dickinson Bayou watersheds, which overlaps several municipalities in the area. The city is working with consulting firm Freese and Nichols and the Army Corps of Engineers to develop a scope of work the $1.49 million study would include, according to city documents.

Under the agreement, Friendswood will give League City $40,220 in partnership toward the study. League City staff expects the city will pay about $325,000 toward the project.

League City plans to sign or has already signed other agreements with several other entities, including the Army Corps of Engineers for $250,000, the Harris County Flood Control District for $416,000 and Galveston County for about $353,000. HCFCD will soon send back a signed agreement for the full amount, and Brazoria County and Pearland are interested in contributing toward the study, City Manager John Baumgartner said.

“I feel pretty good about where we are,” he said.

Council members have said solving drainage issues will require more than fixing issues in League City alone; flooding is a regional issue, council members have said.

“It’s pretty sad that we’ve never done this before, but this is a big step…” Council Member Nick Long said of the study.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

The League City City Council on Sept. 10 also gave second and final approval for the FY 2019-20 budget with a small change from the first approval Aug. 27.

As part of the FY 2019-20 budget, League City will host a Camp by the Creek, a summer camp for children, on the west side of the city in addition to the east side. 

Originally, the budget called for the west-side camp to have room for only 50 children, but the City Council voted to increase its size to 100 children to match the east-side camp’s size at a cost of $68,000. Staff said increasing the camp size would require six seasonal camp counselors and a director, but the increase expects to bring in about $72,875.

The FY 2019-20 budget is $250.8 million and includes a property tax rate of $0.548581 per $100 valuation, a small drop from the existing tax rate of $0.5638. The tax rate will be adopted officially in October.