City Council Minutes 1992 07 06 - Laserfiche WebLink

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RECESS RECONVENED Karl Dreher of NCWCD explained the background on the District and gave a status report on the Pipeline Project. The District was formed in 1937, being the first and now the largest. They have the authority to borrow money, tax property, to enter into contracts on behalf of the State of Colorado, and to construct works like this pipeline, although the statutes are broader than that, to construct water treatment plants, and to operate and maintain all of these things. The main CBT facilities in terms of the water portion are on the Western Slope. The main reservoir for storage is Granby Reservoir with a total volume of around 450,000 acre feet. The water in Granby is pumped up a short elevation rise into Shadow Mountain Reservoir, which then flows by gravity through a cana 1 into Grand Lake, then by gravity underneath into Rocky Mountain National Park through the Adams tunnel, exiting just above Estes Park. In the 1970's the price of CBT water began to skyrocket. Cities like Ft. Collins, Estes Park, Greeley, Longmont, Loveland, and Boulder began to grow. They were competing with one another on the open market, which drove the price up. They decided that they were just driving the price up, so they formed the Six Cities Committee and began pursuing the planning of the Windy Gap Project. (TAPE INAUDIBLE) Both Windy Gap and CBT can be sold on the open market without going through Water Court, which is a unique feature in the Colorado Water Law. An entity cannot purchase subdistrict water from the Windy Gap Project unless they are within the boundaries of the subdistrict. Similarly, an entity cannot purchase CBT water unless they are within the boundaries of the Conservancy District. Being included in the boundaries of the Conservancy District brings with it the issue of taxation. There is currently a one mill ad valorem tax that's assessed on all lands throughout the District. It's purpose is to guarantee repayment of the water portions of the CBT project back to the Federal Government. They have been successful in putting into reserve all of the monies necessary to repay the debt, which is due in 2002. The reason they don't repay the debt now is because the money was borrowed at 4% and they're earning substantially more than that in investments. Howard: What happens in 2002 to the tax? Dreher: That's a decision the Board will have to make. Legally, they could leave the tax on the land. The revenues for the District come about 50% from the tax and 50% from the revenues associated with the allotment contracts. The project