From the Valley Courier (Ruth Heide):
The first water management sub-district board of managers had approved its approximately $1 million budget pending approval from the sponsoring water district, which unanimously approved it on Tuesday. Counties within the first sub-district, lying in the closed basin of the San Luis Valley, will begin collecting fees from sub-district irrigators in 2011…
…the water board approved a mill levy of 2.35, less a temporary reduction of .27 for total mills of 2.08. The water district covers most of the San Luis Valley…
[RGWCD Bookkeeper Amber Pacheco] added that the professional services category includes legal and engineering expenses, and the district anticipates an increase in engineering fees to keep the sub-district process moving forward, not just for the first sub-district but also for the other Valley sub-districts that are forming…
[RGWCD Manager Steve Vandiver] estimated the district would probably have seven sub-districts. The formation of these sub-districts requires attorney and engineering fees that the sponsoring district hopes to recoup once the sub-districts are operational…
RGWCD Board Member Lewis Entz, long time state legislator whose legislation enabled the sub-district process, said the reason he created the legislation was so the San Luis Valley could solve its own problems “rather than let the state engineer do it. We are trying to do it here … We want to solve our own problems.”
[Alamosa resident Leon Moyer] suggested that the district post its proposed budget on the web site in the future, since the budgets he was able to pick up prior to the meeting were not the ones ultimately presented to the board. He said the public needs to have the opportunity to adequately review the proposed budget prior to the budget hearing.
More Rio Grand River basin coverage here.