May 2, 2016 4:40 PM

Weather-related damage eats through additional funds for TPWD

The infrastructure in the system is aging together: “Essentially, this development is coming to the same age at the same time...It’s a wave crashing on us.”

Almost half of the additional revenue set aside to supplement the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s budget will be chewed up by the costs of catastrophic weather events that have occurred around the state in the last year.

Agency officials addressed a House Appropriations subcommittee this morning on the uses for the additional $83.6 million dedicated to state parks last session, which is about a quarter of the agency’s overall budget. The majority of that funding came from a dedication of excess revenue from the sporting goods tax, a provision passed in the last days of the session as House Bill 158.

Executive Director Carter Smith and his team from TPWD thanked the lawmakers for the infusion of funding, which will provide a stable ongoing revenue source for both short- and long-term plans for the 100 parks in the state. That’s critical as the backlog of deferred maintenance is now estimated at $700 million.

By Kimberly Reeves