From The Pagosa Springs Sun (Clayton Chaney):
At its next regular meeting, the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) Board of Direc- tors will be voting on a new Tax- payer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) ballot resolution, which, if approved by voters, will allow the district to receive an unrestricted amount in grant funding, according to District Manager Justin Ramsey.
Ramsey explained in an interview that under TABOR, the district
is limited to the amount of grant money it can receive, which is a percentage based on the district’s annual budget. He estimated that to be at 10 percent.“The only thing it changes is our availability to receive grants,” he added. “It will have zero effect on mill levies.”
He explained that the resolution would remove any restriction on the district’s ability to receive grant funding…
If the board votes to approve the ballot issue, district voters will be able to vote on the issue during the district’s regular election slated for May 3…
Smith indicates in his responses, also published in the Jan. 27 edition of The SUN, that the district’s Water Enterprise Fund is expected to have an increase in expenditures of 31 percent in 2022.
Smith also notes that engineering costs for rebuilding the Snowball water plant, new state and federal mandates, along with inflation and costs of materials will cause expenditures to rise.
Ramsey indicates in his response that the Snowball water
plant will be rebuilt and up and running in 2024.Smith also notes in his response that the district’s Wastewater Enterprise Fund is projected to increase by 29 percent, also due to state and federal regulations.
“Due to some state and federally mandated regulations PAWSD will need to spend several million dol- lars on capital improvements. To take advantage of some of the cur- rent grant opportunities PAWSD will be asking voters to rescind a portion of the TABOR require- ments.” Ramsey wrote.
He also explains that the district will hold in place the property tax limitations but ask to rescind the limitations on grants…
The next regular PAWSD board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 10, at 5 p.m. The meeting will be held both in person at the district office located at 100 Lyn Ave. and virtually via Zoom. Login information for the meeting can be found online at: https://www.pawsd.org/district-business/public-meetings/.