As Bethany Beach and South Bethany property owners continue to await word on when — or whether — beach reconstruction funding will be forthcoming from the federal government, the most recent news from the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress was not good. Earmarks that traditionally fund such projects are being scrapped until at least the 2008 fiscal year.
The statement came as Democratic leaders prepared to take over committee leaderships in the Senate and House of Representatives, with West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd and Wisconsin Rep. Dave Obey announcing plans to follow up on continuing resolutions that fund the federal government through Feb. 15 at 2006 budget levels with one that will do only that through the end of the fiscal year in September.
Instead of working out issues of funding through the nine remaining unpassed budget bills that were drafted under the Republican-controlled Congress that was ousted Nov. 7, Democratic appropriations leaders plan to focus instead on the budget for the 2008 fiscal year, which will begin Oct. 1.
At least part of the reason for the status-quo budget decision is an effort by legislators to control or eliminate the troublesome earmarks that fund specific projects, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ reconstruction of beaches or the infamous Alaskan “Bridge to Nowhere.”
Legislation to increase oversight and transparency of the earmark process is set to be considered in the coming weeks, but in the meantime earmarks that existed in draft budgets in one or both houses of Congress will be scrapped.
“The Democratic Congress has decided to implement a continuing resolution to cover FY07, and consequently, there will be no earmarks for any projects in any district throughout the country until FY08,” confirmed Kaitlin Hoffman, deputy press secretary for Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.), this week.
Options unclear for funding
Exactly how budgeting for the remainder of the 2007 will be handled is unclear, causing a stir among the lobbyists who are paid to promote funding of many of the projects that will now be put on hold.
Some speculate that funding will actually be continued at 2006-fiscal-year levels but left up to the discretion of individual federal agencies as to how dollars are subsequently dispersed. That could be a best-case scenario for the local coastal towns, with the possibility that the Corps could itself decide that funding the Bethany/South Bethany beach reconstruction project is a priority or even that the time has come to fund it in its entirety.
“We’re going to be looking a lot more to the Corps of Engineers,” Bethany Beach Mayor Carol Olmstead said this week about the town’s lobbying efforts through Marlowe & Co., which is particularly known for its close work with the Corps but has had difficulty getting the project funded since the Corps ability to create continuing or multi-year contracts and shuffle funds between projects was curtailed with the 2006 budget.
If that kind of spending leeway isn’t granted to the Corps, a remote possibility is that the local project might still be included in a limited number of earmarks that manage to make their way into the continuing resolution due by Feb. 15. That could have the town’s lobbyists working hard in the coming weeks. Alternatively, it may be a slow road until the 2008 fiscal-year budget process is well under way, and an even slower road until any federal dollars for the reconstruction are finalized, in the fall of 2007.
Olmstead said she, other town officials and those in South Bethany are now awaiting Feb. 15, when a new continuing resolution would need to be passed by Congress, to see exactly what the funding language says. If the Corps is granted the ability to determine at least some of its own funding priorities, that could be the best news the towns have had in a long time.
“I think it would set everyone’s minds at ease if we had these answers now,” Olmstead acknowledged, with pressure still on the local officials to pursue a short-term, state-funded emergency replenishment or even a locally-funded effort in the wake of severe erosion this fall. “But Feb. 15 is very close and the weather outlook until then is pretty good,” she emphasized.
Patience encouraged under mild winter weather
As to the possibility of an emergency replenishment from the state’s coffers, Olmstead said patience would also be needed there. “DNREC doesn’t want to make a public statement that ‘if this happens we’ll do that,’ ‘if that happens we’ll do this,’” she said. “And things change. We’ll know something after Feb. 15,” she reiterated.
On the minds of both DNREC and local officials is any potential negative impact of an intermediate replenishment on future funding of a major beach reconstruction project that would be funded on a 65/35 federal/state share. A replenished beach, if temporarily so, might dissuade federal officials from offering longer-term help, they fear.
“Some people think that the quick and easy solution might be the thing to do,” Olmstead said. “But it’s like when some people get paid every week and they spend it, and some people save it for later. We want to get in to the government’s 50-year replenishment plan. We don’t want to look back and say, ‘If only we hadn’t…’”
As to the current state of the beach, Olmsted said, “We’re not in an emergency situation right now, and we might not ever be. If you look at the beach now, if we have a mild winter, it could all come back.”
Olmstead referred to DNREC advice to the town that much of the sand washed out in the fall’s devastating nor’easters has been resting right offshore and usually finds its way back onto the beaches over time, given mild weather. She said that has proven to be the case recently, reducing the fever pitch of concern after the Thanksgiving 2006 storm that undermined both homes in South Bethany and the boardwalk in Bethany itself, washing by and under some beachfront properties.
DNREC officials have said they would come to the towns’ rescue should the situation become an “emergency” but have declined to state exactly what would constitute an emergency or at what point such a decision would be made.
Castle’s support reaffirmed
Still, Olmstead acknowledged that a recent omission by Castle on his official list of priorities for the new legislative session would likely be a deep cause for concern for those closely following the federal funding issues related to the town’s beach reconstruction.
The local beach project was not initially included in the list of legislative priorities issued by Hoffman on Castle’s behalf last week — not even among Delaware-related projects.
“Please be assured that the project absolutely remains a top priority for him,” Hoffman said of Castle, in response to a query from the Coastal Point. “We definitely would not want anyone to think that Rep. Castle has overlooked the important task of continuing to bring federal funding for beach replenishment projects to Sussex County. Just like we have done for Rehoboth/Dewey, Fenwick and others, he is committed to doing do for Bethany until the job is done,” she added.
“With the $3 million secured for the Bethany Beach/South Bethany project in fiscal year ’06, the delegation looks to add to it as much as possible with additional fiscal year ’08 funds,” Hoffman noted.
“We know how important completing this project, as quickly as possible, is to area residents, and how critical federal funding is to the state of Delaware, who cost shares the replenishment with the federal government,” she said. “It will not be easy to do, but Rep. Castle will continue to make funding for the Bethany project a priority until it’s completed.”
Olmstead said she personally knows Castle’s level of commitment to the project to be considerable, with his status as the member of the state’s Congressional delegation most frequently returning to the area to assess the beaches and discuss replenishment.
With the plan for Appropriation Committee heads Byrd and Obey to push past 2007 and into 2008, Hoffman said Castle was already looking to next year’s budget for funding for the project.
“The delegation will remain committed to this issue throughout that time and the hope is that Congress will move swiftly to enact justifiable earmarks — such as beach replenishment — in Fiscal Year 2008,” Hoffman said.