GALVESTON, Texas — Although Galveston stands to get the biggest share of $844 million in a second round of federal disaster aid, city officials said it’s not enough to repair all the houses, roads, sewers, water pipes and other infrastructure damaged when Hurricane Ike struck the island Sept. 13, 2008.
"We want our people back," City Manager Steve LeBlanc told the Houston-Galveston Area Council at a public hearing Wednesday.
"We need housing to do that. We need infrastructure to do that."
Galveston County Judge Jim Yarbrough said he was comfortable with how much the county and cities would receive in the second round of funding.
The regional organization charged with distributing the disaster recovery money to 12 area counties hit hard by Ike has tentatively recommended allocating $729.5 million, or 86 percent, of $844 million to area cities and counties to administer.
More than $100 million of the $844 million would go to the state for an affordable housing program in the area, and $9.9 million will go to the state to repair area medical facilities.
More Than 51 Percent Targeted Locally
Of the $729.5 million allocated to area cities and counties, $189.8 million, 26 percent, would go to Galveston, and $178.6 million, 25 percent, would go to Galveston County.
The Houston-Galveston Area Council will vote on the allocations Monday. The organization recommended in February allocating similar percentages to the city and county from a first round of disaster recovery money. That money is not expected to trickle down to city and county homeowners until March, at the earliest.
Galveston city officials told the area council Wednesday that rounds one and two funding combined would pay for only 20 percent of the cost to repair damaged city infrastructure and the more than 17,000 Galveston houses flooded during Ike.
Two-thirds of homeowners were uninsured, Sterling Patrick, the city’s director of grants and housing, said.
Still Reeling
Galveston still is reeling from latent effects of the hurricane, including the loss of up to 20 percent of the population and a dip in property values that forced the city to raise taxes "just to make ends meet," LeBlanc said. The city also is facing mounting problems with flood-damaged streets, sewers and water pipes, outgoing Deputy City Manager Brandon Wade said.
Since the storm, the city has held together its infrastructure with pumps, generators and "zip ties," Wade said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s funding is lacking and will pay only to repair water plants, sewer systems and other city facilities to the condition they were in before Hurricane Ike. Meanwhile, the state won’t allow the city to operate those kinds of outdated facilities, he said. The agency also has refused to pay for repairs to flooded city streets, which continue to degrade, Wade said.
"We need every dollar you proposed and honestly much, much more," he said.
Wanted: A Better Plan
Yarbrough said he worried council officials were moving too quickly.
"We haven’t even got dollar one from the first round spent yet," he said. "We have no idea if the money we got the first go around is enough, too much, or if there are better places to spend it."
Yarbrough said he wished state and regional officials would focus more on improving the system so money gets to the people who need it quicker.
"Here we are 15 months after the storm, and we are talking about another pot of money when we haven’t even spent the first pot of money," he said. "We don’t know if we need $60 million, $30 million or zero. Right now, we have everyone grabbing onto the money with both hands."
Yarbrough blamed bureaucratic red tape on the federal level and the state’s lack of preparation for the delays. He said he would rather see a plan created that would be used for all future disasters that would set out a funding formula ahead of time, but be flexible enough to adjust for factors on the ground where the disaster happened.
Once Rejected
Any funding plan approved Monday would have to go to the state for approval and then to the U.S. Department of Housing for final approval. The federal housing department rejected the state’s plan to allocate the second round of money once already because Texas was not allocating enough money to poor to moderate-income families to repair their hurricane-damaged houses. The department’s rejection sent Texas officials back to the drawing board to fix the following concerns:
• Texas did not provide enough opportunities for residents to comment on plans to spend disaster money;
• The state did not update its plan to promote fair housing; and
• The state’s plan is too heavily focused on mitigating future disasters instead of restoring infrastructure and housing.
Under the new plan the council will consider Monday, $104.4 million will be set aside for affordable housing and will be administered by the state.
Another $323.9 million will be allocated to area counties and cities to repair, demolish and elevate hurricane-damaged houses, bringing the total spent on housing to 50 percent.
Of that $323.9 million, Galveston County would get $72 million for housing and Galveston would get $78.8 million. Texas Appleseed, a social justice agency that complained about the state’s plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, claims the state should be spending at least 70 percent of federal dollars on housing repair.
The state has not updated its plan since 2003 to promote fair housing.
The state’s plan to spend the round two funding is due to the federal government by Dec. 17.
This story was brought to you thanks to khou.com's partnership with The Galveston County Daily News.
