Summary: The General Accounting Office has reviewed the determination by the Corps of Engineers (Civil Functions), Department of the Army, of the planned Federal contribution toward the cost of the Del Valle Dam and Reservoir planned for construction by the State of California. As part of our continued review of Federal participation in State-constructed projects, we reviewed the determination for the Del Valle Dam and Reservoir because our preliminary examination indicated that the Corps had recommended no local contribution, although Corps regulations provide for cost sharing for flood-control reservoirs whose effects are limited and primarily local in nature. Our review was made pursuant to the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (31 U.S.C. 53), and the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950 (31 U.S.C. 67). Our review included an examination of the basic laws and related legislation which authorized Federal participation in the project, applicable Corps of Engineers policies and procedures, Corps of Engineers cost apportionment computations and available supporting documents, and the land-ownership pattern in the project area based upon county and other local records. Our review was made at the Office of the Chief of Engineers, Washington, D.C.; Office of the Division Engineer, San Francisco, California; and Office of the District Engineer, San Francisco, California.
Although it is the policy of the Corps of Engineers to recommend to the Congress a local contribution toward the costs of flood-control reservoirs that serve essentially as local flood-protection measures or produce some specific local benefit, a local contribution was not recommended in connection with the costs allocated to flood control for the Del Valle Dam and Reservoir. The Chief of Engineers did not recommend a local contribution in the case of the Del Valle Dam and Reservoir because of his determination that the project benefits would be widespread. However, we believe that a more complete evaluation of the factors involved, which, in our opinion, reasonably should have been made in the circumstances, would have indicated that a local contribution of between $1.1 million and $2.4 million may have been appropriate in connection with the proposed project costs allocated to flood control. The flood-control storage to be provided by the Del Valle Dam and Reservoir appears to be essentially a local flood-protection measure for which, under Corps policy, a local contribution could have been recommended. Our review indicates that (1) the project serves in lieu of other feasible local protection measures and (2) benefits of sufficient magnitude to justify the project are concentrated in one locality and will accrue to identifiable interests. We believe that the Corps does not have adequate procedures for collecting and reporting information with respect to local benefits on projects such as Del Valle Dam and Reservoir.
