Mergers of levee districts explored

Task force is told idea makes sense

FILE — Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks during the first meeting of the Arkansas Levee Task Force that he established after spring 2019's historic flooding in Arkansas.
FILE — Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks during the first meeting of the Arkansas Levee Task Force that he established after spring 2019's historic flooding in Arkansas.

Arkansas Levee Task Force members listened Wednesday to a plan to consolidate levee districts, something that is already underway in Conway and Pope counties.

County Judge Jimmy Hart of Conway County told state and local officials gathered Wednesday at the Benton Convention Center about several levee districts in his county and Pope County that are being consolidated into a single district.

"We just used common sense," Hart said. "It doesn't make sense to have three levee districts on one [levee] system because if one breaches in Conway County then it will affect Pope, and if it breaches in Pope then it will affect Conway."

County Judge Ben Cross of Pope County said all three levee districts agreed to the consolidation.

Task force members discussed whether the concept being used in Pope and Conway counties should be considered for use statewide.

County Judge Mark Thone said Yell County is beginning the process of consolidating two levee districts in that county. Yell County experienced a breach of an unmanaged levee during historic flooding along the Arkansas River this spring.

"It just makes sense for consistency purposes," Thone said.

Streamlining levee district organization is a legal undertaking, but Arik Cruz, a law clerk with the Association of Arkansas Counties, said he has laid out several simple steps for counties to get the process of levee district consolidation started.

"We aren't going to try to do this," Hart said. "We are doing this."

Arkansas has more than 100 levee districts, based on reports submitted to the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission and records from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

A precise number of districts is difficult to determine because some districts known to one agency aren't known to another, and officials suspect that some districts haven't filed reports with county officials.

Some districts have successfully managed their levees for decades and will receive U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assistance and funding to rehabilitate their levees. Those resources will not be available for abandoned levee districts.

"We don't want to make one gigantic levee board statewide because some of these levee boards are in good standing and we don't want to punish them," Thone said. "But if you have two or three in one county, then it just makes sense."

Bruce Holland, director of the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, said forced consolidation could become necessary in some areas.

"When you force something it might be uncomfortable, but sometimes it's the right thing to do," he said. "Some of the levee districts depend on each other. There might need to be some serious consideration to force these levee districts to come together."

Levee districts may assess millages on property protected by a levee. Over time, assessments have been incorrectly left off many properties because of a district's failure to submit its annual assessment lists to county officials.

New levee assessments are needed to include all property owners who would be affected by a levee failure and have them help pay for the levee maintenance, Holland said.

As an example, County Judge Jeff Phillips of Jackson County told the task force about a levee in his county. Phillips said if the levee failed, it would pour water into Woodruff County as well, but Woodruff County residents don't pay for any of the maintenance on the Jackson County levee.

"Woodruff County needs to help, and I have been talking with their county judge," Phillips said. "If they help, then we can do a better job on upkeep on these levees."

Phillips also told the task force that Jackson County had completed an assessment on its levees and learned that half of the people who are protected by the barriers weren't paying for the upkeep.

"When we added people to the levee tax, we didn't get a lot of negative feedback," he said. "We explained to them how they never paid for it but were being protected. The majority of people didn't have a problem with it."

Cross said getting fresh assessments makes sense.

"You've got farmers paying a levee tax for a structure that protects much of the area," he said. "You've got to have levee assessment that fairly assesses who is being protected."

Thone said Yell County is doing such an assessment. He said he expects there to be some grumbling, but he said it's a process that needs to be done.

"They haven't been paying it for over 70 years," he said. "It's time to get it done."

Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, said money that levee districts are taking in will not be enough to get the system back into good standing.

"The 25 cents per acre is not a realistic figure anymore," he said. "One hundred acres adds up to $25. That is not enough."

Task force members said research is also being done to determine how much money it will take to get all of the state's levee districts certified. Officials said the Corps of Engineers had proposed a $160 million plan to shore up levees around the 75-year-old Tulsa-West Tulsa Levee System.

"We need to determine what it costs to get this done and if we need federal funding," said Holland, the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission director. "It never hurts to ask."

Metro on 09/26/2019

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