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Capital projects budget approved

The 70-year-old levee dominated City Council’s concerns Thursday, as it passed an $80 million capital projects budget.

The repairs to recertify the levee under the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Army Corps of Engineers standards tops the council’s priorities.

“Right now, the biggest concern is the levee,” said Councilwoman Bonnie Katz, chairwoman of council’s public works committee.

The levee has an “unacceptable” rating from the Army Corps of Engineers. Several areas need to be repaired including the relief wells that keep overflow from occurring, cross pipes that drain it, a freeboard requirement of FEMA to raise the height from the water level to the top of the levee by about 3 feet and a new stronger and flexible T-wall construction instead of an I-wall.

Estimated cost of these projects is $13.6 million today and $15.8 million in five years. “We have a five-year financial plan of between $12.7 million to $15 million,” said William E. Nichols Jr., city finance director.

The Lycoming County Planning Department, various consultants, state Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, and U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, R-Cogan Station, all are working on the levee funding issue, Katz said. “I feel more comfortable working and a lot better than it was five years ago,” she said.

The capital projects budget is a six-year projection.

“You work on the first two years and the out years are pulled into the next two years,” Nichols said.

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