City street, drainage fee delivering too little pavement for Houston drivers

Houstonians still waiting 12 years later for city to fix worn out roads

Neighborhoods which flood and thousands of miles of worn out roads are two of the "problems" Houston leaders promised to ease 12 years ago. That's when Houstonians accepted a special street and drainage fee. FOX 26 Political Reporter Greg Groogan reports on some pretty discouraging numbers for residents still waiting for fresh pavement.

HOUSTON - Since 2010, Houston taxpayers have shelled out more than $1 billion to get a handle on the city's battered streets, but what they've gotten in return is far less pavement than they had hoped.

Approval of the street and drainage fee, which critics call the "Rain Tax", provided a revenue-generating levy producing more than $100 million a year.

Its promoters claimed the measure was "solely dedicated" to controlling floodwater and replacing roadways.

"They were wanting that money to start immediately fixing things in the City, and it just hasn't happened to the degree that we want it to happen," said Council Member Michael Kubosh.

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That appears to be an understatement.

Analysis by FOX 26 contributor Bill King found the City has re-surfaced an average of 146 miles of roadway during each of the past five years.

That's a problem because Houston has 16,000 miles of streets to maintain, necessitating 400 miles of replacement each year, just to keep up with normal wear and tear.

Council Member Robert Gallegos, who called the numbers "startling", concedes he's been forced to use his district service funds for vital road work the City hasn't yet reached.

"It hurts when I have to spend some of that money for concrete panel replacements, you know, which are very expensive," said Gallegos.

Council Member Tiffany Thomas faces the same issue.

"My limited funds I have in the City to do projects, I would love to redirect the majority of that money to investing in quality of life, our green spaces to and other things to enhance our district. So it's difficult," said Thomas.

As for the whereabouts of that nine-figure annual "rain tax" Houstonians already pay, Councilman Kubosh points to the hundreds of aging water pipes bursting with alarming regularity beneath our City.

"Are we going to re-pave a road or are we going to fix the water pipes? I say we've got to fix the water pipes and deal with the roads as we can," said Kubosh who claims the City is currently losing 16 percent of its purified water to leaks.

Council Member Gallegos says the difficult answer to the paving deficit and other City shortages is collecting additional taxes by lifting the voter-imposed revenue cap.

Meantime, King reports the amount of asphalt for road resurfacing purchased by the City has plummeted by nearly half since 2004.