BOARD02352

• Board Meeting Date: 1/24/2006
• Description: OWCDP Section - Proposed Amendment to HB 1365 Grant Guidelines
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

,
I

STATE OF COLORADO

,

.

Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: (303) 866"3441
FAX: [phone]
www.cwcb.state.co.us

MEMORANDUM

Bill Owens
Governor

Russell George
Executive Director

TO:
FROM:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members
Veva McCaig, Chief, Water Conservation & Drought Planning
Tammie Petrone. OWCDP Grants Coordinator
January 24, 2006
Agenda Item #16
Office of Water Conservation & Drought Planning Section
Addition to HB04-1365 Guidelines

Rod Kuharich
CWCB Director

DATE:
SUBJECT:

Rick Brown
Acting Deputy
Director

Backl!round

.

The Water Conservation Act of 2004, under HB 04-1365, created a mechanism for the Colorado
Water Conservation Board (Board) to appropriate and expend such revenues as are necessary from
the unobligated balance of the five percent share of the operational account of the Severance Tax
Trust Fund for purposes of the Office of Water Conservation and Drought Planning (OWCDP)
providing financial assistance to covered entities to develop water conservation plans that meet the
provisions ofC.R.S. 37-60-126 (6), thus creating the Water Conservation Planning Grant Program.

On May 25, 2005, the Board adopted the Guidelines for Financial Assistance to Covered Entities to
Develop Water Conservation Plans. The Guidelines currently state that grant applications will be
accepted and awarded, at a minimum, in two phases over the course of the State's fiscal year based
on fund availability and applicant demand: July 1st through August 31 st and November 1st through
December 31st and that grant awards will be made at the November and March CWCB Board
meetings.

Summarv of Guideline Addition

As noted in the Background, the current Guidelines, specifically the Application and Award Timing
section (4d), provide for a minimum number of opportunities throughout the fiscal year for grant
awards, thereby implying that more than two phases may be offered to grant applicants to take
advantage of within the year so long as the funds are available. Considering that the funding for HB
04-1365 does not roll over to the following fiscal year, staff is adding two more phases for
administering financial awards to better ensure that the money appropriated for this grant program is
expended and that covered entities are encouraged to develop locally adopted conservation plans.

. The OWCDP staff finds the current two phases for application submittal and award timing as not
providing sufficient opportunities during a fiscal year for applicants to submit proposals and for staff

Flood Protection. Water Supply Planning and Finance. Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection. Conservation and Drought Planning