Rio Blanco County gets $374,000 from state

RBC I The Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado is pleased to announce that Gov. John Hickenlooper on Friday signed into law legislation providing the immediate distribution of more than $4.2 million to local governments from the Local Government Permanent Fund (LGPF).
Rio Blanco County will receive $374,806 from that fund.
The LGPF is a slush fund established in 2009 from Federal Mineral Lease monies and is designed for distribution 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.
These efforts culminated in Friday’s signing of Senate Bill 14-106 by the governor.
“We are pleased that the Joint Budget Committee, both Houses of the General Assembly, and the governor saw the value and urgency in this issue and worked to correct the situation,” said AGNC Executive Director Scott McInnis. “This money will go a long way toward helping our local governments provide for the services they need to, in this time of reduced revenues.”
Among the top recipients of the funds, which were provided by lease sale bonus payments and royalties from energy development on federally owned lands, are Garfield County, which will receive approximately $411,391 and Mesa County, which will receive about $190,175. The City of Grand Junction is slated to receive about $89,200.