Army Corps supports local-match credit for city flood work

City Hall spent city funds to create the city's own “preferred” flood-protection plan back in 2008, and some of the work on the city plan was incorporated into the Army Corps of Engineers' subsequent project feasibility study report.

In such instances, the Corps is allowed to credit qualifying local spending against the requirement that the local community cover 35 percent of the cost of any flood-protection system the Corps builds.

With that in mind, the city has now asked the Corps to grant the city $1.67 million in “work-in-kind” credits against its local-match requirement.

In a letter to the city, the Corps' Rock Island District office reports that it has reviewed $32,792 of the city's spending and has agreed to count $31,876 of it as credit against any future local match.

The Corps says it found two ineligible items in its initial analysis: a charge of $781.88 for food and beverages from the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons and $133.80 for parking fees.

The two items “are not considered necessary for the completion of the (Corps') study,” the Corps states in a March 1 letter to the city.