Lack of transparency clouds Texas spending after Harvey
State records don't indicate which contracts are storm-related, making fund tracking — and spending accountability — nearly impossible.
Disaster recovery experts say the lack of transparency in
Here's a look at where some of the money has gone and what's not being tracked:
FEDERAL ASSISTANCE
The bulk of the federal money spent so far has gone through federal agencies, which — unlike
Those records show that as of
The federal government also maintained a centralized database to search for contracts awarded during the storm.
HOW
It's much harder to track federal money being distributed through the state.
So far, more than
Abbott, who divided funding coordination among several state agencies, appointed a commission to help hard-hit cities, towns and counties get reimbursed by
"We're on the service end of things, we're not really in the money trail," Copelin said.
Abbott spokesman
STATE PUBLIC ASSISTANCE
Another murky side of
About
There's also no specific code or marker in a public database of state contracts to indicate which contracts are related to Harvey, according to
"There's no way to say, 'Just give me Harvey contracts,' because there's no identifier for that," said
The database also doesn't reveal whether any individual contract was paid for with state or federal funds, or a combination of the two, DeSilva said.
The database is maintained by the Texas Comptroller's Office. Hirsch, the governor's spokesman, said the office is working on coding that would distinguish Harvey contracts from other state contracts.
STILL AWAITING FEDERAL HOUSING AID
About
When the money does arrive, it will be administered through the
The HUD money will be for long-term rebuilding efforts, such as replacing a flooded water-treatment plant or building new homes. The funding, through community development block grants, is intended to fill in the gaps after individuals and government agencies exhaust all other sources of funding.
BEST PRACTICES
"If everyone's kind of doing their own thing, it's very possible, from a hazard-mitigation standpoint, that things won't be effectively coordinated. Without a centralized approach, things can even function at cross purposes," Ferzan said.
Ferzan suggested
The
"With the magnitude of this year's storms, there have been a lot of questions about costs. There's been a push on
A lack of such transparency and oversight dogged federal agencies after Hurricane Katrina in
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