Santa Cruz County hopes to land congressional funds to complete two projects: the Chula Vista Flood Control Project north of Nogales, and a road and bridge over the Santa Cruz River on Palo Parado Road in Rio Rico.

“We need a local match,” County Manager Greg Lucero told the supervisors at their June 24 meeting. “The flood-control district doesn’t have the funds.”

At his request, the supervisors voted 3-0 to authorize the county to apply for financing help from the Greater Arizona Development Authority (GADA) for an amount not to exceed $6 million.

The cost estimate to complete the Chula Vista project has more than doubled, Lucero wrote in a memo to the supervisors. In 2003, it was $25 million and the flood-control district had the 10 percent ($2.5 million) in local matching funds. But now the project estimate is $52.5 million. If it receives full federal funding, the district will need to come up with another $2.7 million.

Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) has requested funds for the Palo Parado project under the Federal Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act, Lucero said. The estimate is $9.1 million and the county must cover 20 percent or $1.82 million.

While the flood-control district does not have that amount, “it does have revenue under the Flood Control Reserve Fund to cover debt service,” Lucero wrote.

After the supervisors voted to approve the resolution, the county finance department submitted the application to GADA by June 26, the deadline, said Finance Director Jennifer St. John in an interview.

“They’ll (GADA) sell bonds to raise the funds, but it’s a loan to the county,” St. John said. If the federal money doesn’t come through, “then we won’t borrow the money.”

• Supervisors voted 2-1 to allow part of the Rio Rico Resort Terrace Subdivision to locate a sewer line with manholes under a roadway. Supervisor John Maynard opposed the amendment.

“I supported that project in the beginning (because of its environmental design),” Maynard said in an interview. “Locating a sewer line next to pavement creates a future maintenance nightmare.”

• Supervisors voted to send a letter to the Arizona Corporation Commission about the proposed Vail to Valencia transmission line that will increase power in Santa Cruz County. They thanked ACC for the hearings held in early June in Rio Rico, but appealed to the commission to hold the final hearing in Santa Cruz County, not Phoenix.

• Cochise College asked for 15 percent less funding from the county in its Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) this year, said Sue Neilsen, who directs the Santa Cruz County branch.

Instead of approximately $200,000, the college is requesting only $194,462 in contract fees from the county for the 2009-2010 academic year, Neilsen said.

The reason is that “We’re projecting 200 full-time equivalency (FTE) students,” she said.

Most Cochise students attend part time, Neilsen said. Currently, more than 500 students are enrolled in Santa Cruz County.

“The more students we have, the less expensive per student” because the college receives more state funding, Neilsen said.