2022 RRWCD Fee to Increase to $30

It’s that time of year when the county assessors and treasurers are working on the 2023 tax rolls for their counties. The tax roll includes an assessment on irrigated acres from the Republican River Water Conservation District. The RRWCD assessments fund the district’s ongoing Compact Compliance efforts. In the past, the assessment was $14.50 per irrigated acre. Acres irrigated in the 2022 calendar year will be assessed $30 per acre on the upcoming tax roll.

In 2016, the Republican River Compact Administration, consisting of the State Engineer from Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, approved a resolution which allowed Colorado 100% credit for the water delivered by the Compact Compliance Pipeline.

In exchange for the 100% credit, Colorado agreed to retire 25,000 irrigated acres in the South Fork Focus Zone, located in parts of Kit Carson and Yuma counties, by the end of 2029. Colorado must have 10,000 irrigated acres permanently retired in this area by the end of 2024 and the remaining 15,000 acres retired from irrigation by Dec. 31, 2029.

Colorado state engineer Kevin Rein previously stated that if Colorado does not retire the acres by the deadlines stipulated in the 2016 RRCA Resolution, he will shut down all large capacity wells in the Republican River Basin. This includes all irrigation, municipal and large commercial wells.

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