County to receive more mineral tax funds

PARACHUTE I The Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado (AGNC) is pleased to report that the Rio Blanco County and several municipalities within the county will be receiving additional federal mineral lease (FML) funds from the State of Colorado, as part of Senate Bill 14-106, signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper in late March.
The bill provided for the immediate distribution of more than $4.2 million to local governments from the Local Government Permanent Fund, a slush fund established in 2009 from Federal Mineral Lease monies, and intended to be distributed to local governments impacted by federal mineral development.
While the fund had been raided by the General Assembly in years past, City of Grand Junction revenue supervisor Elizabeth Tice-Janda discovered that last year the fund contained an undistributed $3.8 million, even though conditions had been met for distributing the money.
Tice-Janda approached AGNC with the information, and the association immediately took steps to get the funds released, along with amounts that had accumulated since that time.
Rio Blanco County is one of the top 3 beneficiaries of the effort, and is receiving $375,161.19; the City of Rangely is right behind, receiving $248,138.12; the Town of Meeker is slated to receive $153,084.58; while Dinosaur gets $6,613.59.
For more information, contact AGNC Executive Director Scott McInnis at 970-285-7630