Corps has few answers for district

South Lafourche Levee District plans to move ahead with work either way

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers representative was put in the hot seat last week as South Lafourche Levee District officials sought an explanation for the lack of funds for improving levees in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

There were few answers.

Al Naomi, a longtime Corps official based in New Orleans, was grilled about why the district was left out of funding bills in the aftermath of last year’s hurricane season.

“We have taxed ourselves while others have not,” said levee district General Manager Windell Curole. “Why have we not been funded in any of the appropriations bills?”

The levee district had asked for $190 million to improve the ring levee around south Lafourche, but Congress rebuffed the request. However, the levee district was awarded $4 million in a hurricane-funding bill. Curole said the monies will be used to finish the final lift on the original levee plan, not levee improvements.

“You didn’t receive major funding because your area did not receive serious damage,” Naomi said.

Board members argued the decision penalized South Lafourche for successfully developing a system to keep storm waters out of area homes.

“The levee and the levee district did its job last hurricane season and we get punished,” said board member Richard “Dick” Guidry.

But Naomi theorized that Congress historically acts retroactively by throwing money after the fact. The Corps’ national budget is also considered to be discretionary spending, he said, unlike other programs that are fully funded annually.

The Corps has also seen its budget dwindle yearly over the last decade, he said.

“We can’t keep doing that if we are expected to build these projects that people are demanding,” Naomi said. “Levees are sinking and degrading faster than we can get the funds to elevate or rebuild them.”

Curole argued that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Corps had paid scant attention to the levee district’s needs, even though the ring levee system proved to be one of the few successful flooding deterrents in south Louisiana.

The levee district general manager also noted the South Lafourche Levee District intends to continue its push for a sales tax increase next month. If voters OK the tax hike, he said levee improvements would go forward with or without the Corps’ blessing.

“We will work within the Corps’ parameters, but we can’t wait any longer,” Curole said.

“I wouldn’t wait either,” Naomi responded.

Included in the Corps’ proposed 2007 federal budget is a request for $62 million for improvements to the South Lafourche levee system, he said. Naomi said, however, he could not guarantee how much of that money would be authorized and appropriated.

South Lafourche voters will decide the fate of a one-cent hike in the sales tax to upgrade the ring levee system that surrounds the parish’s 10th Ward. Curole said the current system is under increasing stress because the ground is sinking in much of the area. Also, the loss of natural wetlands, which have served as a buffer against approaching storms, have left the area more vulnerable, he said.

The levee district collects 10 mills on property taxes, which generates about $2.5 million annually. Over half that amount is spent on levee construction and improvements, Curole said. The remainder is used for maintenance and operations.

The sales tax is expected to generate $3 to $4 million annually, Curole said, which would be used to shore up the ring levee system’s weakest area and, over time, possibly raise the entire system to a uniform height.

Levee heights currently range to 10 feet in Larose and as high as 13 feet near Golden Meadow, he said. The price tag for raising the entire system to 15 feet is about $100 million, Curole noted. That dollar figure includes monies to raise “hard structures” such as pump stations and discharge pipes.

Levee district officials delayed seeking a sales tax hike, but with no alternative funds forthcoming n including requests submitted to the Corps and cut by Congress n Curole said the vote became essential to ensure homeowners in the area are protected.