residents in fargo, n.d., and a nearby county will be pooling their pennies for another 68 years<u+00a0>to help cover a massive, multibillion-dollar channel around the city to divert floodwaters from the red river, despite opposition from neighboring counties and concern from officials in minnesota. more than 60% of residents of fargo and cass county, which branches west of fargo,<u+00a0>on tuesday<u+00a0>voted yes on a proposal to extend three half-cent sales taxes to the year 2084 to pay for the fargo-moorhead area diversion project. the $2.2 billion project is meant to avoid the significant and costly floods of past years that have inundated the fargo area.<u+00a0>with state and local funding in place, construction led by the army corps of engineers is expected to break ground later this year. the multiyear project still needs to secure federal funding and a key permit from officials in minnesota. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s better to have a plan talking about mitigation than it is to have no plan,<u+201d> said tim mahoney, mayor of the city of 118,000. the project would entail building a 36-mile long, 1,500-foot wide channel to divert flooding from the red river,<u+00a0>which flows south to north. initially the federal government had agreed to pay for half of the cost, but now it is going to pay for just $450 million of the total $2.2 billion. mr. mahoney said he is confident that the administration of president-elect donald trump will eventually <u+201c>cough up their part,<u+201d> both because mr. mahoney considers it a model infrastructure project, but also because north dakota<u+2019>s congressional delegation supported mr. trump<u+2019>s candidacy. <u+201c>we think it<u+2019>s an innovative project, to show how the government can save money going forward on infrastructure projects, and of all the projects trump might look at, we<u+2019>re one of the only ones ready,<u+201d> mr. mahoney said. but the project has faced stiff opposition from some communities south of fargo,<u+00a0>including some in minnesota, where a dam that is part of the project will hold back some of the water heading for fargo, flooding areas that had not faced the problem in the past. <u+201c>they<u+2019>re taking water and pushing it from a flood plain to an area that has never flooded,<u+201d> said nathan berseth, a spokesman for the richland-wilkin joint powers authority, which represents communities upstream from fargo.<u+00a0>he said<u+00a0>he doesn<u+2019>t disagree with the need to protect residents and business from floods, but that <u+201c>we just think it<u+2019>s too far south and too large a project.<u+201d> the project was dealt a major setback last month when the minnesota department of natural resources rejected a permit application from fargo, saying<u+00a0>the diversion is <u+201c>not the right way to achieve<u+201d> enhanced flood protection and <u+201c>the project cannot be permitted under minnesota law.<u+201d> mr. mahoney says the initial application was <u+201c>incomplete,<u+201d> and that project proponents are in talks with minnesota and will resubmit the application soon. write to will connors at william.connors@wsj.com
fargo to keep saving its pennies in hopes of defeating floods - wsj
will connors