Support for the Feather River West Levee Financing Authority assessment

I strongly recommend that the Sutter County people who received a ballot for the levee maintenance assessment to vote yes. I live in Yuba City, and I am voting yes.

For over two decades, as the past

Yuba Water Agency general manager, I helped lead the levee improvements in Yuba County and gained substantial experience. This funding is essential to maintain the levees and to provide protection to life and property.

Sutter Butte Flood Control Agency (SBFCA) has done a fantastic job in constructing nearly $500 million in levee improvements to obtain the required 200-year level of protection to keep our community safe and be able to prosper. Most of the funding was granted by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the federal government.

It has always been the responsibility of Levee District (LD) 1 and 9 to maintain their levees up to the standards set by DWR and the Corps of Engineers. These standards have substantially increased, rightfully so, to protect the state’s and federal government’s investments and to protect us.

The historical assessments are not nearly enough to meet this need. As the past Yuba Water Agency general manager, I commissioned a study to investigate the level of funding needed to properly maintain our levees. The study showed that all the levee districts studied were substantially underfunded for the required maintenance under the old and new standards.

This is not a question of will we pay an increased assessment or not. If the assessment does not pass, over time LD 1 and 9 will not be able to perform the

required maintenance due to a lack of funding, which will eventually result in DWR taking over the levee maintenance.

Once this happens, DWR has the sole authority to raise the assessment, without a vote, to

the level determined by them to perform the maintenance. The assessment is a small price to pay to ensure our safety, keep flood insurance rates low and allow our community to grow and prosper.

We’ll all sleep better if levee maintenance is performed

by LD 1 and 9 with locally elected officials and employees that live in and care about our community. They have maintained our levees for decades; they know the history of the levees and they are part of the SBFCA Joint Powers Agreement.

I am convinced that our local

levee districts will manage the levees better, get more bang for the buck, and advocate better for our needs simply because they are part of our community.

Curt Aikens is the former general manager of Yuba Water Agency.