BOARD01450

• Board Meeting Date: 3/20/2000
• Description: FY01-02 STTF and Account Requests
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
www.dnr.state.ca.us/cwcb

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MEMORANDUM

Bill Owens
Governor

TO:
FROM:
DATE:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members
Dan McAuliffe
March 13,2000

Greg E. Walcher
Executive Director

Peter H. Evans
CWCB Director

RE:

Agenda Item 12, March 20-21 Board Meeting -
FY 01-02 Severance Tax Trust Fund and Account Requests

Dan McAuliffe
Deputy Director

The CWCB may annually request up to five percent of the funds in the State
Severance Tax Trust Fund Operational Account. These requests are forwarded to the
state Minerals, Energy and Geology Policy Advisory Board (MEGA) Board for review
(April 2000) and final approval (July 2000). The requests are then forwarded to the DNR
Executive Director for review and inclusion in the Department's annual budget request.

The amount of money that remained available for appropriation after deductions
were made for Fiscal Year 2000-20001 requests was approximately $23,577,000.
However, in addition to the DNR requested appropriations for programs and projects
related to energy, minerals, geology and water the General Assembly is expected to
appropriate additional funds from the account. These funds include $5 million for the
Native Species Conservation Trust Fund, $500,000 for a program explaining where
severance taxes come from and how they are used, and a $120,000 severance tax
reduction in the amount the oil and gas industry pays annually. This would reduce the
amount in the Operational Account to approximately $17,957,000. Five percent of
this amount that would remain available for the CWCB would be approximately
$897,850.

In Fiscal Year 1999-2000, the CWCB received $500,000. For Fiscal year 2000-
2001 the CWCB requested $585,000. This request was approved by the MEGA Board
and the Executive Director and is expected to be appropriated in the Long Bill. For
Fiscal Year 2001-2002 we would like to request $757,000.

The projects we intend to present to the MEGA Board in April with your approval
are summarized in the attached spreadsheet. We will be providing more information
about these projects at the meeting and will continue to coordinate with our partners to
complete our request list.