The Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District will not take a position on Proposition DD, which will be on the Nov. 5 combined election ballot.
While the LSPWCD is prohibited from actively campaigning for or against legislation, it can state a position of support or opposition, and has done so in the past.
Prop DD would authorize sports betting in-person at casinos in the state’s three gaming towns – Black Hawk, Central City, and Cripple Creek – and online through internet sports betting operators contracted by casinos. Bets could only be placed by those who are 21 years of age or older. If approved by voters, the sports gaming proceeds would be taxed at 10 percent to help fund implementation of Colorado’s Water Plan.
Joe Frank, manager of the LSPWCD, told his board’s executive committee Tuesday that, while any funding of water projects is welcome, he’s only “lukewarm” on the proposition. Frank said the gaming tax is estimated to raise somewhere between $6 million and $20 million a year, still far short of the estimated $100 million per year needed to close the gap between water supply and demand in the next decade.
“My fear is that, people approve this (Prop DD) and then when we come back in 2020 and say ‘Now we need more,’ they’re going to be very reluctant to pass even more taxes,” he said. “So the question is, are you jeopardizing a future campaign to fund the water plan?”
Frank told the board there also are plans to seek an increase in the state’s lodging tax to help fund water storage projects. The thinking, he said, is that most lodging taxes are paid by visitors, so Coloradans would be more inclined to vote for it.
In other business Tuesday the committee got its first look at the district’s proposed 2020 budget. Again this year the budget is swollen by a quarter-million-dollar grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to fund the Northeast Colorado Water Cooperative. Irrigators and other water users often have augmentation plans to offset the effects water well pumping has on the river. These plans can result in users having credits, or excess water available, that they can’t use. Rather than just lose the credits downstream, NCWC helps transfer those credits to someone who needs them in an efficient manner. Members of the cooperative also work to find ways to develop infrastructure for water exchanges, primarily when water augmentation plans are involved.
The district’s proposed budget is $1,173,586, about a 4 percent increase over the 2019 budget. Most of the increase is accounted for by increased personnel costs and an anticipated increase in legal costs.
The whole board will review the budget at its November meeting.
