Who pays for One Lake?

Last week, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) released the 2024 Pearl River Flood Risk Management (FRM) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The Rankin Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District (Drainage District) has endorsed USACE Alternative D, CTO (combination thereof) with weir, an altered version of the "One Lake" project. According to the USACE "Commander's Report" released with the DEIS, the "Projected First Cost" for Alternative D is $100-$200 million higher than the "Total Authorized Project Cost". 

• Drainage District 2018 estimate for cost of "One Lake":  $340 million
• USACE 2024 DEIS Projected First Cost for "One Lake": $1-$2.1 billion. The USACE found the "One Lake" project "not justified".
• Projected First Cost for Alternative D (CTO with weir/dam): $487-$655 million​ 

             ($147-$315 million more than Drainage District's 2018 cost projection for "One Lake")

• Total Authorized Project Cost: $370 million (source: Commander's Report, page 5). The Alternative D projected first cost is $117-$285 million above the "Total Authorized Project Cost".
• Maximum Project Cost Limit: $440 million (source: Commander's Report, page 5).
• Federal Cost Share Appropriation: $221 million (appropriated by Congress in Oct 2022)

Currently, only $221 million out of the $487-$655 million needed for the Alternative D Lake has been funded. In 2022, Senator Wicker received a $221 million federal appropriation of  Bipartisan Infrastructure  Law funding for the Pearl River Flood Risk Management project. This funding will be used to pay for the federal cost-share of the project.

According to the "Commander's Report", the Non Federal Sponsor (NFS)(Drainage District) shall contribute 35 percent of total project costs. Drainage District cost share for the Alternative D Lake ranges from $170-$229 million. (The $221 million in federal funding cannot be used to pay for the Drainage District cost share.) The Drainage District has not indicated how they will pay for their portion of the project costs.* 

The local Drainage District Board of Directors includes the Mayors of Jackson, Flowood, Richland, and Pearl, representatives from the Hinds and Rankin County Boards of Supervisors (Supervisors Robert Graham and Jay Bishop), and a Governor-appointee. The Governor-appointee position on the Board has been vacant since January 2021. Drainage District revenues are obtained through a 4.75-mil tax assessment on properties protected by the levee system. The majority of the tax revenue comes from properties located in Rankin County. The state-owned properties on the Jackson side of the Pearl River do not pay this tax. A Drainage District spokesperson stated in 2018 that "Property owners who benefit from the One Lake Project would likely face a special assessment tax if the estimated $340 million project becomes reality." It is unlikely that special assessment taxes could raise enough funding to pay for the $170-$229 million local cost-share for the Alternative D Lake.

​(*Drainage District spokespersons did not respond to requests for information regarding project funding.)