Laserfiche WebLink
<br />reclassification could reduce county tax revenue by 90 percent (unless remaining irrigated <br />land is reassessed upward, shifting the tax burden to those deciding to remain in <br />farming).35 <br /> <br />Weber's study notes "the longer term prognosis for Crowley County in the absence <br />of water sales would likely have been for continued economic and demographic decline <br />although at a slower rate than experienced in the 1950s and 19605."36 He concludes that <br />agriculture, although a declining industry, would likely have continued into <br />Crowley's short term future absent the water sales and transfer. Granted, <br />some of the land may have gone from production and some of the less <br />successful or more heavily indebted farmers may have been forced out but, <br />with the water, agriculture would have remained possible, Whether it would <br />have been economically feasible depends on many variables beyond the <br />control of the local population. . . . Without the water, however, the land's <br />economic potential is drastically reduced if not virtually eliminated.37 <br /> <br />The water transfer scenario is similar for neighboring Otero County. In 1980, <br />Resource Investment Group, Ltd, (RIG), purchased 58 percent of the shares in the Rocky <br />Ford Ditch Company. RIG sold its water rights--calculated at 8,200 acre-feet per year--in <br />1987 to the city of Aurora for $25.5 million. That volume of water had irrigated 4,100 acres <br />of cropland. Aurora proposed to retire the land and transfer the water to meet urban <br />growth demands.38 <br /> <br />It is interesting to note the lack of local government opposition to the proposal. <br /> <br /> <br />Kevin Pratt, an attorney representing the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy <br /> <br /> <br />District which did protest the transfer, points out that <br /> <br />20 <br />