Seeking flood funds

By JAY GOETTING, Register Staff Writer

For the first time in dozens of visits over the years to the nation's capital, Napa flood control officials will have direct contact with Bush administration representatives in their quest to bolster federal funding.

Napa County Supervisor Bill Dodd, who chairs the flood control board, Napa Mayor Jill Techel and Project Manager Heather Stanton leave today for Washington, D.C.

Dodd said they plan to meet with White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget. Dodd said, "That's where we need to be."

An OMB representative was recently in Napa, and local officials are hopeful the pump has been primed for their visit with a positive view of the project. Stanton said they will be carrying letters of support from a number of local agencies and businesses promoting the Napa flood control project as one of national significance.

That designation will help assure funding during the final year of construction.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has indicated it could do $22.4 million worth of work in the year ahead, yet the administration and Congress so far have only allotted half that. "We need to get the whole thing," said Dodd, adding that as the federal government withholds full funding, every year the project gets further behind its completion schedule, pegged now at about 2014.

Meanwhile, additional state funds on their way for the Napa project mean the project can now make more accurate projections of future spending and move the flood work to a more precise schedule.

District engineer Bob Peterson said another $3.2 million is on its way to Napa from Sacramento. That, along with a previously released $10 million in stat funds known as state subventions, allows development of a financial blueprint running all the way out to 2018, the year the half-cent sales tax for flood control sunsets.

Peterson wrote in a memo to flood directors, "the project is now in a position to fund all responsibilities."

Two weeks ago it was reported that the additional $10 million of the state's current obligation of more than $100 million was in hand. That money had been included in the state budget after exhaustive work by local lawmakers.

Project analyst Daisy Lee said that means money will be in hand to complete Imola area and Napa Creek property acquisitions and keep the project closer to its intended timetable. The project is considered just under 50 percent complete.

Peterson cautioned however that future state subventions shouldn't be counted on until they are in hand. Sacramento has a checkered past when it comes to reimbursing the Napa flood project for its share of expenses.

The updated financial forecast also allows funding for maintenance of the project to be more precisely budgeted.

Engineer Rick Thomasser said they still need more information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and still unknown is the extent to which the federal government will participate.

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