Legislation would extend cost-share funding until 2016

By WES SANDER
Capital Press

A bill to extend state cost-sharing for maintaining levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has passed the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee.

SB808, by Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, passed on an 8-0 vote. It would extend the state's current reimbursements to local agencies for levee maintenance until 2016.

The Delta levee maintenance subvention program was created by SB541 in 1973. It has been modified several times, currently providing for annual reimbursements of up to 75 percent of costs exceeding $1,000 per mile of levee.

With no new alterations, the program will reduce to 50 percent of levee-repair costs in July. The amount reimbursed depends on an agency's ability to pay.

While the 1,100 miles of levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are mostly private, the state relies on their continued maintenance for the health of its water-conveyance system.

Wolk said the program's extension is essential while the Delta Stewardship Council, created by last year's package of Delta-centered water legislation, formulates a new Delta management plan.

"Regardless of future decisions on conveyance within the Delta, in the near term, Delta levees will continue to be the sole tool for water conveyance" for the state, Wolk said in a statement.

"If the formula returns to a 50-50 split, then the many small districts with a limited economic base would not be able to afford to maintain the Delta levees adequately," Wolk said.

Between 1996 and 2008, the state paid about $80 million in support through the program, according to a Senate analysis. General fund contributions to the fund are capped at $2 million annually.

New bond funding allowed the state's spending on the program to increase from $6 million to $16 million between the 2006-07 and 2007-08 fiscal years.