Travis Buski, chief operations officer for the Nueces River Authority, told the Dimmit County commissioners on Nov. 10 that the Authority has been awarded a Texas Water Development Board grant to update flood maps across the region and that most county maps are decades out of date.

Buski said the regional program would remap the entire county at 6‑inch resolution, produce watershed modeling, and support development of a multi‑county early‑warning system. He said Dimmit County’s last FEMA countywide modeling was completed in 1987 and that the most recent FEMA revision in 2007 covered only river corridors, leaving most populated areas unmodeled. The Authority estimates about 993 residents live inside the 100‑year floodplain—roughly 16% of the county’s population by the Authority’s count.

The total regional budget the Authority is pursuing is roughly $30 million. Under the grant terms presented, Dimmit County’s 25% local match would be about $382,000. Buski said the Authority can offer participating counties a 10‑year, 0% interest loan to repay the match, which would amount to about $38,000 per year, and that the authority has arranged options to spread local costs so counties need not pay the full match up front.

Commissioners pressed for details: how updated maps would be used by road and infrastructure planners, whether the modeling would include county roads and non‑residential structures, and what would happen to high‑hazard dam inspections. Buski said the products are GIS‑based, include county and city roads, show all residential and nonresidential structures, and would support project development for state funding. He said inspections of 58 high‑hazard dams would be part of the program and that the Army Corps of Engineers and the state land or water bureau would handle repairs if hazards are found.

Several commissioners asked about the draft interlocal agreement that accompanied the presentation; the court noted placeholders and county name errors in the exhibit and moved to table the interlocal agreement to allow staff to correct the draft and return with updated figures.

The court did not vote to commit to the match during the Nov. 10 meeting; commissioners were provided a timeline from the Authority indicating a decision point around January so the mapping work could begin in March 2026 if the county opts in.