An ambitious effort to move Hamilton out of the Skagit River floodway must be put on hold because there’s no money to keep the project going.

The Hamilton Public Development Authority, created by the Town Council less than a year after the disastrous 2003 flood, is $1.1 million short of the $1.445 million it needs to acquire 46 acres across Highway 20 for a new site for the town’s 309 residents.

There have been efforts to move the flood-prone town since 1975. Ninety percent of the residences and the entire commercial area floods once every 31⁄2 years, according to the state Ecology Department.

Officials from the Public Development Authority went to Olympia last week to learn from state and federal officials what funding options might be available. They got little encouragement. Local officials also have been noncommittal toward appeals for more money.

“It seems that if Hamiltonians decide they want that ... site, they are going to need to find the money themselves,” Public Development Authority Grant Manager Lauren Tracy wrote in an e-mail to the Skagit Valley Herald.

Over the past few months, Tracy has made ardent appeals to local leaders, asking for a countywide tax of 25 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value to pay for Hamilton’s relocation and other flood-control needs.

“I would be happy to write you a check every year” for flood protection, Tracy told the Flood Control Zone District Advisory Committee in April, even though, as she put it, her home is “high and dry” in Mount Vernon.

On June 17, Hamilton Mayor Tim Bates told fellow members on the Skagit Council of Governments that even a tax of 10 cents per $1,000 would create $1.6 million of annual revenue that could help Hamilton.

“It would be an opportunity to get some money in the bank to back us up,” Bates said.

Tracy and Bates both made their pitch to the mayors because the county commissioners have said they would not impose a flood-control tax without the support of the cities. The commissioners have the power to authorize such a tax without voter approval.

The county has missed an opportunity to raise millions of dollars since the Flood Control Zone District was formed two years ago, Tracy told members of the district’s Advisory Committee in April.

“How much longer are we going to need to wait to implement flood control in Skagit County?” an angry Tracy asked committee members then.

County Commissioner Sharon Dillon, who is also chairwoman of the Public Development Authority, said she wants not only buy-in from the cities but also a more well developed flood-control plan before considering a new tax.

“Should we have done it and should we do it? Probably yes,” Dillon said of the tax increase. “Will we do it? In today’s economy and with a lack of a plan to put any kind of a flood project on the ground, it is not the right thing to do.”

Most of the mayors were unwilling to respond to Tracy’s appeal for the tax at the Council of Governments meeting. Anacortes Mayor Dean Maxwell did speak up, saying he wasn’t in favor of a property tax increase for his constituents. They already pay for stormwater management within the city, he said.

“I don’t think it’s fair to my community,” Maxwell said.

The Public Development Authority has garnered some funds, including $198,000 from the federal government and $147,750 in state funds that originally needed to be spent by the end of this month. The state Legislature reappropriated the money for another two years. Both pots of money can only go toward property acquisition or construction.

The money on hand is not even close to the amount needed to purchase the property owned by Richard and Sheryl Lawson north of Highway 20 and east of Hamilton Cemetery Road. The Lawsons, in any case, have said they are not willing to sell, although they appeared ready earlier this year to accept between $1.3 and $1.4 million up front.

Hamilton was hoping to borrow more than $800,000 from the state Public Works Board to go toward the property purchase.

Terry Dale, client services representative for the Public Works Board, said Hamilton didn’t have its application ready in time for this biennium, and there’s no money available for the 2009-11 biennium as a result of the state budget shortfall.

The Public Works Board will continue to meet with the Public Development Authority to help the local agency pull together everything it needs for future grant applications, Dale said.

Even though the Public Development Authority no longer has money to pay Tracy, its one staff person, and has no prospects for more funding in the foreseeable future, Dillon said the agency is “moving forward.” She said if progress can’t be made on the relocation site, the focus should be on the current town site, where the agency might be able to find a way to buy out homeowners and generate revenue through wildlife habitat enhancement.

“If it entails not having a place for (residents) to move, then maybe that just has to happen that way,” Dillon said. “I might be going against the whole (plan), but I just want to do something.”

A survey released by Skagit Information Management Systems in 2008 indicated that about half of Hamilton’s residents favor relocation. About a quarter are undecided; the rest are opposed.

Count among them Steve and Donna Jenkins, who live on Cumberland Street. They want to stay right where they are, despite suffering losses in the 2003 and 2006 floods. They are rebuilding their home on a raised concrete foundation that hasn’t yet been approved for flood insurance purposes.

“It’s very hard to live in a flood town, but the closeness of the people is unbelievable,” Donna Jenkins said.

Officials seeking to relocate the town could save a lot of money by simply elevating every home above flood level, Donna Jenkins said.

“This is a great town. Just raise it,” she said.

“We both want to stay. We’re the last to go when we do go — kicking and screaming.”

Ralph Schwartz can be reached at 360-416-2138 or .