Kent city officials hope to persuade the King County Flood Control District board to transfer money saved in a couple of Green River levee projects to help fund other city levee projects along the river.
Mike Mactutis, city environmental engineering manager, gave the Kent City Council an update about levee projects and potential funding by the flood control district at a July 2 council workshop. The flood control district is in the process of adopting its 2014 Capital Project list that includes projects through 2017.
“One of the challenges is to get new projects on the budget and whether there are other places in the county to put funding from the transfers,” Mactutis said.
The flood district is funded by a property tax assessment of 10 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation to fund projects. That tax brings in about $40 million per year to help pay for projects along six county rivers, including the Green, Tolt, Snoqualmie and Cedar.
About $10 million pays for operating costs per year with $30 million going to fund capital projects, Mactutis said. About $7 million goes annually to the Green River basin.
City staff wants the flood control district to include four levee projects in its 2013-18 capital projects budget in addition to the $18 million Briscoe-Desimone levee approved earlier this year by the King County Flood Control District Board of Supervisors after a dispute between the city and county about the best repair method for the 2.5-mile levee.
Kent staff has proposed $9.5 million for the Lower Russell Road levee; $8.4 million for the Russell Road Upper levee; $6 million for the Milwaukee No. 2 levee; and $400,000 for the Myers Golf levee.
King County staff had budgeted $32 million for the Briscoe levee under its more extensive plan that the board voted down. That project will now cost an estimated $18 million, with construction starting this year.
The county also has $5.8 million budgeted for the Horseshoe Bend levee that city staff says no longer is needed because the levee meets federal standards. County staff wants to keep $2.6 million in the budget for potential property purchase near the Horseshoe Bend levee.
The county has budgeted $500,000 for the Lower Russell Road levee and $3.7 million for the Russell Road Upper levee.
The Flood Control District Advisory Committee will consider the capital projects budget at its July 18 meeting. The Flood Control District Executive Committee is expected to consider the capital projects at its Sept. 16 meeting before the budget goes to the full board, which is composed of the members of the King County Council.
“We need to revisit this,” said Council President Dennis Higgins about staying on top of the flood control district budget process. “If we don’t participate, we’ll be on the losing end of the bargain.”
County staff also wants to do a System-wide Improvement Framework (SWIF) to aid in the development of a framework to address key flood risk reduction issues on the Lower Green River. The SWIF study has a deadline of February 2015 and will prioritize capital projects to repair levees.
Kent has already spent money to study the levee repairs needed in the city and city officials don’t want those projects delayed because of the SWIF study.
“We do not object to SWIF but we’ve done the studies and don’t want to wait in the case of Kent because we’ve done the work,” City Public Works Director Tim LaPorte said to the council.
The city’s projects are aimed to have the entire levee system within city limits accredited by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to remove properties behind the levee from FEMA flood maps to reduce development restrictions and flood insurance requirements in the Kent Valley.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Albertson said it might be better to delay projects until the SWIF study is complete so cities can work on projects in tandem that help each city.
“We need to make sure we spend wisely and are we putting money in the right place for the whole system?” Albertson said.
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