The Colorado River Water Conservation District is facing some funding problems but hopes a recent successful effort by Colorado Mountain College to free up tax money will also benefit them. To dive deeper into a slightly murky issue, Mark Duggan of Open Range News spoke with Brent Gardner-Smith of Aspen Journalism.
The river district has been pinched for years by a state law – known as the Gallagher Amendment – limiting how much tax revenue they can use. Past efforts to get voters to relax the law have gone nowhere.
But CMC recently had overwhelming success convincing voters to let them bypass Gallagher. The river district hopes the CMC vote will bode well for them. A recent district-commissioned survey seemed to indicate public support.
Brent Gardner Smith of Aspen Journalism has been following the district’s funding challenges for several years and wrote a recent article about their latest attempt to seek funds.