Houston mayor: state should tap Rainy Day Fund for Harvey recovery
by Brandon Formby and Alana Rocha, Texas Tribune
HOUSTON — Mayor Sylvester Turner said that a lack of state funding for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts is forcing him to push for a property tax hike in this storm-battered city still reeling from the worst rainfall event in U.S. history.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Texas Tribune about the city’s on-going relief efforts, Turner also said Monday that the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers could have done a better job of warning people about the impacts of releasing water from reservoirs, which aggravated flooding in neighborhoods below the reservoirs. He also said that an untold number of houses could have been spared from extensive water damage if federal officials had funded flood control projects in years past.
The mayor said the storm will likely force city officials to rethink whether they let people rebuild homes and apartments in 100-year floodplains. Allowing that to happen, he added, "doesn't make a whole lot of sense."
And, Turner said, he’s worried that a "bureaucratic maze" could slow relief money that Houstonians need to rebuild or relocate. "We need to get those housing dollars to them, like, yesterday," he said.
Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/09/25/houston-mayor-lack-state-funding-could-cost-houston-taxpayers/
The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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