Spring vote on levee levy likely

Property owners in much of Sutter and southern Butte counties appear likely to see a mail-ballot election this spring on whether to enact an assessment to strengthen up to 44 miles of Feather River levees.

The Sutter-Butte Flood Control Agency's board of directors discussed possible assessment amounts at a meeting Wednesday afternoon in Yuba City, but officials noted firmer numbers still need to be determined before any ballots go out.

"The numbers change because of areas in eastern Yuba City that don't gain as much benefit as we originally thought," said Robert Cermak, a senior project manager with Sacramento engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff. "It's a reshuffling of the card deck."

Under what's being discussed by the agency, river levees from the Thermalito Afterbay near Oroville to where the Sutter Bypass ties back into the river south of Yuba City would be upgraded to provide 200-year flood protection for most of the area.

Bill Edgar, the agency's interim executive director, said repairing all seven segments would cost about $285 million, with a split of roughly 65 percent paid by the state and 35 percent by property owners.

Though the percentage could shift further onto the state, under the existing formula the assessment would need to raise about $100 million, said David Peterson, a Folsom engineer working with the agency.

The assessment amount for a particular property owner would be based on a number of factors, including what the property was being used for, how deeply the property would be flooded in a levee break, and how much benefit the property received from better levees.

Generally, a large house south of Yuba City would have a higher assessment, while agricultural land near Gridley would be lower.

Agency officials said there are two caveats: east Yuba City residents who wouldn't benefit from levee work to the north of them, and property owners at the southern end of the affected region who would only have 100-year flood protection, because their property could still be flooded by the Sutter Bypass.

The agency board will discuss a draft version of an assessment district at its next meeting, and could formally enact a mail-ba lot election in April.

Once ballots go out, property owners will have 45 days to vote whether to create the assessment district and return the ballot to the agency, whose board could formally adopt the assessment in June if a majority of the voters favor it.

Edgar said the agency is moving quickly because of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's looming deadline to re-map areas for flood risk, with the potential for sizable flood insurance rate hikes if areas in Sutter and Butte counties along the Feather River are determined to be at risk for flooding.

"We need the assessment on the rolls this year to get the work started," he said.

This is a corrected version of what appeared in print. Contact Appeal reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com