However, the funding for levee strengthening, while a necessary part of an overall structural flood protection strategy, is a negative cash flow process while the funding for the construction of a major new dam on the American River is a positive cash flow one, in that ultimately, some cash flow will be realized from the dam through the sale of water, electricity, and development around the shores of the lake created, as well as increasing it within the development accessible areas of the watershed.
This is, properly, the type of cost-benefit analysis, along with that of the value of 400-500+ year protection offered by a dam, vs the 100-200 offered by levees, that the public discussion should continue to highlight, both as a public service to a public needing sound information to make sound decisions and to deepen the reservoir of public knowledge grounding public good.
Here is an excerpt.
Putting a price on flood protection
By Deb Kollars -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, April 17, 2006
The need for better flood protection is dawning on communities across the region.
So is the price tag.
People living in various flood-prone zones may soon be facing new hits on their household budgets to cover flood control fixes.
Some smaller assessment increases would go for day-to-day maintenance work by local levee districts, while others would cover bigger construction projects designed to increase flood protection.
In the Natomas basin, a property assessment is being mulled that could run in the vicinity of $300 a year per home to cover about $300 million in flood control improvements.
In West Sacramento, leaders are weighing not one but two increases to existing assessments to cover a range of needs, from ongoing maintenance to geotechnical studies to possible construction projects.
People living on both sides of the American River in Sacramento likely will be asked next year to approve a small increase in the $8 to $26 they now pay annually for levee maintenance to cover rising costs...
...The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency, which handles big capital improvement projects benefiting the city of Sacramento and parts of Sacramento and Sutter counties, already has three assessments in place.
One covers operations and maintenance, while the other two have been paying for levee and other flood control improvements in both northern and southern areas.
The annual fees on single-family properties vary, depending on building size and proximity to flood control benefits. A property owner in Land Park, for example, pays about $22 a year for the operations assessment and $14 a year for a capital improvement assessment.
A typical homeowner in Natomas was paying about $100 a year when a levee improvement assessment for that area went into effect about 10 years ago; federal reimbursements are bringing that figure down to about $70 a year, said Stein Buer, executive director of the agency, known as SAFCA.
In the past, Sacramento flood control projects have relied on the federal government for authorization and much of the funding.
But for its next big construction step, SAFCA wants to go it alone, then seek some federal reimbursement later.
Working through the federal government can take as many as 20 years to get a project approved and built. The next round of work in Natomas to address deep underseepage is urgent and can't wait that long, Buer said.
"We want to be in construction by next summer," Buer said recently, noting it would take as many as five years for construction to commence if it were a federal project. federal government for help. But local folks will have to chip in, too, said Jeff Foltz, Yuba City's city manager.
