The Joint Committee on
Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review
Report # 454
A Review of the Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District
Executive Summary
Introduction
PEER’s review of the Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District (TRVWMD) is a “cycle review.” PEER cycle reviews are not driven by specific complaints or allegations of misconduct. The purpose of this review was to answer the following basic questions:
Is the TRVWMD achieving its statutory mission?
Is the TRVWMD needed?
Background
The Mississippi Legislature created the TRVWMD in 1962. The district became operational in 1963, with seven of eighteen eligible counties joining. Since 1963, an additional five counties have joined.
The statutes creating the district grant it broad discretionary authority to utilize, develop, conserve, and regulate the waters of the Tombigbee River, its tributaries, and its overflow waters (e.g., associated creeks, ponds, lakes) for a wide array of purposes including, but not limited to, flood control, recreational uses, and economic development. The statutes also grant the district broad powers such as the authority to acquire property by eminent domain within or without the district necessary to projects, build dams and reservoirs, relocate roads and highways, market bonds, and construct facilities necessary to a project.
The district’s Board of Directors is currently composed of thirty-one members--one appointed by the board of supervisors from each of its member counties (currently twelve member counties), fifteen gubernatorial appointments (one from each member county and three at-large), and one member each representing four related state agencies. Headquartered in Tupelo, the district has seventeen employees, including a ten-person maintenance crew and annual expenditures of approximately $2.3 million in FY 2003. District operations are funded primarily through tax contributions from member counties and interest earnings on its $3.5 million cash balance (in FY 2003).
Achievement of Statutory Mission
The Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District is successfully serving two primary purposes--flood control and development of water-related resources to promote economic development--within its very broad discretionary statutory authority.
As noted above, the Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District has broad statutory authority. Within this broad authority, the district has chosen to serve two primary purposes: flood control (e.g., tributary clearing, bank stabilization, and bridge repair and replacement) and water-related resource development (e.g., assistance to local governmental units in creation of multi-county water and sewer districts).
Pages 14 through 17 of this report include a description of the TRVWMD’s program activities. Pages 17 through 20 include a discussion of the district’s internal and external evaluations of flood control projects. While the district’s internal and external evaluations state that the TRVWMD is doing a good job of carrying out these projects, none of the evaluations include true outcome measures. Program outcomes represent the results of an entity’s outputs (products or services). The district should have outcome measures showing the direct effect of the district’s efforts, such as reduction in the number of homes and acres flooded.
Need for the District
A governmental entity is needed to address the risks of flooding and insufficient water resources available for public consumption and economic development needs in the Tombigbee River Basin of Mississippi. The TRVWMD has a river basin perspective on both sets of needs and a minimum mandatory ad valorem tax revenue base to meet needs. Other entities could perform the functions the TRVWMD performs, but would not have the regional focus and interests of the district.
State government is responsible for protecting the public’s health, welfare, and safety. When risks to these exist, government entities must take measures to diminish or eliminate the potential for risk.
The TRVWMD has chosen to address the risk of flooding in the Tombigbee River Basin, primarily through tributary clearing and bank stabilization, as well as bridge replacement and repair. The TRVWMD has chosen to address the risk of inadequate water resources for public consumption and economic development needs by funding studies of groundwater availability and assisting local governmental units in the development of multi-county water and sewer districts. As noted above, the TRVWMD has chosen to fulfill these purposes within its broad discretionary statutory authority. As also noted, the district is successfully serving these purposes.
Other governmental entities in the region are involved in water resource management. However, the larger governing bodies are super-state compacts or multi-state administrative units. The other within-state organizations are either single-purpose in nature with smaller geographical jurisdictions and missions and limited tax resource bases or they focus on other policies and programs.
Recommendation
In order to improve evaluations of its effectiveness, the TRVWMD should develop outcome measures for each of its programs. For example, the district could measure the effectiveness of its flood control program by tracking the number of homes and acreage flooded in areas affected by its projects.