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Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and city officials are angry at a denial of storm compensation from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 that flooded the city and are asking the federal government to override a state agency decision.
The Texas General Land Office Commission (GLO), an agency responsible for land management in Texas, decided that the City of Houston and Harris County had not made a compelling enough case scoring high enough to get part of $1 billion in federal funding to pay for storm damages to stricken communities.
According to the Houston Daily Hurricane Harvey inundated the area with 60 inches of rain in 2017 causing $195 billion worth of damage, the most expensive storm in U.S. history.
Turner said the city had been shorted and pledged to appeal the commission’s decision.
"This morning, I am speaking at an inquiry hosted by Congressman Rep. Al Green (D-Houston) and other area members of Congress regarding Texas GLO's initial denial and inequitable allocation of congressional appropriated mitigation dollars from Hurricane Harvey to our city," Turner said in a tweet.
According to a Houston Public Media report, George P. Bush, Texas Land commissioner, denied federal relief for Houston and Harris County, then changed his mind saying he had been under pressure and had been constricted by federal regulations. Bush said he would amend the GLO action plan submitted to the federal Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and direct $750 million to the Houston area.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said the $750 million was way too low.
“It is mind-boggling to understand how we as a county received zero dollars in the latest round of funding,” she told Houston Public Media. “We recognize that more funding is necessary.”
At an inquiry on June 11 to discuss the matter, Bush did not attend but sent a deputy who delivered a letter from the GLO to Houston officials. The letter said the request for $760 had been submitted to HUD, but did not refer to Houston, only Harris County. The letter indicated the city and county could divide the funding.
Green called the letter “insulting.”
Turner said he and Hidalgo sent a letter to HUD Secretary Marcia Friday asking for GLO to submit an amended action plan within 30 days.
Turner indicated at best the amount of damage payments offered is paltry.
“This begs the question: Why the most populous city in the state, the state’s economic engine, home to the largest port in the United States, home to the largest medical center in the world, has been left out of this program,” he said.
Turner said GLO told him to raise taxes on residents to pay for repairs, but responded that the city is under a revenue cap on the taxes it can raise.
The Houston Daily report said that in 2018 voters in Harris County passed a $2.5 billion bond increase in property taxes in the hope the federal government would provide matching funds for flood mitigation.
The issue remains unresolved. The results of the June 11 meeting will be sent to officials at HUD and the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, which oversees HUD in Congress.