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Hardin County approves budget amendment, authorizes return of FEMA mitigation funds
Summary
The Hardin County Commissioner's Court approved a budget amendment to account for an overpayment to vendor MPTX Associates and authorized returning unused FEMA mitigation funds to the Texas Division of Emergency Management for projects tied to Hurricane Harvey.
The Hardin County Commissioner's Court on Tuesday approved a budget amendment to move $73,879 from contingency to a Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) transfers account and authorized returning $151,863.66 in unused FEMA-related advance payments to the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) for projects tied to Hurricane Harvey.
The action addresses an overpayment to vendor MPTX Associates related to FEMA Hazard Mitigation Project DR-4332-0052. The court approved the budget amendment “to account for overpayments made to MPTX Associates for FEMA Hazard Gator FEMA Hazard Mitigation Project, DR43320052 related to ... Hurricane Harvey,” the presiding official said during the meeting. The court then voted to authorize payment to TDEM to return unused advance funds.
Why it matters: the funds come from federal disaster resources administered through TDEM and FEMA and are intended for buyout and property-acquisition work under HMGP. Returning unused advances and correcting overpayments affects county accounting for those buyout projects and the availability of federal grant funds for completion of property acquisitions.
During discussion the presiding official noted the vendor has been placed on payment hold since February and that “we do have a little over $28,000 in checks that are, held in the treasurer's safe, to offset this amount.” The record links the budget amendment to an identified overpayment; the presiding official later stated the overpayment figure as $73,008.79 when explaining the reason for the TDEM repayment authority. The court did not further reconcile the two overpayment figures during the recorded discussion.
Assistant Chief Michael Bradbury submitted a request on 04/22/2025 asking the county to return the unused advance payment received from TDEM for FEMA Hazard Mitigation Project DR-4332-0052, the presiding official said. The court authorized the $151,863.66 payment to TDEM pursuant to that request.
A motion to approve the budget amendment was made by Commissioner Kirkendall and seconded by Commissioner Cook; the motion passed. A separate motion to authorize the payment to TDEM was made by Commissioner Young and seconded by Commissioner Cook; that motion also passed.
The court’s minutes show the county is withholding some checks as an offset and has the vendor on payment hold; the county did not provide additional detail in the recorded remarks about the process or timeline for reconciling the differing dollar amounts mentioned at the meeting.
