JACKSON, Wyo. — The Teton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) is expected to allocate 2022 Specific Purpose Excise Tax (SPET) funding for three water quality projects at its voucher meeting on Monday, June 22.
At its Tuesday regular BCC meeting, the board discussed the item with the intention of passing it. The Commissioners punted the item to Monday after agreeing that a few slight changes should be made to the language of the resolution. Teton County Water Resources Coordinator Chris Peltz presented the recommendations to the BCC, describing the findings as the culmination of two years of work.
Funding will go to the following projects and sponsors: $1.5 million to the Town of Jackson for stormwater system improvements; $1.25 million to the Elk Refuge Sewer District for construction of a wastewater service line and related improvements connecting to the Town of Jackson wastewater system; and $80,000 to Trout Unlimited to complete and implement a water quality monitoring data dashboard.
“This is for three projects identified through an extensive public staff-led process that was also informed by this board, by our water quality advisory board … and by our partners in the environmental community,” Peltz told the BCC.
There was talk of adding the phrase “not to exceed” preceding the amount of allocated money in the resolution. However, it was determined that, since this is a one-time allocation of a specific amount, there is nothing stopping the organizations from returning to the Commissioners down the road to ask for more money if they run out. The resolution requires that each sponsoring entity submit a monitoring plan to Teton County Engineering that describes how the project’s water quality benefits will be evaluated. Commissioner Natalia Macker suggested adding language that requires submission of the monitoring plan before the entity receives all of its funds.
The resolution will reappear before the BCC on Monday with changes that also include a condition for the Elk Refuge Sewer District’s future wastewater service line. Back at a March BCC meeting, there were discussions of conditionally giving the money to the Elk Refuge Sewer District only if the agency agreed to install and operate an RV dump station north of town. That condition was since abandoned, but a new condition will state that the sewer district must waive fees and guarantee connection to its sewer line if an RV dump station returns to the conversation in the future.
