{"id":67329,"date":"2016-12-25T22:22:42","date_gmt":"2016-12-26T05:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/less-state-grant-money-expected-for-local-projects-in-2017\/"},"modified":"2016-12-26T05:22:42","modified_gmt":"2016-12-26T05:22:42","slug":"less-state-grant-money-expected-for-local-projects-in-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/less-state-grant-money-expected-for-local-projects-in-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Less state grant money expected for local projects in 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Colorado Department of Local Affairs\u2019 executive office recently explained its shortfall in available grant funds to La Plata County and Durango officials. In 2017, the county intends to apply for such a grant to pay for improvements to County Road 120, a heavily trafficked road in Hesperus.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Housing initiatives, building remodels, road maintenance and other infrastructure often are paid for with grants from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, but the department\u2019s funding pool is expected to be a bit dry next year.<\/p>\n

DOLA representatives recently met with local officials to discuss 2017\u2019s projected shortage of grant money, which plays a critical role in projects throughout the county.<\/p>\n

DOLA, along with the Department of Natural Resources is a beneficiary of severance taxes, which are levied on oil and gas companies at the point minerals reach the surface. The taxes are based on value, not quantity.<\/p>\n

In previous years, those taxes have translated to as much as $30 million in grant money DOLA distributes to local governments. But because of a Supreme Court ruling this year, oil and gas companies can deduct more in taxes than previously.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve returned $30 to $40 million to oil and gas companies,\u201d said Irv Halter, executive director of DOLA. \u201cBy year\u2019s end, we\u2019ll have taken about $100 million out of the general fund to repay severance tax receipts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Halter said that by working with legislators, the entities decided that out of $57 million in reserves, $31 million will replenish the general fund while the remaining $26 million will be appropriately divided between DOLA and the Department of Natural Resources at the end of the fiscal year.<\/p>\n

The practical effect: DOLA distributed a mere $9.3 million in its most recent grant cycle, though the state received $20 million in requests.<\/p>\n

Governments also can request up to only $1 million per grant cycle now, whereas $2 million previously was the maximum.<\/p>\n

The county routinely applies for DOLA grants, which fund projects including road repairs and building remodeling, such as the renovations underway at the county courthouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur current projections are that we have $10 to $12 million coming in for the next two grant cycles combined, so we decided to combine the spring and winter cycles,\u201d Halter said.<\/p>\n

The next application deadline is in February for funds that will be distributed in May. La Plata County intends to apply for a grant to improve County Road 120.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news is we\u2019re not in as dire a position as we thought, if the projection is correct,\u201d Halter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf note, the oil and gas receipts are projected to go up, which is good, but we don\u2019t grant funds on projections, or we can get ourselves in big trouble. And I don\u2019t want to make a promise to a community we can\u2019t keep.\u201d<\/p>\n

jpace@durangoherald.com<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

$10 million to $12 million projected for upcoming grant cycles<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,1020,13,1680],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-67329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-durango-city-council","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-la-plata-county-commissioners"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67329"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=67329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}