At the request of Jones County legislators and officials of the City of Laurel, this report was prepared to provide additional information on the cost and benefit of the Tallahala Creek Lake project. The President indicated that he would not recommend funding this project because it did not pass benefit-cost calculations of the Army Corps of Engineers.
This report discussed additional benefits of the project. Government spending for salaries and wages was beneficial and was not taken into consideration by the Army Corps of Engineers. Also a great deal of funds already had been invested in the project. If the lake were constructed, these costs could be considered as beneficial. Recreation, water supply, water quality control, and other benefits probably will be more expensive to provide in the future if foregone. The Army Corps also did not consider the real value in protecting adjacent property from flooding.
In light of this report, it was the opinion of the PEER Committee that the Army Corps of Engineers substantially underestimated economic and other benefits in relation to cost.
For a paper copy of this report, contact PEER by telephone at 601-359-1226 or by e-mail at reports@peer.ms.gov.