DETCOG adopts method to distribute $208 million in Ike recovery funds
Tyler County Booster - January 2010

The Deep East Texas Council of Governments (DETCOG) Board of Directors has voted unanimously to adopt a Method of Distribution (MOD) for the second round of Hurricane Ike recovery funds. That vote took place following DETCOG’s annual Christmas Luncheon in Jasper. The MOD was for $208,000,000 in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD) relief funds that the Texas Department of Rural Affairs (TDRA) has allocated for the twelve county DETCOG region. The method of distribution developed by DETCOG seeks to equitably make the funds available to the cities and counties in the region for infrastructure projects and housing. “Damages in the counties and cities nearer the coast were different from what we experienced in Deep East Texas,” said DETCOG Executive Director, Walter Diggles, “the councils of governments in those areas may have chosen different factors for their MOD’s. For DETCOG we followed the guidance from HUD and TDRA by using certifiable factors like population, FEMA reported damages, poverty and unemployment for dividing the funds.”