Looks like we're about to get the hose again.
Funding for Arkansas River dams in doubt as Oklahoma board requires further action
OKLAHOMA CITY - State funding for a series of dams along the Arkansas River in the Tulsa area is again in doubt after a state board insisted last week that bond plans for the project be approved by the Legislature again.
The Legislature has approved $25 million in bonds for the project twice, and twice more has approved appropriations for the project, but the Oklahoma Council of Bond Oversight voted to approve the bond sale only if the Legislature passes a concurrent resolution acknowledging that not all the dam projects will be completed with the state money and that expected federal funding for the project wouldn't be forthcoming, State Bond Advisor Jim Joseph said.
Both of those points are challenged by dam supporters.
"The project has been endorsed by the Legislature on four occasions, and the projects never changed," River Parks Authority Chairman Ken Levit said.
Under pressure from the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority - the group that would actually issue the bonds - the oversight council is set to reconsider its stipulations Feb. 9.
Enid attorney Cliff Elliott, chairman of the council, said the members had incomplete information about the project when they voted.
"It was kind of an odd set of circumstances," he said. "We only had a very, very short amount of time to review our materials, and they were, frankly, not all complete."
Now that additional information on the project is available, Elliott said it is appropriate for the council to reconsider its requirements for the bond sales to move forward.
"I'm not going to say that the decision wasn't proper or inappropriate, but just out of fairness we were working with limited information," he said.
Elliott said he is looking forward to seeing the additional information to be presented at the Feb. 9 meeting.
"I want to be satisfied on those issues that whatever we do meets the test of what we're required to do," he said.
The council doesn't and shouldn't consider the merits of projects - that's the decision of the Legislature, Elliott said.
"What I don't want to do is revisit every political decision on everything that comes in front of us but just satisfy ourselves that the decisions have been properly made."
One legislator reacted to the council's decision by strongly endorsing the idea of another legislative vote on the issue.
"My fellow members and I were asked to approve a $25 million bond package back in 2009 that was to be used not only for the Zink Dam improvements but several other infrastructure projects along the Arkansas River in Tulsa County," said Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid. "Now the River Parks Authority is seeking to have all those funds spent on one single project. We absolutely need to take another look at this before obligating the taxpayers of Oklahoma for those bonds."
Matt Meyer, executive director of River Parks Authority, said the Arkansas River project has always been described as a phased project and that the state bond money is going to be used on the first phase, improving the Zink Lake dam near 31st Street.
The authority plans to raise the dam level from 7 feet to 10 feet while redesigning the structure into a cascade, which will improve water safety in the area. It also plans to install gates to allow sand to flow through the dam and add a small recreation area that includes white water.
The Zink Dam project, which is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2013, would be funded with the state bond money and $4.5 million in local tax money, said Kirby Crowe of Program Management Group LLC, the project manager.
Meyer said two other planned low-water dams - one in Sand Springs and another near 106th Street - would be paid for with federal funding that has been authorized by Congress but not yet appropriated.
Crowe said the Army Corps of Engineers' local office has gotten some small appropriations for environmental studies for the dams but most of the money hasn't been appropriated.
Meyer said when he has talked to members of the state's congressional delegation, he hasn't gotten much encouragement that the federal funding will be available soon. However, the authority remains committed to the projects when the money is available, he said.
State Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger, a member of the Bond Oversight Council and the Capitol Improvement Authority, said that with additional information he thinks the council will clear the bonds for sale without further legislative consideration.
"I think it'll be approved with the normal conditions that the state bond adviser would attach," Doerflinger said. "I'm highly confident."
Read more from this Tulsa World article at
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=336&articleid=20120202_16_A1_CUTLIN759866