The Harris County Flood Control District has told the State of Texas that it does not expect to spend about $113 million of the federal Hurricane Harvey recovery money it was allocated, and has asked the state to take the money back or rewrite the contract.
The request is in a letter dated October 2, 2026, signed by District Executive Director Marcus Y. Stuckett and addressed to Heather Lagrone, deputy director for community development and revitalization at the Texas General Land Office. Its subject line is a request to defund or amend the district’s Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery infrastructure contract. The letter was published by ReduceFlooding, which reported on it Friday, October 16.
What the letter says
The district holds $322 million in Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery money under the contract, and the letter says the district is unable to fully use it. It then gives three figures for what would be left unspent, depending on how the projects are handled.
Under the plan previously approved, the letter says $87.6 million would remain unallocated. As things currently stand, with no project split and no transfers, the letter says the district now anticipates approximately $113 million will remain unallocated. If two of the district’s Community Development Block Grant mitigation projects were moved into the disaster recovery program, the letter says that would reduce the unallocated amount to $76 million.
The letter also states that the contract deadline for the disaster recovery program will be amended to February 29, 2028, from February 28, 2027. Lake Houston Today reported the one year deadline extension on September 28.
What is not confirmed
ReduceFlooding reports that Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham replied on October 14 that the county had not supplied information it promised months ago and that she will move the money to another county. That reply is posted as a scanned image without readable text, so this desk has not been able to read it. The reallocation decision, and which county would receive the money, are reported by ReduceFlooding and are not confirmed here.
ReduceFlooding also reports that Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia pulled the disaster recovery update from the Commissioners Court agenda on October 15, and that it will be taken up at the court’s November 12 meeting, after the November 3 election. The agenda itself is public record and confirms the item was posted: Item 93, reference 26-6929, listed under the Flood Control District heading as a request for discussion and possible action on the Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery and mitigation programs managed by the district. The posted agenda does not record whether the item was pulled, and this desk has not found a vote record for that meeting.
One figure in the ReduceFlooding article does not match itself. Its opening paragraph gives the amount as $133 million while its headline and the rest of the piece give $113 million. The letter settles it: the district’s own number is approximately $113 million.
Why it matters here
This is Harvey money for flood control work in the county that contains Kingwood, Humble, Atascocita and Huffman, and the Flood Control District is the agency that builds drainage and channel projects upstream of Lake Houston. Lake Houston Today reported on October 13 that the court was taking up 44 flood control items, and on October 16 that the district’s new executive director named delivering projects as his priority. If a third of this particular pot goes unspent, that is a material change to the picture those stories describe.
