(a) The commissioner shall make qualified payments to a coastal county based on the land office’s estimate of the expected project costs of any qualified projects undertaken by that county in the fiscal year in which the payment is made.
(b) To the extent that the aggregate of qualified payments by the commissioner to a coastal county in a fiscal year exceeds the project costs of qualified projects undertaken by the county during that year, the commissioner shall recover the amount of the overpayment by:
(1) requiring the county to remit the amount of the overpayment to the commissioner for deposit in the coastal protection and improvement fund; or
(2) taking a credit against qualified payments due that county the following year or years.

(c) If a coastal county that received an overpayment is not due additional qualified payments the following year, the county shall promptly remit the amount of the overpayment to the commissioner for deposit in the coastal protection and improvement fund.
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (b), the commissioner may not take a credit against qualified payments due a coastal county the following year if the county needs the full amount of the qualified payment that year to:
(1) pay the principal or interest on, or the redemption price of, bonds issued to finance a qualified project; or
(2) fund a reserve or other fund required by the documents authorizing the issuance of bonds.
(e) The failure of a coastal county to use the full amount of a qualified payment in the fiscal year in which it is received does not prejudice the right of the county to receive money from the coastal protection and improvement fund in future years as may be provided in the county’s qualified agreement.
(f) A coastal county may not use a qualified payment as a local match for funding under a state program.
(g) A coastal county may use a qualified payment as a local match for funding under a federal program.