Ballots sent for assessment: Officials stress passage to keep area levees under local control

May 11—Some Sutter County residents and businesses started receiving ballots for a special election related to a new assessment that could be imposed to help with the required operation and maintenance of levees that protect those within the county.

Currently, costs related to this maintenance are considered inadequate.

"I essentially, and my staff of two, take care of that 25-mile stretch (of Levee District 1 and Levee District 9)," Drew Stresser, who represents Levee District 1, said. "Regulations, inflation, increased costs, we haven't had an increase since 1999."

To help resolve this, the public will now decide whether or not a new assessment should be created in order to prevent the state from taking over the related levee districts should local control no longer be viable.

"If it doesn't pass, Levee District 1 and Levee District 9, they'll just simply go bankrupt and this has happened many many times," Mike Inamine, a principal project director for HDR, a company that specializes in engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services, said. "They go bankrupt, they go away, and the state says, 'OK fine.' There's a whole process for this, it's been done many times, they come in and they just impose assessments on everybody. The locals lose control and the state assesses whatever they choose to assess, no vote from people."

According to the Feather River West Levee Financing Authority (FRWLFA), a joint powers agency formed in 2020 by Levee District 1, Levee District 9 and Sutter County with an agreement to work together on long-term funding for levee operations and maintenance, an assessment is an "annual cost paid on each parcel of land that receives a special benefit from a service. In this case, the special benefit is the reduction in flood damages that results from properly maintained levees. Assessments are calculated for each individual parcel using a variety of factors, like land use type, parcel size, structure type and size, and flood depths."

FRWLFA said if the new assessment is approved by property owners, then money will be collected annually on property tax bills and used to pay for levee operations and maintenance. Assessment revenues cannot be used for any other purpose, FRWLFA said.

According to FRWLFA, if voters do not pass the assessment, then the levee districts will no longer have the funds necessary to continue proper maintenance.

"If the Assessment is not approved by property owners, levee districts will run out of money to operate and maintain levees as required," FRWLFA said. "Once that occurs, the only option will be to turn over levee operations and maintenance to the State. Costs, which will be passed on to property owners without a vote, will fluctuate unpredictably and be higher in the long term. The community will not have local levee districts to prioritize emergency response and flood fighting during high water events."

According to FRWLFA, a new assessment is needed because there is currently a shortfall of funding to properly maintain levees on a local level.

"Recently repaired levees must be maintained to strict state and federal requirements. Currently, there is a $1.3 million shortfall between existing and needed revenues to adequately fund levee maintenance," FRWLFA said in a newsletter about the proposed assessment. "These levees protect approximately 25,000 properties and 75,000 residents in Live Oak, Yuba City, and unincorporated Sutter County, so they must be properly operated and maintained to reduce the potential for flooding."

Stresser said it costs about $1.9 million each year to currently maintain the area.

Barbara LeVake, who previously served on the Levee District 1 board, is attempting to raise awareness about the possibility of a state takeover.

"Way back when, 12 years ago when we passed the benefit assessment, we raised money to improve the levees," LeVake said. "... Now that we've done what we needed to do and certified the levees, then we need to operate and maintain them. If we do not do it locally, then the state will come in and assess."

LeVake and Inamine both stressed that if the state is forced to come and intervene with the assessment process, then costs could be higher for affected residents and businesses.

Inamine, who is helping to provide technical support for the proposed assessment district, was the executive director of the Sutter Butte Flood Control Agency from 2011 to 2019.

"Between 2011 and 2020, there's been $470 million of actually necessary work that's been put into the levees," Inamine said. "That was the capital improvement program. Now, what we're talking about is the long term, forever O&M (operations and maintenance) of the levees."

Inamine said an important factor for the public to realize is that "new and more rigorous" state and federal requirements must be met in order to operate and maintain any given levee.

"Under a relatively new state law, that was passed in 2007, you cannot grow and develop unless you have 200-year certification (of flood protection)," Inamine said. "So FEMA requires 100-year, the new state law says if you want to grow and develop in an urbanized area, like Yuba City and Live Oak, you need to have 200-year level protection. Well if you don't operate and maintain the levees, you're not going to have certification."

He said along with state requirements, the federal government also has interest in making sure levees are properly maintained.

"Because the federal government has an interest in this, because they put a little bit of money into this, you have to operate and maintain. ... If you don't operate and maintain the levees or if there's nobody there to operate and maintain the levees, they're not eligible for emergency funding," Inamine said. "So the federal government still has an interest in the levees, in whatever state it is, as long as you operate and maintain it."

Currently, there are two assessments imposed on Levee District 1, none for Levee District 9 and one assessment for Maintenance Area 3, which is maintained by the state. Inamine said the assessment proposed by FRWLFA will both create an assessment and replace any existing agreements.

"Think of it as a replacement assessment. It replaces actually three assessments," he said.

LeVake clarified which assessments would be affected.

"Only the Levee District 1 assessments. It does not replace the capital improvement assessment," she said.

Inamine said the capital improvement assessment will go away, but the operation and maintenance assessment will be a "forever cost."

If approved by voters, the new assessment will be controlled by the FRWLFA Operations and Maintenance Assessment District.

"Because it's a special benefit, it has to be voted on and approved by a majority of those voting," Inamine said. "So there's 25,000 properties that comprise this whole area and you have to get over 50 percent of those who vote in order for it to pass. And then, the FRWLFA board, they may or may not decide to propose an assessment."

Completed ballots for this special election must be received by the FRWLFA board clerk no later than the close of the public testimony portion of a public hearing which is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 22, in the Yuba City City Council Chambers, located at 1201 Civic Center Blvd. in Yuba City.

Prior to the June 22 public hearing, completed ballots can be mailed to the FRWLFA board clerk at P.O. Box M, Yuba City, CA 95991. Ballots also can be personally delivered to the Levee District 1 office at 243 Second St. in Yuba City, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For those that return their ballots by mail, the FRWLFA board clerk must receive all ballots no later than the end of the public testimony portion of the June 22 public hearing.

If a ballot is damaged or misplaced, a replacement ballot can be obtained by calling FRWLFA at 800-401-8302 or emailing info@frwlfa.org.