Harris County Flood Control District makes final proposal to voters regarding maintenance tax increase

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Harris County voters make decisions about more than just political races. They are also debating whether to spend more to reduce flooding.

In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, voters approved raising more than $2 billion for flood-reduction projects. The problem now is that the flood control district has too many tools and not enough ways to keep them in working order.

“We’ve taken on more and more responsibility,” explained Harris County Flood Control District Executive Director Tina Peterson. “Over the last 25 years, the volume of property for which we are responsible has more than doubled.”

To raise money for maintenance, the flood control district wants voters to approve higher property taxes. This comes at a time when neighbors will already be paying more.

The Commissioners Court raised taxes by eight percent. For the average homeowner, that’s $160 more per year.

For flood defence, pillar Athe average homeowner will pay $60 more per year. That’s another $220.

The taller bills were discussed at a meeting with voters on Wednesday. One person expressed this concern.

“How can Harris County residents be confident that this tax increase will not be used for other county projects?” – asked one neighbor.

The agency said it has created a new fund to prevent this.

“What this means is that there is a special cap fund into which we will deposit any additional maintenance revenue, if approved, into this account,” Harris County Chief Financial Officer said. & Administration spokesman Bruce Haupt explained.

The flood control district is asking neighbors to spend more money while it is still working on a bond approved after Hurricane Harvey.

So far, about 40 sections have been completed. About 140 projects remain, including the Kingwood mitigation project.

“Progress takes time,” Peterson said. “The processes we have to work on are not fast, and we are anxious to move as fast as we can to get the job done.”

If approved, the higher taxes would generate about $100 million more a year in maintenance costs. Eyewitness News asked executives how much additional maintenance work they could do.

They told ABC13 they can only support projects once every 270 years. With the extra money, it would allow them to do maintenance once every 67 years.

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