A second payment of $1,092,741, expected by Monday, September 24, would avoid termination of construction funding agreements between Sutter County and Caltrans.

Sutter County has entered into two cooperative agreements with Caltrans to cover the local share of costs associated with a $21 million interchange project at Highway 99 and Riego Road. Under the terms of voter approved Measure M, the Sutter Pointe Group/Measure M Group is obligated to pay the county's local share of costs for the interchange, which is critical not only to public safety but to the ability of the Sutter Pointe development to proceed to construction.

At its Sept. 11 Board of Supervisors meeting, the Board received a staff report indicating the developer group has historically met its obligations. However, one member of the development group had ceased to participate, and the remaining members sought some measure of relief from the Measure M requirements.

All told, Caltrans reduced the amount of the local share of the project by $1.6 million, lowering the overall payment required of the developer. The Board of Supervisors, however, said it could not pick up any of the developers' obligation and voted to terminate the two cooperative agreements with Caltrans if the first of two payments was not received by 1 p.m. today, Sept. 14.