Houston Daily

In 2018, in the wake of the devastating Harvey flooding, Harris County residents voted by a wide margin to approve $2.5 billion in bonds for flood improvements throughout the County. It was expected that the bond funds would be used to match another $2.7 billion in grants from other governmental agencies, primarily the federal government. The result would be an investment of over $5 billion in flood control improvements, more than had been spent in the entire history of the County.

However, since 2018, the implementation of the bond program has proceeded at a slower pace than most county residents expected. Last week, Commissioners’ Court adopted a new framework that promises to get it back on track.

The bond referendum was unusual in that it very specifically laid out how the bond funds would be used. The bond documents included a list of 237 projects to be constructed.1 It showed the cost of each project, how it was to be funded, and the expected benefits. I have never seen a bond proposal with this level of specificity. 

Unfortunately, Ed Emmett, who was the architect of the plan, was unexpectedly defeated shortly after voters passed the bond in the last straight-party voting election in Texas. Lina Hidalgo, a 27-year-old political neophyte with zero management or flood experience, was elected in his place to be what is effectively the CEO for Harris County.

For the first two years, the bond plan mostly proceeded as expected. Spending quickly picked up as the District began acquiring rights-of-way for projects and completing the necessary engineering. 

But in 2021, the long-time and widely respected executive director of the District, Russ Poppe, abruptly resigned. Several other members of the leadership team left shortly thereafter. At the time, the Houston Chronicle reported that tensions between Poppe's team and some commissioners over the prioritization of projects played a part in the departures. Since then, the implementation of the plan has languished, as evidenced by the District’s website, which reports total spending on flood projects:

Harris County District Website

There are several reasons that the flood work stalled. There was a leadership vacuum as Hidalgo showed little interest in flood control and struggled with her personal issues. The major staff turnover at the District did not help. It went six months without a permanent director. Also, as costs rose, a food fight broke out between commissioners over which projects should be funded and in what order.

Fortunately, however, two weeks ago, the Commissioners’ Court made a breakthrough by adopting a comprehensive plan to complete the 2018 program. Commissioner Ramsey played a critical role in building a coalition with Commissioners Garcia and Briones to break the deadlock on prioritization. It was particularly critical that this plan was adopted because much of the grant money that Harris County has secured to fund the projects has specific deadlines. Few believe that the Trump administration would be inclined to extend those deadlines, so the County was at serious risk of losing a large portion of the funding to complete the 2018 program if it continued to dawdle.

Under the new framework, 15 projects will be cancelled, and 26 projects will be paused, pending the securing of additional funding. The District reports that 54 projects have been completed. The original bond proposal set aside about $900 million for projects that have been cancelled or paused.

The District is still projecting that over $5 billion in flood control projects will be completed as part of the new framework over the next 4-5 years. That is about the same as initially expected. However, that money will not go as far due to inflation over the last seven years.

Had Emmett been re-elected, we would likely have avoided the dysfunction at Commissioners’ Court and the turmoil caused by the change in leadership of the Flood Control District. That would have saved us time and money by allowing us to complete more projects. Nonetheless, if the Ramsey–Garcia–Briones framework can be executed, it will mark a long-overdue breakthrough in flood control and a big win for Harris County residents.

Note 1 – The 237 projects on the bond referendum were later consolidated into 181 projects. That is the number typically reported and discussed. Each of these is identified with a unique “Bond ID” number.

Author's Note: Commissioner Tom Ramsey will be at our Readers’ Conference on November 8, to share more details about the County’s flood programs and answer your questions. Ed Emmett is also trying to adjust his schedule so that he can attend as well. In addition, the Baker Institute is currently conducting a review of HCFCD's financial statements, and I will share the results of that review. If you have not done so already, be sure to register below. You will not want to miss this discussion of one of our region’s most persistent issues.

Register here.