From KUNC (Nathan Heffel):
The district, or CCWCD, is exploring the possibility of asking voters to approve the $60 million bond measure this November to fund future water storage construction and acquisition of additional water rights…
Conservancy staff say the measure could help sustain the region’s strong agricultural economy and would cost residents in the district roughly $1.26 a month per $100,000 of a home’s market value for the next 25 years. That works out to around $15.48 per year.
At times, the public meeting at the Evan’s Community center was heated. Some in attendance were concerned about paying additional taxes without knowing what direct benefit they would see.
One farmer says he had been pumping water for over 45 years before his pump was shut off by the state.
“We need to know before we vote what the allocation is going to be. We still haven’t been able to pump for six or seven years.”
Conservancy president Gary Harman says an answer to that question isn’t known. However, he did give a dire prediction if voters failed to approve the bond initiative.
“If we don’t build these structures, believe me the [larger] municipalities will. And we will lose the opportunity to capture all of this water. And this is strictly your decision. And the things we can do here is help keep that water here in our area, and use in our communities, and use in our farms, and keep businesses in small towns in businesses, like in main street Greeley we can help that.”
