Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Those reports have been submitted to our congressional Delegation and <br />have been given to the Secretary of the Interior. We are hoping that <br />the President will approve funds fOr the Narrows via a supplemental <br />budget message. But that we do not know. <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />On the state construction fund, we sent the Board a copy of SB 69, which <br />was introduced at the outset of the session by Senator Anderson, Senator <br />Noble, and a number of other senators and representatives. That bill <br />passed the Senate a few days ago by a vote of 33 to 1, which indicates <br />very overwhelming support for the bill. We had a few problems with the <br />money for the Denver water meters. Somehow, the Denver senators got <br />mixed up in their strategy and they almost killed their own project. <br />However, at the last minute, they got their signals straight and the <br />bill did pass, as I say, overwhelmingly--33 to 1. <br /> <br />That bill contains $3,000,000 to assist in the construction of the <br />various projects. If we can get $3,000,000 a year from here on out, we <br />believe that we will have a sustaining fund with which we can construct <br />all of these projects very expeditiously. There is strong support in <br />the Legislature and by the GovernOr to adequately fund these small <br />projects. <br /> <br />We anticipate that there will be a continued demand for state assistance <br />for water resource project construction throughout Colorado. The state <br />of Wyoming this past year set up a $100,000,000 construction fund for <br />similar projects in Wyoming. Our current goal is to set up $50,000,000 <br />for this state. In the future that may have to be expanded. If we can <br />get $50,000,000 in capital investment, this would permit us to carryon <br />a good construction program, because we will be constantly getting <br />money back in the way of returns on our investment. <br /> <br />The bill will come before the House Agricultural and Natural Resources <br />Committee this coming Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. We do not anticipate any <br />problem with that committee. We think the bill will be promptly reported <br />out and will then go the the Appropriations, Committee of the House. It <br />is the appropriation that is 'g'iving us the problem. A law which the <br />Legislature passed last year states that no agency can exceed its last <br />year's budget more than 7 percent. The problem is that $3,000,000 to us <br />gets us well over 100 percent of last year's budget. That is a hurdle <br />that we still have to overcome. <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />The Legislature can ignore that law, if it wishes to. This is an overall <br />budget figure, and it is possible that the $3,000,000 could be fitted in <br />the overall state budget and not violate the 7 percent rule. The crit- <br />ical time will come in the House Appropriations Committee. That is <br />where we had the difficult time in the Senate. The vote was'not unani- <br />mous in the Senate Appropriations committee. But the people who voted <br />against it in the Senate Appropriations Committee did vote for it on <br />the floor. <br /> <br />The attitude of the Legislature and the Governor towards this board's <br />doing more in the field of construction is extremely encouraging, to <br />,the point where it is beginning to put a very heavy burden upon our <br />small staff to get all the work done on the various projects. <br /> <br />-9- <br />