West Houston Association Issues

COH Flood Control & Drainage Stakeholders Advisory Committee

The Stakeholders Advisory Committee has begun discussions of means by which the City of Houston can fund increased levels of drainage improvements within the city limits.  Click here for a review of the latest meeting.

HCFCD, COH and TxDOT Begin New Urban Flooding Study

Harris County Flood Control District has initiated a study of urban flooding and the City of Houston and TxDOT will participate.  The Association supported this study and has encouraged the City to participate as well.  The Association's statement to Mike Talbot, director of HCFCD follows:

"The West Houston Association Board of Directors has endorsed the proposed Urban Stormwater Management Study and will encourage the City of Houston to participate in that study along with HCFCD.

We believe the results of such a study will provide an excellent opportunity for consistent region-wide standards for detention and stormwater drainage. It can also provide a vehicle to “educate” the community on the roles of agencies and rational standards required to meet flooding events. It will also enable the public to set reasonable expectations based upon facts.

We would like to recommend an addition to the study. The draft study plan we have seen is oriented to the technical, regulatory and informational aspects of the problem and solutions. We would like to suggest that this study, or a companion evaluation, also address estimated system costs; current available financial resources; the resulting “gap” and potential sources of new revenue.

We would like to offer the services of the West Houston Association for participation in the process."

City Changes to Chapter 9, Stormwater Design Requirements

The City of Houston Public Works and Engineering Department has posted changes to its Storm Water Design Requirements, Chapter 9.  Effective date of the new requirements was January 1, 2005. Changes were made to a portion of the requirements related to "time of concentration" calculations.  These changes have been made are posted on the City of Houston website.  We have posted the current (Feb 1, 2005) version of Chapter 9 on our website.

 The West Houston Association has provided comments to the Director of Public Works and Engineering stating our opposition to the changed requirements as drafted.  (Link to WHA Comments) (PDF File)

The Houston City Council Flood Control & Drainage Committee Stakeholders Advisory Group (SAG) is formed to advise Council on issues relating to facilities and services.  Minutes of SAG meetings are posted here:

Click for the City of Houston Stormwater Management Program site

Much of the work of the Stakeholders Advisory Group has been to review the proposals to improve Houston's rating in the Community Rating System (CRS) that relates to the National Flood Insurance Program.  At one of the SAG meetings, a review of the CRS and NFIP was presented.  This PowerPoint may be viewed by clicking this link: Presentation on Community Rating System

Harris County Flood Control Director Mike Talbott writes about flood control in Harris County

WHA has supported the new implementation dates for the data.  the schedule of implementation will phase in 10 days after data release for non-grandfathered slab elevation settings and 30 days after data release for non-grandfathered preliminary subdivision plat applications. We further understand grandfathering will be for permit applications received on or before the 10-day period or 30-day period in the case of subdivisions plans. Harris County has published new flood plain maps for portions of the county.  New watersheds will be available periodically.  These maps and additional data are available at this website: Tropical Storm Allison Recovery Project. 

MARCH 29, 2004--The City of Houston Mayor Bill White is proposing an increase in the City water and sewer rates which, along with a refinancing of the current debt, would finance a drainage capital and maintenance program. 

The City of Houston has signaled that it will immediately begin requiring new development in affected areas to use the new data on flood plain locations.   "Public Works Director Jon Vanden Bosch said he has recommended that the city's requirement for developers to detain runoff be set at one-half of an acre-foot for every acre a project covers. An acre-foot equals 326,000 gallons, or the amount that would cover an acre of ground with water one foot deep."

The city's current detention standards, Vanden Bosch said, range from .2 to .45 acre-feet per acre. The requirements, which apply regardless of whether a project is in a flood plain, are intended to reduce the impact of new construction on flooding downstream.

Under Vanden Bosch's plan, a 10-acre development would be required to have a detention pond that could hold at least five acre-feet of runoff.

White said he would review the recommendation and discuss it with the City Council flooding and drainage committee before making a final decision. An ordinance would not be required to enforce the new standard, Vanden Bosch said.

The mayor said he had asked Vanden Bosch to review the detention requirements as part of a broad effort to reduce Houstonians' flood risks."  Houston Chronicle March 10, 2004

Background on Regional Flood Control

Effective flood control and drainage for an area with flat topography like Houston is critical.  In Harris County, the Harris County Flood Control District, established in 1937, has the responsibility for planning, constructing and maintaining regional flood control facilities.  The City of Houston builds and maintains a system of stormwater drainage facilities that link to major tributaries maintained in Harris County by the Harris County Flood Control District. 

"The Flood Control District's income is derived primarily from a dedicated ad valorem property tax. The rate is variable, depending on funding needs, and in 2002 was set at just under 4.2 cents per $100 valuation (the statutory limit for the District's tax rate is 30 cents per $100 valuation). Capital projects have been funded on a Pay-As-You-Go (or cash) basis for most of the last decade, but in 2001, an innovative approach to funding the District's future capital project needs was adopted by the Harris County Commissioners Court that provides funding at levels four to five times higher than any time in the recent past.

This new funding approach enables an even more aggressive implementation of flood damage reduction projects across Harris County. The annual 5-year Capital Improvement Program proposed for the FY2003-04 budget calls for $796 million in projects, which comes from a combination of local and Federal funds. The first year of the plan provides for $202 million in projects." (Source: HCFCD January, 2004)

In December 2003 the City of Houston City Council declined to approve a new drainage fee.  The matter was referred back to Mayor Brown.  The expectation is that it awaits action by Mayor Bill White.  The proposal would have combined the water, wastewater and drainage systems into a single utility and a restructuring the current debt.  A new stormwater fee will be levied to support O&M and other items for stormwater.  Capital expenses of the stormwater system will be financed by funds from the refinancing.  The fee would begin in January 2004.  It is currently estimated to range from $2.00 per month for about 2400 square feet of impervious cover.

To be successful, a drainage plan must address the issue on a regional basis. The Achilles heel of the Brown administration's plan was its failure to convince the public that all parties must participate in, and also pay for, a drainage plan that is fair and equitable for all. Everyone, including schools, churches and other nonprofits, uses the drainage system, just as they use the sewer and water systems. No institution demands free water and sewer service, so we must work to make sure all parties view drainage as a utility that is just as essential.

A successful drainage plan must build on weaknesses of the Brown plan by incorporating a stepped-up level of maintenance, an increased capacity in existing conveyance systems, installation of new conveyance systems and development of a regional detention system that includes areas outside of Houston city limits. This must be done in strong cooperation and participation with the Harris County Flood Control District and other counties.

Following is the WHA statement concerning the refinancing:

Comments to City of Houston City Council

Proposed Combined Water Sewer Drainage Utility

In April and again June, the WHA Board of Directors supported the concept of Stormwater Utility and fee with certain conditions.  In so doing, we fully recognized the need to expand and maintain the City’s stormwater drainage efforts.  The question today concerns the creation of a combined water sewer drainage fee.  The information we have suggests that this is positive particularly with refinancing the current debt that promises to provide $50 million per year for stormwater capital projects. 

However, serious questions remain unanswered and cause us to withhold final support.   

We have been advised the fee will range anywhere from $1.75 per ERU up.  We are interested in keeping this fee as low as possible while still affecting viable improvement.  It seems that moving capital expenditures for drainage to a new combined utility would help accomplish this at least in the short run. 

We previously endorsed “sole use” and “dedicated fees” for the utility.  While it seems the new combined utility would be set up in this manner, we learned that the ordinance will allow a “franchise fee” payment to the general fund.  This sounds remarkable like a procedure to obtain cash for general revenue out of a “dedicated” fund.

We asked for a system with no exemptions.  We understand state law requires some exemptions, but we adamantly request that no additional exemptions be granted by Council.  We believe that once we start down the path of granting exemptions it will be impossible to stop leaving an every increasing burden on the balance of property owners.   

We believe we should know what fee will be charged before it is voted on and that everyone using the system should be required to pay for the services rendered.

June 4, 2003

The West Houston Association recognizes a serious need for the City of Houston to implement an aggressive capital program to address the City’s stormwater drainage problem that has gone unattended for far too long.

 Flooding is a serious problem in Houston and the entire metropolitan area and must be addressed aggressively.  A study by the City indicates $1.2 billion is needed to both expand and maintain the City’s stormwater drainage system.  Some estimates go as high as $2 billion to protect from major flooding events.  The current system is undersized in many locations; is in serious disrepair and under maintained; and does not serve all properties within the city limits. Current COH expenditures average about $14 million to $20 million annually.  In recent years this has been funded from the Water and Wastewater Enterprise Fund’s Any Lawful Purpose provisions.  In the past, capital improvement bonds have been allocated for the City’s Stormwater system improvements.

 While recognizing the need, we believe the following goals are of paramount importance in implementing a financing system:

 1.  Revenue for the stormwater program must be derived from a dedicated utility fee that is assessed on a “nondiscriminatory, reasonable, and equitable” basis.

2.  Funds derived from that fee must be dedicated specifically and exclusively to the construction, operation and maintenance of the stormwater system and not be appropriated by the City for any other expense, even for “temporary” inter-fund loans.

3.  The City of Houston must be accountable to the public and report progress toward specific goals based upon professional evaluation and planning and directed to the reduction of exposure to flood damage. 
 

The following issues, in our belief, jeopardize one or more of the goals cited above and must be accounted for in devising this utility fee: 

1.   Equitable Application of Fee:  A “utility fee” must correlate to the use or benefit derived from the system.  In this case each property that uses the stormwater system does so in direct proportion to its size and impervious cover.  Under the currently proposed fee structure for the stormwater utility, there appears to be an effort to achieve this by defining a property’s impervious cover.  However, a review of the proposed fees reveals a lack of equity among the various types of properties and levels of impervious cover.  The most equitable fee would be based on the amount of impervious cover.
 

2.  No Exemptions:  Without exception, all properties that utilizes the city system must be levied a stormwater utility fee.  All property sharing in the benefit must pay the fee that protects that property.  In our view this includes all property whether public or private unless they do not connect to the city system and thereby derive no benefit from it.
 

3.   Reduce Revenue if Exemptions Granted:  If the city decides to exempt property from the fee, the city must also reduce in direct proportion the annual revenue expected to support the utility rather than increasing the fees on the paying users.  If for instance, properties whose fees would have generated $5 million are exempted; the targeted annual revenue of $85 million would be reduced to $80 million.
 

The West Houston Association supports a Stormwater Enterprise Fund and utility fee to support the fund only if the aforementioned criteria are included.