What is the Flood Control District of Maricopa County?
The District is a municipal corporation and political subdivision of the state of Arizona. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors serves as the District's Board of Directors, which in turn receives counsel from the Flood Control Advisory Board comprised of County citizens.
Why was the District created?
At the end of the 1950s, the Arizona State Legislature realized that something needed to be done to control flooding in Maricopa County. By establishing the District in 1959, the Legislature created an entity charged with keeping County residents safe from flood hazards and established an independent funding source for the District's flood control projects. Before the District's inception, severe flooding occurred throughout much of the County during winter rains and the summer monsoon season. Today, through effective engineering, dam and channel construction, and floodplain regulation and public outreach, widespread flooding is less common.
What does the District do?
The purpose of the District is to provide the following:
- Identification of flood hazards
- Management of floodplains and regulation of development
- Planning of county watercourses and drainage
- Public outreach through education about flood prevention and safety
- Flood warning and early detection
- Construction and maintenance of flood control structures and facilities
What land area does the District regulate?
The District is responsible for providing regional flood protection in all of Maricopa County and local flood protection in unincorporated Maricopa County. The District is not responsible for all flood control in Maricopa County as some municipalities handle their own floodplain management. The District's responsibilities are as follows:
Identification of Hazards and Future Planning: The District is responsible for Watercourse Master Plans and Area Drainage Master Plans for all of Maricopa County. The District is responsible for Floodplain Delineation Studies in unincorporated Maricopa County, and the other towns and cities in which the District is responsible for floodplain management. In addition, the District conducts floodplain delineation studies in partnership with other cities.
Flood Control Structures: The District is responsible for constructing flood control structures in unincorporated Maricopa County. The District partners and shares costs with cities and other agencies on flood control structures that provide regional protection.
Floodplain Management: The District is responsible for floodplain management and regulation in unincorporated Maricopa County, as well as in the communities of Buckeye, Carefree, Cave Creek, Chandler, El Mirage, Gila Bend, Guadalupe, Litchfield Park, Mesa, Queen Creek, Surprise and Tolleson.
How is the District funded?
Under state of Arizona enabling legislation, the Flood Control Districts is designated as a special taxing district and is given the authority to levy a secondary property tax on parcels within Maricopa County. Flood control projects are also funded by a variety of state, district, county and city cost-sharing arrangements.
The revenue from the property tax generally covers the Capital Improvement Program projects. The rest of the District's budget is derived from revenue from other sources, which include the sale or lease of rights-of-way, fees that developers and individuals are required to pay to obtain building permits within Maricopa County, and cost sharing with other entities.
What are some of the District's strategic goals?
The District complies with Maricopa County's Managing for Results program that sets quantifiable goals for each fiscal year. Currently the District is working to achieve the following measures:
- Increase our public outreach and flood safety activities to inform a maximum number of County residents
- Expand our efforts to map those floodplains and watercourses not currently delineated
- Continue to regulate development to confirm all structures permitted to be built in floodplains comply with state and federal laws regarding flood protection
- Complete Capital Improvement Program flood control projects that combine aesthetic landscaping and/or multiple-use potential whenever possible
- Maintain existing flood control structures and facilities to ensure they provide optimal flood protection per their original design specifications
How is the District organized?
There are more than 200 employees at the District, many of whom are in the field daily working on projects or flood control structures. The District has eight divisions and each division has multiple branches. The organizational structure is as follows:
Administration: Finance; Contracts; Support Services; Human Resources; Organizational Development and Training
Engineering: Hydrology/Hydraulics; Civil/Structures; Mapping/Surveying; Special Projects; Flood Warning; Water Quality; Engineering Applications Development and River Mechanics; Sand and Gravel Management
Executive: Office of the Chief Engineer/General Manager, Executive Secretary, Public Information Office
Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Services; Solutions
Operations & Maintenance: Inspection; Ecology; Resources; Maintenance
Planning & Project Management: Planning; Project Management; Structures Management; Capital Improvement Program (CIP)/Policy; Construction; Floodplain Delineation
Real Estate: Acquisition; Property Management; Real Property Titles & Right-of-Way Plans; Administrative Support
Floodplain Management and Services: Floodplain Administration; Enforcement/Inspections
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