Uncertainty: If state funding continues to elude the county, Twin Cities could provide backup
By Brian Mittge, The Chronicle, 5/7/2002
They're not sure exactly where the money will come from, but county leaders have agreed to authorize spending $650,000 on continued flood studies as a federal deadline draws nearer.
Lewis County Commissioners still hope the state will kick in the money for environmental studies, as promised, although the Department of Transportation is struggling with its own budget problems and recently stripped funding from this and many other statewide projects.
City leaders from Centralia and Chehalis will decide in meetings later this month whether to sign a backup plan that would have the county and cities each paying about $216,000 to continue work through June.
Local officials, eager for a planned $70 million Army Corps of Engineers flood control project to go forward, are sandwiched between major budget uncertainty and a solid Congressional deadline for environmental studies.
By June 30 Congress will decide whether to include the Chehalis River flooding project in the 2002 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), a blueprint for Corps work around the nation.
Inclusion in that bill is critical for the current Army Corps of Engineers' plan to build protective dikes around the Twin Cities and improve the Skookumchuck Dam to hold back more water.
If the local project makes it, work could begin as soon as 2005, although funding must still be approved on the state and federal level. If the project doesn't make it into the WRDA bill, flood control work would be delayed by at least two more years.
The action commissioners took Monday approves an interlocal agreement between the county, Chehalis, and Centralia. The county will only go forward if the cities come along to share any costs in the immediate future, Commissioner Richard Graham said.
''If they don't sign it, it doesn't go anywhere,'' Graham said of the interlocal agreement.
Chehalis is pursuing one alternate source of funding: a $400,000 loan from the Washington Public Works Trust Fund, which would pay for work through the end of the year, if it is approved, said Lewis County Chief Administrative Officer Connie Robins.
Chehalis' public meeting is planned for 3 p.m. May 13; Centralia's is set for 7 p.m. May 14.
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Brian Mittge covers local government for The Chronicle. He may be reached by e-mail at bmittge@chronline.com, or by telephoning 807-8237.
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