In the last nine years, federal funding for a system has been denied to the county as it contends with a tax base hostile to government over
Kerr County is the Texas county most affected by the deadly flash floods last week.
Texas has been run by Republicans for 30 years. The state's emergency agency rejected a plan which the county submitted.
“I think we need a system that can be operated or controlled by a centralized location where – whether it's the Sheriff's communication personnel, myself or whatever, and it's just a redundant system that will complement what we currently have,” (W.B. "Dub") Thomas (Kerr County’s emergency management coordinator) said that year. By the next year, officials had sent off its application for a $731,413 grant to FEMA to help bring $976,000 worth of flood warning upgrades, including 10 high water detection systems without flashers, 20 gauges, possible outdoor sirens, and more. “The purpose of this project is to provide Kerr County with a flood warning system,” the county wrote in its application. “The System will be utilized for mass notification to citizens about high water levels and flooding conditions throughout Kerr County.” But the Texas Division of Emergency Management, which oversees billions of FEMA dollars designed to prevent disasters, denied the application because they didn’t have a current hazard mitigation plan. They resubmitted it, news outlets reported, but by then, priority was given to counties that had suffered damage from Hurricane Harvey.
And then the heavily MAGA county shot itself in the foot by rejecting aid from the Biden administration. (emphasis added)
In 2021, Kerr County was awarded a $10.2 million windfall from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, which Congress passed that same year to support local governments impacted by the pandemic. Cities and counties were given flexibility to use the money on a variety of expenses, including those related to storm-related infrastructure. Corpus Christi, for example, allocated $15 million of its ARPA funding to “rehabilitate and/or replace aging storm water infrastructure.” Waco’s McLennan County spent $868,000 on low water crossings. Kerr County did not opt for ARPA to fund flood warning systems despite commissioners discussing such projects nearly two dozen times since 2016. In fact, a survey sent to residents about ARPA spending showed that 42% of the 180 responses wanted to reject the $10 million bonus altogether, largely on political grounds. “I’m here to ask this court today to send this money back to the Biden administration, which I consider to be the most criminal treasonous communist government ever to hold the White House,” one resident told commissioners in April 2022, fearing strings were attached to the money.
In the eyes of some politically hyperventilating Kerr County residents, it's better to have flooding than money from the "most criminal treasonous communist government". FYI: "communist" = anybody to the left of "Lyin' Ted" Cruz.
Probably over 200 people are now dead in Texas because of the flooding. This is unequivocally a MAGA Republican disaster. Self-delusional politics and administrative ineptitude were given priority over public safety; from Kristi Noem to timid Kerr County officials, this reeks of tragic idiocy.
