O'Brien Announces $80 Million in Grants to Cities, Counties, Schools

The Ritter administration announced Wednesday that more than 500 cities, counties and school districts across Colorado will receive about $80 million in grants funded by severance taxes generated from oil and gas extraction.

The purpose of the grants, which were calculated under a more generous allocation formula created by a 2008 law, is to "offset impacts from energy development, strengthen local economies and improve the livability of Colorado communities," according to a press release from Gov. Bill Ritter's office.

“These funds come at a critical time and will help local agencies and schools maintain quality services,” Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien said. “These direct distribution awards will allow local officials to decide how best to invest these funds and make the biggest difference in their communities.”

The amount of the grants is a state record. Prior to the enactment into law of SB 08-218 and HB 08-1083, grants from energy severance taxes and the federal government's mineral lease fund were based on the number of employees an energy company had in a particular community. The 2008 statutes require consideration of the number of drilling permits, amount of production, employee residences, population in the community, and the amount of highway user miles in a community.

The total of the grants last year was about $24 million.

Colorado's severance tax on oil and gas drilling accounted for $44.5 million of this year's grant fund, while the federal mineral lease fund is the source of the remaining $35.9 million.

The largest recipients of grant money from the state's severance tax were Mesa county (about $4.7 million), Garfield county (about $4.6 million), Weld county (about $2.7 million) and the city of Grand Junction (about $2.1 million).

Grants to school districts, and additional grant money for municipalities and counties, come from revenues generated by the federal government's mineral lease fund.

About $2.8 million is being provided to school districts from the federal revenues, with the largest recipients being Garfield School District RE-2 (about $454,000), Roaring Fork School District RE-1 (about $377,000) and Mesa County Valley School District 51 (about $306,000).

A complete list of recipients, and the amounts they received, can be found here.

Groff Says Toll, Mileage-Based Fee Study Provisions Will Be Removed From FASTER Bill

Two controversial provisions in a comprehensive transportation funding bill will be removed before the Senate votes on the measure, which is designed to raise more than $200 million per year to repair and improve Colorado's highways and bridges.

Senate president Peter Groff, D-Denver, announced the changes to the measure at a news conference this morning.

"We can run that in a separate bill. This bill is about putting Coloradans back to work," Groff said.

The Senate is due to consider SB 108 this morning.

Republicans announced Tuesday that they are pulling out of efforts to reach a compromise with majority Democrats on the measure.

Senate minority leader Josh Penry, R-Fruita, said the GOP was doing so because of the tolling and mileage-based fee provisions that are being removed from the bill at Groff's direction.

Penry also pointed to the bill's focus on using increased motor vehicle registration fees as the sole means of financing transportation system improvements.

"It's very hard to ask ordinary citizens to open their wallets when the General Assembly won't do the same," Penry said. "At the end of the day, we wanted to fix roads and bridges while this bill is still about tolling and tracking our cars with satellites."

Republicans want to dedicate some of the state's general fund to transportation needs, as well as a portion of revenue raised from severance taxes on energy development companies. Under current law that was enacted during the period of GOP control of the legislative branch of the government no general fund dollars are allocated to transportation.

Instead, the state begins to fund transportation once the general fund's revenues have grown by six percent over the prior fiscal year.

Voters rejected in November 2008 a GOP-supported ballot initiative that would have directed severance taxes to highways.

If given final approval by the Senate, the bill sponsored by Democrat Dan Gibbs of Silverthorne will move to the House.

Ritter's Oil and Gas Severance Tax Proposal Would Provide Scholarships

Gov. Bill Ritter's proposal to increase the state's severance tax on oil and gas extraction activities could benefit eligible college students to the tune of $1,000-$6,000 if the initiative makes the ballot and is approved by Colorado voters.

The dollar amount is the value of scholarships that could be awarded to students, according to a report in today's Rocky Mountain News.

The grants, called "Colorado Promise Scholarships," would be funded by the removal of a property tax exemption now enjoyed by the state's prosperous oil industry.

The Ritter Administration's Department of Higher Education approved the scholarship proposal yesterday and indicated the agency's support for the ballot initiative.

According to the Rocky article by Berny Morson,

The analysis presented Thursday assumes scholarships would be available to students from families earning up to $102,000 a year. But the actual cap could be different, and it's not clear how the rules would apply to large families supporting several students in college, Skaggs said.

The analysis also includes the assumption that students would make a financial contribution, by working or with the help of a nonprofit organization. Awards would be affected by amount of federal aid the student receives.

Students would be expected to maintain a minimum grade- point average.

A portion of the money raised under the program would be given to each of the higher education institutions to distribute as additional aid based on academic merit.