Imagine you purchased a new car five years ago. Remember that wonderful new car smell? Since then, each year you put 20,000 miles on the vehicle and you’ve watched the odometer move closer and closer, and finally pass the 100,000 mile mark. Time for a new car right?
Maybe not. Car and Driver reports that “standard cars in this day and age are expected to keep running up to 200,000 miles, while cars with electric engines are expected to last for up to 300,000 miles.” Consumer Reports tells us that car longevity “comes down to keeping your car well maintained.”
If your car was well maintained while you drove those first 100,000 miles, you probably could delay the purchase of a new one. But, if you put off changing the oil and doing the other recommended maintenance work, you might suffer a breakdown late at night, so a new car might be wise.
The same need for maintenance is true for the flood control infrastructure in our area. The bayous, channels, and ponds designed, built, and maintained by the Harris County Flood Control District help reduce flood risk, but they don’t last forever. While flood control facilities don’t need oil changes, they do need regular maintenance. Debris and sediment must be removed. Trees and landscapes need to be pruned and mowed. Broken pipes and concrete panels need to be fixed.
If we don’t maintain our flood control facilities, the risk of flooding increases for all of us.
Property owners in Harris County currently pay 3.1 cents per $100 of assessed value to the Flood Control District. This means the owner of a $100,000 property pays $31 each year to help reduce flood risk. Each year the property tax generates about $128 million each year.
That sounds like a lot, but current revenue is insufficient to adequately maintain our flood control facilities. Flood control features, like channels and ponds, have an anticipated lifespan of from 50 to 100 years. An assessment of the anticipated life span of our flood control facilities showed that current revenue will only allow us to replace our flood control infrastructure once every 270 years — or almost 3 to 6 times longer than they are expected to last!
The new car example helps illustrate this. Imagine driving a car with 3 to 6 times more miles than its anticipated end of life odometer reading. Since cars have an anticipated lifespan of 200,000 miles, the old car you are driving in this thought experiment would have 600,000 or 1.2 million miles on the odometer! Perhaps it is time to get a new car!
On election day, November 5, 2024, voters in Harris County will be presented with a proposed tax rate increase for the Flood Control District. The proposal will increase the tax rate by 58% from 3.1 cents to 4.8 cents per $100 of assessed value. This will generate sufficient revenue to allow us to replace our flood control infrastructure once every 67 years. This proposal was placed on the ballot by all five elected leaders of Harris County.
In the same way most car owners invest in maintenance and save for a replacement vehicle to avoid late night breakdowns on the side of the road; I encourage Harris County voters to vote FOR the proposed tax rate increase to make sure our flood control infrastructure will be well maintained.