Fee increases likely on the horizon for irrigators
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ST. IGNATIUS – Irrigators who use the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project to water their crops will likely see a significant increase in fees on their next assessment bills, as project managers try to raise funds to tackle millions of dollars of improvements needed to keep the decades old, dilapidating structures in operation.
Bureau of Indian Affairs Project Manager Pete Plant told irrigators at a bi-annual project meeting that operations and maintenance assessments will likely increase from $26 per acre to an estimated $33 per acre in the next year.
“We have a lot going on,” Plant said. “If you look at the HKM report, it says (it will take) $160 million to get it back to where it needs to be.”
The $160 million totaled in the 2005 report, issued by the HKM Engineering firm, is likely worth $191 million, when adjusted through inflation calculators.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has indicated that the recent passage of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ water compact could help defer millions of dollars in projected costs of protecting the endangered bull trout, but exact details are not expected until later this year.
In a November 2014 presentation, Plant said there were 5,000 deferred maintenance projects his crew was working through at a rate of 50-60 projects per year.
Problems with the project were apparent as Plant showed photos of canals in the Camas and Ronan areas that had been repaired in the past year.
“There is a significant cost for structures that are deteriorating,” Plant said. “Take Falls Creek, that’s the lifeline for the North Fork to Tabor Reservoir. If that blows out, you aren’t talking about a $5 or $6 increase, you are looking at emergency funds that will cost a lot.”
Irrigators responded to the proposed increase by saying “ouch” and that the substantial raise could be a substantial cost burden.
“The BIA has been operating this since 1923 and now we need a major renovation. Why have they not been dealing with it?” Mission Irrigation Commissioner Gene Posivio asked.
BIA Superintendent Bud Moran said that a shortage of funds, failure to levy assessments and a number of other factors likely caused the maintenance backup over the years.
Plant also said that the end of May will mark the closure of accounts for the Cooperative Management Entity that governed the project from 2010 until early 2014. The board had equal representation of tribal and non-tribal members. In April 2014, the Bureau of Indian Affairs reassumed control of the project after political infighting caused the collapse of the Flathead Joint Board of Control, which represents non-tribal irrigators on the project. The joint board has since reformed and consists of commissioners elected to represent the three individual irrigation districts, but the Cooperative Management Entity has not resumed.
In the interim, the Flathead Joint Board of Control has filed a federal lawsuit asking for the project to be turned over to its control, and that case is ongoing.
Plant said Cooperative Management Entity funds that have been spent in 2015 went mostly to employee’s wages as the employees “closed out” the Cooperative Management Entity.
Some irrigators asked how checks could be signed since the board has been dissolved. Plant said he and Cooperative Management Entity Project Manager Gordon Wind signed the checks. Plant said Wind will not have a position with the project after May.
