Levee assessment vote counting under way

Counting is under way on a long-anticipated vote to fund a 44-mile levee upgrade in Sutter and Butte counties.

Processing of about 14,000 ballots began Wednesday at Yuba City City Hall and is slated to continue through this afternoon, according to Kim Floyd, spokeswoman for the Sutter Butte Flood Control Agency.

The 45-day mail-in election, which ended June 30, will determine whether property owners will accept a new assessment to cover $72.5 million of a $250 million plan to upgrade flood walls on the Feather River's western bank. The agency would collect the funds for 33 years, with state bonds covering the remaining cost.

Upgrading the flood-control network won the support of counties and cities that are among the area's largest landholders, along with private companies such as prune packer Sunsweet Inc. But even with no organized opposition to the plan, one longtime flood-control director remained cautious.

"This is the first time people have voted, have had a really big shot at it," said Francis Silva, board chairman of Levee District No. 1 in Yuba City and a member of the Sutter Butte board. "I really don't see how the people can not vote for it — the consequences are disastrous if they don't pass it. I feel sure it will pass, but I've been wrong before."

The flood control agency is expected to announce the result no later than Wednesday, the date of its next board meeting in Yuba City.

Ballots are weighted according to each voter's property size, location, land use and building types, and a simple majority in favor is sufficient to pass the assessment.

Most homeowners would pay between $50 and $200 per year toward the levee project, with assessments generally higher farther south and downstream along the Feather.

Flood insurance rate hikes in 2008 for south Sutter County and the threat of a state curb on floodplain building permits after 2015 led the flood control agency to push for the overhaul, which is meant to remove or keep the area out of federal flood-hazard zones.

Flood control officials say the levee fortifications, which would run from the Sutter Bypass to the Thermalito Afterbay, will guard areas north of Yuba City against a once-in-200-years high-water mark on the Feather while providing a 100-year protection level in the south. Construction is slated to last from 2012 to 2014.

The Sacramento-based accounting firm Gallina LLP is conducting the vote count with help from 10 volunteer high school students from the Yuba City Unified School District.

CONTACT Howard Yune at 749-4708 or hyune@appealdemocrat.com.