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Year 2002 Highlights — continued <br />Arkansas Valley Conduit Moves Beyond Study Phase <br />In 2002 the study phase for the Arkansas Valley Conduit was near completion. GEI Engineering <br />published a draft final report in October after holding public meetings to review the report findings. <br />Based on the findings of the report, approval has been given to continue the process of bringing the pipeline to <br />fruition. A key to building the pipeline will be getting federal funding for part of the cost of the pipeline. Federal <br />legislation is being worked on to provide the necessary funding. <br />Another big step in moving the conduit forward, is a study by the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) to update <br />the initial preparatory work performed when the Fryingpan - Arkansas Project was being built. It has been <br />thirty years since that work was performed, so Reclamation will need to review that work, as well as bring the <br />information up -to -date. Included in the Federal Fiscal year 2003 budget, is a line item authorizing $300,000 for <br />that study. Reclamation's study is scheduled to be completed in 2003. <br />Ongoing Discussions with Aurora <br />As the Preferred Storage Options Plan ground to a halt in 2002, discussions with the City of Aurora also took <br />on a new wrinkle. Aurora offered amendments to the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) that was agreed to in <br />2001. These amendments were voted down at the September Board meeting, thus bringing the discussions to <br />a stalemate. With the drought getting worse, Aurora tried to move their second purchase of Rocky Ford Ditch <br />water. This was objected to by the District, and hopefully the matter will be negotiated in 2003, as both sides <br />seek a solution to the PSOP stalemate. <br />O & M Transfer Study Continues <br />The O & M Transfer Study that was begun in 2001 finally made some progress in 2002. After many setbacks <br />due to the 9/11 tragedy, Reclamation was able to complete the first part of the study. An extension of the <br />Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed in December to complete the study in 2003. <br />2002 Budget <br />The record setting drought brought some major consequences to the District budget in 2002. Project water sales <br />for irrigation were only $21,396 the lowest level since 1983. M &I water sales were only $39,214. These in turn <br />reduced Return Flow sales for the year and will also affect 2003 Return Flow sales. <br />Ad Valorem tax collections, however, continued to show growth as the Contract Repayment mill levy of .804 mills <br />generated $4,415,275. The Operating mill levy of .038 mills provided $209,025 for the daily operations of the <br />District. Additionally, the Specific Ownership tax contributed $720,490 to the District. <br />With the ever declining interest rates during the year, interest income slipped to $429,105. However, the District <br />was able to increase its investments to $8,694,433 as a result of an increase to our net equity position. <br />As the Preferred Storage Options Plan slowed down because of the inability to move Federal legislation, the expenses <br />for that project were held to $262,061. These expenses were in turn reimbursed by the participants in the process. <br />Overall 2002 financially, was a mixed bag of medium growth, drought implications and a slowdown to our <br />progress of trying to build for the future. <br />10 <br />