Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo stressed that county agencies—including the toll road authority— spent millions of dollars without following a procurement process or maintaining a paper trail.
“Not only are [drivers] still paying tolls, the toll money is being spent without a procurement process,” said Hidalgo. Her comments came during an intense exchange with Flood Control Director Tina Petersen, after Petersen disclosed a $1 billion funding gap in the 2018 flood bond program—the largest flood infrastructure bond in the county’s history.
Like the Harris County Toll Road Authority, that project has similarly been plagued with procurement issues.
Hidalgo pressed Petersen and County Auditor Mike Post to produce documentation for all flood bond project contracts, saying the situation was “not fair to the taxpayers” and “I would like to see the receipts.”
“Be there with me now, not after you resign and after you quit,” said Hidalgo.
Issues with the Harris County Toll Road Authority, Engineering Department, and Flood Control District have been known since a 2024 audit.
Transparency has become a significant concern in the implementation of the flood bond. Dozens of community advocates attended the meeting, alleging the Flood Control District failed to keep residents informed about project plans and spending.
Activists urged officials to create an online dashboard that would show up-to-date information on project locations, status, funding sources, and changes.
Petersen acknowledged that the county’s existing flood project website is difficult to navigate and may be inadequate. Post agreed to give the court an update on procurement and transparency issues in the Flood Control District in the coming months.
The 2024 audit found that Harris County departments, including the Toll Road Authority, Engineering Department, and Flood Control District, maintained limited documentation on how vendors were chosen and often lacked conflict-of-interest disclosures. Some deficiencies dated back to 1977.
Auditors found “no paper trail” for many contract awards, including missing bid evaluations and selection committee records.
In response to the audit’s revelations, Hidalgo last year pushed to overhaul the system. She urged the county’s four commissioners to relinquish their authority to award contracts to the central purchasing department.
Hidalgo also highlighted that 93 percent of firms receiving certain contracts were campaign donors to members of the commissioners court, underscoring potential favoritism. She proposed moving contract oversight to the purchasing department—a reform estimated to cost $500,000—to improve accountability.
More than a year later, Hidalgo suggests little has changed. She noted that the auditor’s office had effectively been aware of these procurement issues for nearly half a century and demanded more aggressive action.
At this week’s meeting, Hidalgo said even county officials struggle to get “clear, concise” information from the Flood Control District.
She expects a detailed project-by-project accounting of all flood contracts soon, and cautioned that if her office doesn’t receive it, “it’ll be the last straw for me.”
The county auditor has committed to investigating and reporting back on the contracting process, as Hidalgo’s push for greater transparency and oversight in Harris County.
