Citing inadequate federal funding, Napa officials estimate that the Napa flood project will be finished in 2016, not 2015 as was predicted a year ago.

The schedule could slip even further. President Bush’s proposed budget for 2008/09 contains $7.5 million for flood control. This is only a third of the $22.8 million that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants.

Local officials intend to mount a vigorous lobbying campaign to boost federal funding for next year, said Heather Stanton, local project manager.

The lobbying effort has become an annual event as flood control officials continually see federal budgets smaller than they hoped for coming from Washington.

It’s unfortunate that the federal government is having budget difficulties at the same time that the corps wants to award its most expensive construction contract since the flood project was approved by voters in 1998, Stanton said.

The corps expects to award a contract in late summer for the construction of two railroad bridges and the eastward shift of Napa Valley Wine Train tracks in the Oxbow District.

Now estimated to cost $48 million, this work had been expected to take two and a half years, Stanton said. But if the federal money isn’t there, construction could end up taking substantially longer, she said.

Napa will ask Congress to increase next year’s allocation to something much closer to the $22.8 million that the corps needs, Stanton said.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, said he would be working with California’s two senators to get more for Napa than the president’s $7.5 million, but he didn’t hold out much hope that Napa would get the requested $22.8 million.

“(Bush) has not been generous with flood control funding from day one and we have to recognize that,” Thompson said Wednesday.

The president’s budget for next year would cut billions of dollars from domestic programs, yet still end up with a $410 billion deficit, Thompson said.

At the same time, the corps may have an inflated sense of what it can realistically spend next year in Napa, he said. “I wouldn’t put too much stock in what corps’ capabilities are,” Thompson said.

Stanton defended the corps’ request for $22.8 million for 2008/09 as realistic. If the federal allocation is less, this will likely delay the start of work on Napa Creek flood defenses, she said.

Under the current timetable, construction of terraces and culverts on Napa Creek would start in late 2010 and take two years. The cost is now estimated at $20 million, $5 million more than previously thought.

Linda Kerr, a leader of a Napa Creek neighborhood group, In Harm’s Way, said she wasn’t surprised that the creek schedule could slip.

Because federal funding has lagged, “we’d predicted it will be built closer to 2013. I still think that’s more realistic,” she said Wednesday.

Every year’s delay exposes residents and businesses in the creek’s flood zone to added risk of water damage, Kerr said.

Kerr said she is hopeful that the city and the flood district could receive state grants to tackle parts of Napa Creek defenses sooner than 2010.

“These are long shots,” Kerr said of the grant applications. “If you could secure all these grants, you could actually do (Napa Creek) without federal funding.”

Currently, a federal contractor is wrapping up construction of a promenade and flood wall on the west side of the river from Napa Mill to First Street and the reconstruction of Veteran’s Memorial Park.

When the railroad contract is awarded later this year, the first piece of work will be the construction of a railroad bridge over the planned flood bypass channel at McKinstry Street, Stanton said.

The second priority is the construction of a replacement railroad bridge over the Napa River when funds become available.

Congress allocated $10.8 million for Napa flood project construction and planning in 2007/08, which was some $3 million more than Bush had proposed.

The company that wins the railroad contract will stay on the job however long it takes for federal allocations to fund the work, Stanton said.

It took a special federal waiver to be able to award a comprehensive contract rather than break the railroad work into pieces, Stanton said.

When local officials travel to Washington in April to lobby Congress, they will argue that Wine Train faces additional years of construction mess unless federal funding is increased, Stanton said.

On Tuesday, the Napa City Council passed a resolution supporting the corps’ request for $22.8 million for next year.

Historically, the city suffers a significant financial blow each time the Napa River floods. The New Year’s Eve flood of December 2005 caused the city $70 million in damage, the council said.