Voters will be given a second chance to help fund the Flood Control Zone District

DAYTON—The Board of Columbia County Commissioners has agreed to ask voters for help with funding the Flood Control Zone District (FCZD), again, this year.

Proposition 1, asking voters to approve a permanent general excess levy of $0.10 per $1,000 of assessed value to help fund the Flood Control Zone District, will go before voters again in the November General Election.

If passed, the levy will generate an estimated $100,000 each year to be used by the FCZD for grant matches and a program that will include a sandbag program for public use.

Flood Control Zone District Administrator, Charles Eaton said the county sustained $4.2 million in damages to infrastructure from the recent flood in February.

The County Road Fund can’t be used for flood damage mitigation and matches for FEMA grants can only come from the FCZD, which currently has a zero balance, said Eaton.

The cost for removing woody and granular debris from the Touchet River at three areas of the Dayton levee and at the Star Bridge on South Touchet Road is estimated at $291,000 and is the county’s responsibility to do.

“That has to go through the Flood Control Zone District or from the commissioners themselves,” Eaton said.

The county commissioners are hopeful the recent flood will motivate voters, and they will come through this time.

In November 2019 voters were asked to approve a permanent general excess levy, with the same terms, to kick-start that program, but the proposition failed to gain a (65%) supermajority, to pass.