Texas GLO chief warns Harris County likely to lose massive flood control grants
Harris County flood mitigation dollars in jeopardy
We can all agree that the Greater Houston community needs every bit of flood protection we can put in place and yet folks in Harris County are on the brink of losing nearly $1 billon in federal mitigation funding. FOX 26 Political Reporter Greg Groogan explains.
HARR - Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is warning Houston-area residents that Harris County is in danger of losing nearly $1 billion in federal flood mitigation funding.
Harris County in danger of losing major federal flood mitigation funding
What we know:
Buckingham issued a strongly worded letter to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo urging an end to procrastination, across-the-board cooperation, and rapid execution of projects that have yet to break ground.
Buckingham, who administers federal flood prevention grants, spoke with FOX 26 Political Reporter Greg Groogan.
What they're saying:
Groogan: "Your patience has run-out, and you use the term "we need shovels, not scapegoats". Can you talk about that?
Buckingham: "The bottom-line is if things don't change at the Commissioner's Court and things don't change at the Flood Control District, Harris County residents are not going to get these projects."
Groogan: "Missed deadlines, constantly reprioritizing projects, which sounds to me like disorganization, submission of incomplete or inaccurate documentation, failure to respond to GLO requests, significant employee turnover and loss of experienced staff capacity, failure to achieve timely engineering design, environmental clearance, procurement vendor contracting and construction start-up. Commissioner, you are also a Doctor. This patient looks sick. Is that a fair assessment?
Buckingham: "This patient is sick. This patient is in the middle of a code and about to die. We are fast approaching these deadlines. These are hard deadlines. They are set by HUD, not even by us, and we are just really frustrated by the current state. The bottom-line is we need people to deliver and we have not seen that yet."
Buckingham's warning precedes Thursday's meeting of Commissioner's Court during which Flood Control District Director Dr. Tina Peterson is expected to present a new plan aimed at expediting projects perilously behind schedule.
Critics tell FOX 26 Peterson's effort may well prove too late if a majority on Commissioner's Court decide new leadership is needed to meet the rapidly approaching deadlines, the first of which is February 28, 2027.
The Source: Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham