Levee district budgets $4.7M for Bayou Chene flood work

FRANKLIN — The St. Mary Levee District’s proposed 2016 budget includes about $4.7 million to complete most of the design work on the Bayou Chene Flood Control and Diversion Project, which will protect five parishes from flooding.
The St. Mary Levee District Commission met Thursday at the Parish Courthouse.
At the meeting, Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte presented the district’s proposed 2016 budget. Matte is projecting lower property tax revenues in the coming year, decreasing from an estimated $2.88 million to $2.62 million from 2015 to 2016, he said. Total revenues expected for 2016 are expected to be $3.74 million.
District officials have budgeted $4.73 million in expenditures for the Bayou Chene Flood Control and Diversion Project, which would get the project through roughly 90 percent of the preliminary and final design process, Matte said. The remaining 10 percent of the final design phase would be done in 2017, Matte said.
In August, the levee district learned it will receive BP oil spill settlement money from the Restore Act to fund the Bayou Chene project.
The levee district plans to finish both the preliminary and final design of the project by February 2017 when Restore Act funds become available.
The Bayou Chene Flood Control and Diversion Project involves installing a permanent structure on Bayou Chene in the Amelia area, near the former McDermott yard, with a barge that can be sunk in the event of a flood to stop flood waters from traveling through Bayou Chene. The structure is expected to have a 250-foot opening for vessel traffic to pass through except when the structure is in use for flood protection.
The structure will protect St. Mary, Terrebonne, Lafourche, lower St. Martin and Assumption parishes from flooding.
Levee district leaders expect to receive roughly $1.1 million in 2016 from a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant, which is dedicated to the Bayou Chene project, Matte said.
Overall, levee district officials expect to spend about $6.4 million in 2016, and that would leave the district with a $4 million fund balance at the end of the year, Matte said.
The St. Mary Levee District has an extensive backlog of projects with the project to close Bayou Teche at its intersection with the Charenton Canal expected to cost $10 million alone, Matte said. Other projects include ones in Morgan City and on the levees west of the Charenton Canal, he said.
The district has to have a system of accumulating funds to be able to pay for all the projects it plans to do, so having a healthy fund balance to draw on is important, Matte said.
A public hearing on the proposed budget will be held at the levee district’s Dec. 10 meeting.
Also at Thursday’s meeting, Matte said that levee district officials closed the Franklin Canal floodgate Oct. 24 and pumped the canal down by 1 foot in anticipation of heavy rains. On Oct. 25, the levee district operated the pumps at full capacity for over eight hours. Though the pumps worked well, having two more pumps to use would be appropriate, Matte said.
Officials reported that levee slide repairs on the west end of the parish are substantially complete. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also completed quarterly parish levee inspections in October and found no major issues, Matte said.