Newsletters January 10
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DONALA WATER TIMES DONALA WATER & SANITATION – SPECIAL NEWSLETTER 488-3603 JANUARY 2010 www.donalawater.org
As the phone poll conducted by Donala in November indicated, the District is doing a decent job of getting the word out about major issues affecting our water supply, but we can do better. This paper is aimed at just that – educate our constituents on the challenges facing us, the path we’ve chosen to resolve the problems, the costs to all of us in the future, and the resulting benefits to our real estate values and quality of life. To encourage our customers to read up on the subject, contained within this newspaper is a challenge and quiz. Solve the challenge, provide Donala with the correct information and get 5% off your next water bill. Here’s how it works. In most of the articles in this newsletter there is a word or phrase that doesn’t belong in its sentence. Find the words and make a sentence (question) from all of the out of place words, and answer the question. Call (488-3603, fax (488-3110) or email (
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) with your name, address and the answer to the question, and you win!! Your answer must be submitted to our office by 4:30 PM, Friday, January 22. LONG TERM WATER SOLUTIONS As we have reported many times in the past, the Donala water supply is dependent on the Denver Basin system of deep water aquifers. We have 15 drinking water wells in the Denver and Arapahoe Aquifers, and all of them are performing fairly well. We know however, that the Basin is a depleting, non-renewable resource, and the more “straws” that are stuck in it up and down the Front Range, the faster and more significant the drawdown. Couple that with the fact that our geographical location is on the far southwestern edge of the “bowl” of water, and it is easy to see that the time is coming when we will be finding it more and more expensive to squeeze the last drop out of the ground.
We have reported in the past that our local supply is holding steady, and that our wells are performing adequately. That is still true. Although we have seen some drawdown every year, and it is most prevalent in the Denver Aquifer, the number of wells we have and our management of their use has allowed us to enjoy productive years, even in the drought of 2002-2003. So why then are we rationing water for irrigation and so concerned about the future?
The simple fact is we cannot afford to do otherwise. Water and water infrastructure is extremely expensive in Colorado and even more importantly, time consuming to bring to fruition. We purchased a ranch for its water near Leadville in 2008, but the earliest we can get it approved for municipal use through the court system is March, 2011. That is only a fraction of the solution – we still have to get that water from the northern Arkansas to your tap. Infrastructure in the ground and agreements on paper take years to develop. We have to look way ahead to determine what the demand will be and start spending the time, effort, and (unfortunately) money now to make the supply available.
As we reported over the past few years, there have been several suggested “buckets” of water from which to draw our supply. They have ranged from pumping back Colorado River water to treating our own wastewater for potable uses. Those options are still potentially viable, and we are keeping our thumb on all the pulses. But we believe we have narrowed our scope down to two related sources and one method of transmitting the water to our system. That is the scope of our emphasis now and the direction we are headed with our infrastructure and related financing.
We mentioned the ranch near Leadville. It is the Mt. Massive Ranch, though we may need to change the name to allow the previous owner to continue using it on his remaining property. The ranch is 711 acres of mostly pastureland at the foot of Mount Massive. It is beautiful property that has been used for seasonal grazing of cattle. We hope to be able to claim about 300 acre feet of water (325,850 gallons per acre foot) for our use. The water will flow into the Arkansas and be available to pick up and transmit to our neighborhood from points downstream on the river.
The ranch water represents only about 20% of our total demand. A concept called the Super Ditch (SD) hopefully can supply the rest. The SD is a consortium of irrigation ditch companies along the southern Arkansas River. The ditches supply water to the farmers, and the idea is to rotate fallowing of some of the farmland each year, making remaining water available for municipal use. In that way, the farmers stay in business, they don’t have to work as hard (some of their land is out of production), and they get paid more for that land’s worth of water than the crops would bring them anyway. It is the proverbial “win-win” situation, because at the other end of the pipe, communities like Donala have available water to use.
So – we have purchased some water and we will lease the rest from the farmers. How do we get it to your tap? Where’s the pipe? Well, it belongs to Colorado Springs. They have infrastructure now to bring water up from the river and their Southern Delivery System (SDS) pipeline, to be completed by 2016, will bring up to 78 million gallons per day to the area. Whereas in the past, the City has not been forthcoming with regional partnerships and cooperation to “share” their infrastructure, hopefully that is about to change. Their Utilities Advisory Committee is wrapping up a year long study to look at regional water partnerships, and it looks like there will be room in the pipe and the rest of the Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) system for Donala water. More importantly, it appears that there might be a change in the political will of the City to allow it to happen. To that end, we have been negotiating a service agreement that will move treated water through their system to a new connection at Northgate and Struthers Road. We hope to have a token amount of water flowing in 2010, and a full supply when we need it. At this point we don’t know if this will mean CSU acting as a wholesaler, selling us water that they have and obtain, or simply wheeling our Mt. Massive and Super Ditch water through the SDS and their city system. Either way, it will be expensive, and there will be some internal infrastructure needed to make it work (see article on Financing the Solution).
So that’s our solution as we see it today. There are some potential pitfalls. Super Ditch water is not drought resistant water, and our demand will have a junior water right. It is also dependent on the success WHAT’s of farming in the Arkansas Valley. In addition, Colorado Springs may eventually need all of the capacity of the SDS in the high peak months of June – September. So we are still looking for alternative and back up supplies. We will be investigating aquifer injection – pumping treated water down into our wells in the off peak months to have it available during the summer. There is also a project from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming that is slated to bring water to the northern and central Front Range. It is potentially an additional source for us. Rest assured that we will keep all of our options open and continue to ensure your water will flow.
As the article titled Long Term Water Solutions implies, Donala will embark on several projects over the next several years to ensure our infrastructure is in place, and our water supply is intact. There are four categories of costs we expect to incur over this time: the water supply itself, external infrastructure to deliver it to our doorstep, internal infrastructure to deliver it to your tap, and stormwater control. As described in recent newsletters and discussed in the phone surveys that 324 constituents “endured” in November, 2009, the costs of all of this are high, and more than likely, the Donala Board of Directors will be asking for authorization by election in May, 2010 to finance the requirements via bond or other debt.
Stormwater Control
Taking the last subject first, this is a new one for Donala. One of the stipulations that Pueblo County put on Colorado Springs in approving the Southern Delivery System pipeline through their County, was that any user of the SDS would participate in stormwater control and the maintenance of Fountain Creek that has been neglected for so many years. In unincorporated El Paso County that responsibility falls to the County Transportation Department. Without commenting on what kind of job they have done through the years, suffice it to say that partners in the SDS will have to step up to the plate with infrastructure and dollars to help maintain Fountain Creek, and as a subsidiary - Monument Creek. Stormwater is not currently in the Donala Service Plan, but could be with a change to the Plan, which needs to be approved by El Paso County. At this point we have no idea what will be involved and how much it will cost. In fact, with the passage of Referendum 300 in the November election, even the city’s Stormwater Enterprise is history, and the city is not sure how they will fund the necessary maintenance of the Creek. All we can do is wait and work with the city and county to determine who will have what responsibility.
Internal Infrastructure
With regard to our internal water distribution system, following is a series of projects that will enable the district to move water from its delivery point on Northgate Road throughout the distribution system. Up until now our system has been designed to move water from our 15 wells to two treatment plants, and then out to the customers and the storage tanks. That system will continue to be used as long as the wells last, and the new renewable water system is designed to use much of the same infrastructure and concept.
1. Hook up to Colorado Springs utilities at Northgate Road. Date – Spring, 2010 Cost - $1,000,000 Volume – Initially 100 acre feet per year with a maximum of 1 million gallons per day
2. Latrobe Drive Upgrades. New booster pumps and new pipelines to Holbein WTP Cost - $1,110,000 Volume – Increase to 2 MGD.
3. Struthers Drive Pipeline upgrade. Increasing size of connection and pipeline to R.Hull (Bermuda Dunes Way) WTP Cost - $400,000 Volume – Up to 4 MGD, but only as far as Bermuda Dunes Way
4. Upgrade to R.Hull WTP (Bermuda Dunes Way). Includes 3 million gallon storage tank and booster pumps. Cost - $3,440,000 Volume – 4 MGD, but only to Bermuda Dunes Way
5. Upgrades to Jessie Drive Pumps Station, pipelines to Holbein WTP Cost - $1,300,000 Volume – 4 MGD to Holbein
6. Upgrades on Brown Ranch. New storage tank. Pressurized system for BR development. Cost - $3,250,000 (NOTE- large portion to be financed by developer) Volume – 4 MGD throughout district
External Infrastructure
The initial investment in CSU infrastructure is known, and is part of the $1M noted above. It does not include an increment of storage in Pueblo Reservoir. That could cost up to $40,000 a year, with an initial investment of over $350,000. Follow on costs, including Donala’s “share” of the Southern Delivery System are to date unknown. Suffice it to say that a project that will cost over one billion dollars, though much larger in scale than Donala would ever need, will still be expensive in “shares.” Most of these costs will be determined over the first few months of 2010 after the city’s Utilities Advisory Committee makes its recommendations to the City Council, and the Council determines the extent of CSU’s participation on a regional basis. Donala is planning for any reasonable contingency.
A separate, or follow-on project has potential to bring us water from the north. That is the Flaming Gorge, or Green River project being touted by both a private investor and some water purveyors in the Denver Metro area. The idea is to tap Colorado’s rightful water rights in the Green River in Wyoming at the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. The water would be piped across the I-80 corridor and then down the I-25 right-of-way at least as far as the Reuter-Hess Reservoir in Parker. Line of site from Reuter-Hess to our County Line Road is only 27 miles, so the potential is there for water from the north. Just the description of the project alone should ring the “ka-ching” bell in anyone’s mind. Although a project of this type will almost have to be federal in scope, the “shares” of the costs for customers like Donala will also be substantial. However, we will keep our name in the hat as “interested.”
The Water Supply
We already know what our Mt. Massive water has cost so far – almost $5 million. We still have a court case and related engineering to get through, and when it is all said and done the water will cost about $17,000 per acre foot. Although we also own 711 acres of ranchland that can be sold for development (or open space), at best we would recover is about $1.5 million. Although the water we will get from the ranch is ours forever (owned as opposed to leased), obviously we cannot afford to spend that kind of money for the other 70-80 percent of our demand. Water supplies from the Flaming Gorge project above would be as a “purchase,” and the costs would be even higher than Mt. Massive. At this point we have financed the ranch purchase from funds in the bank. We will probably replenish those coffers for emergency needs, and issue debt for part of the costs so far.
The Super Ditch water we are looking into is initially on a lease basis. Although we are still in the negotiation phase, it looks like the going in lease will be $500 per acre foot, per year. Our eventual demand (on top of our Mt. Massive water) will be for about 1400 af = $700,000 in today’s dollars. There will likely be storage costs for that water as well, and certainly we will grow into those costs as our renewable demand slowly grows over the years. Remember, we still have our good Denver Basin well water, and we plan on using it for as long as it is economical to do so.
The Debt Question
So, the question our constituents may be faced with in May, 2010 is the TABOR request to issue debt to finance these projects and water supply. We know the infrastructure alone will cost about $11M over several years. Some of the water has already cost close to $5M. The rest can cost over $750,000 per year. We have no idea at this point what the service or transmission of our water through CSU’s system will cost – at least not one we want to put in print (and give them any ideas J). We also do not know what the stormwater maintenance will cost. But we know it all will be expensive. Bottom line is – we believe we may need up to $20M over the next 10-15 years, and we will ask you to vote (via mail) to approve financing it. We do NOT know at this point if we will need to raise the mill levy to do so. The phone survey THE NAME conducted in November indicated that 59% of our constituents supported the financing, and 51% supported a 5 mill levy as a last result. We hope that is still the case.
Over 300 of Donala’s constituents participated in a phone survey about water issues and related projects in November, 2009. First and foremost we wish to thank those who participated. Your feedback is paramount in this endeavor. The survey has a 5.4% margin of error. Following are some of the pertinent results. Most residents are satisfied with the area’s direction. A majority believe growth is about right.
Most residents believe that the drought has ended, but believe water shortages threaten the area. If growth stops, they believe there would be adequate water.
Most residents believe the cost of water is about right and the quality is excellent or good. Voters support raising rates to finance locating water to replace the current supply.
A proposed project to connect Donala and Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) has considerable public awareness, and the majority supports it.
Most support a bond issue to build the project, and increasing the tax rate to fund it has narrow support.
Some of the major policy themes highlighted were:
Voters support the development of additional water by:
When offered a choice, the public prefers paying a premium for a dependable water supply.
Residents significantly or somewhat agree with most conservation policies.
The questions and results in italics warrant some comment. First and foremost – Growth and how it affects our need for renewable water. We recognize that the answers to the growth question posed in the survey are likely skewed by the fact that there hasn’t been any growth in the area for at least a year and a half. In addition, Donala is about 80% built out now anyway. The fact is however, that with or without growth in the area, our Denver Basin aquifer system is a depleting resource. The pace of growth simply determines the pace of depletion. The simple fact remains that we need a renewable supply of water. The opportunity is here now, and because of the length of time required to make it happen, we need to take advantage of it now.
The issue of drying up farms in Colorado is a “hot potato” if ever there was one. Even “drying up” high altitude seasonal pastureland like the Mount Massive Ranch is not popular in many circles. Everyone understands the plight of the American farmer as a whole, and farmers in Colorado have it even worse. Their soil is high in salinity, they only get one growing season a year, their children don’t want to be farmers, and consequently they can’t compete with the rest of the world – even the rest of America’s farmers. As a result, they know that their most valuable resource is their water, and many want to sell it. Unfortunately, the prospective buyers like Donala look like the bad guys, especially in the eyes of the Pueblo Chieftain and many of our politicians. For that reason we are working with others on the Super Ditch project which keeps the farmers in business, while still making some water available for municipal use through rotating fallowing. It is a commendable, viable, and righteous concept, of our but it will only work until the farmer has simply had enough. When that happens, he is going to sell out. What we don’t want to happen is that he sells his water out from under the agreements we may have to lease it. “Buying the farm” may be our only choice. Thanks again to all who participated in the survey. Your input is extremely important.
A HELPING HAND IN TOUGH TIMES Donala understands the situation that many of our customers find themselves in during these tough economic times. Unemployment, foreclosures, loss of investments and the general downturn in the economy have taken their toll. Certainly our rate increases don’t help, and we wish there was another way to cover the massive expenses we foresee. Hopefully things will get better, and in the meantime, listed below are a few programs we have instigated to help “ease the pain”.
Automatic Withdrawal. Did you know that Donala has an easy, hands-off payment plan? Just by filling out minimum paperwork and providing us with a voided check, we can automatically withdraw your water and sewer bill from your bank account. Approximately 650 Donala customers use the service today.
Budget Billing. To avoid “sticker shock” when the first bill of the irrigation season arrives, we offer a budget billing program. Pay a straight, equal amount through the year, and then catch up at the end, or receive credit toward the next year.
60 Day Late Alert. Service disconnect notices go out after three months of non-payment. The certified letter charge is added to the bill. To avoid the three month list, we also notify customers when they reach the two month timeframe. Hopefully that little reminder will help.
Special Payment Plans. Especially in these hard times, customers often find themselves behind and unable to catch up with LOCAL their bills all at once. All we ask is for some communication. Let us know your situation – preferably BEFORE the bill has gotten out of control – and we will work out a payment plan that suits your needs.
Credit Card Payments. As of this time we don’t offer credit card payment service or on-line payments. You can do on-line payments with any of the local services like MyCheckFree and Xpress Bill Pay. Check them out at www.mycheckfree.com or www.xpressbillpay.com. We currently get 400-500 payments a month that way. Credit Cards are another matter. Unfortunately, the cost to the district doesn’t justify the service for a few customers. In the past, we have asked in surveys if the service is needed, and there has been very little response. Communication with larger utilities who do offer credit card service reveals that only about 15% of their customers avail themselves of the service. We will continue to monitor the interest however, and if the time is right, we will let you know.
Remember, we also have three drop boxes around the district for your convenience. One is in front of Loaf and Jug in the Gleneagle Shopping Center. One is at King Soopers off Baptist Road, and the other is at our office at 15850 Holbein Drive. Please do not put cash in the drop boxes.
This question came from one of our constituents who took the phone survey back in November. He called and suggested an explanation of what the real costs are to bring water to your tap. Good idea, and hopefully the following will give you a better appreciation for the actual costs involved.
We do a Cost of Service Analysis every year – usually in February after we have closed the books on the year before. It is based on the ratio of water used, and in that way can be described in $$ per thousand gallons of water. We split it up by categories – single family, multi family, commercial, etc. and the costs include all of our O&M expenses, plus asset depreciation. Until just recently, with the purchase of the Mt. Massive Ranch for its water, a big expense not calculated has been the cost of the water rights themselves. The District owns all the ground water underneath our boundaries, and there was no real cost involved – at least not in the years that we have been calculating the Cost of Service.
“Hard” costs are figured directly into the equation as far as we can. That includes electrical power costs for running the wells, treatment plants and pumps, and the chemicals used in the treatment process. The rest of our expenses are what we call “soft” costs – engineering, legal fees, salaries, insurance, etc. All of the costs incurred in operating the District are included and spread about the different categories in relation to the gallons of water used. Large ticket items like a new well, storage tank, waste plant expansion, etc. are depreciated, usually over 20 or 40 years and a fraction of the cost figured in each year. That will be how we handle water rights as well – depreciated over 40 years, and accounted for at 2.5% per year on the Cost of Service.
In 2008 the Cost of Service was $6.25 per 1000 gallons of water. The cost of treating the wastewater was $6.67/1000. There are probably a dozen ways of determining Cost of Service, and we are open to any better solutions. The bottom line is that even though you may be using the water on your lawn for irrigation, and therefore it does not get treated at the waste plant, the cost of the plant goes on. The $6.67 cost to treat wastewater only accounts for the water that flows into the plant. So although the water you use for irrigation or washing your car isn’t part of that equation, the fact remains that the plant continues to operate it and we all have to pay for it. With that in mind then, although the amount varies by type of customer (SF, MF, Comm.), the cost of service for 2008 was $12.89 per 1000 gallons of water.
So how do you determine what that means in basic terms? Let’s say that when you flush your toilet it uses 5 gallons of water. That equals to about 6 ½ cents. A 10 minute shower that uses 80 gallons costs $1.03. That doesn’t seem so bad does it? However, an average single family home used almost 12,000 per month in 2008. By the Cost of Service Analysis that cost us $154.68 to treat for drinking water and then again at the waste plant. In the meantime, when we include the entire rate fee, property tax, and other revenue (interest, auto tax) we take in, the average single family home paid Donala $108.29. Other categories of customers account for different costs and shares of revenue, so that in the end the District cleared $88,180 in our Cost of Service. That’s about where we want to be. As a governmental agency we are not in this for a profit. In fact, since we started tracking the Cost of Service over 10 years ago, the average cost vs. income has averaged very close to a break even point.
As mentioned at the top of this article, these costs have not included the cost of water rights themselves. They have also not included all the other costs forecast in the article titled Financing the Solution – new infrastructure, a “share” of the Southern Delivery System, stormwater control, etc. Obviously those costs will need to be covered by rates and/or taxes. Granted, they will be depreciated over the years, and by allowing a debt structure to pay for them we will be able to spread the costs through many years. So – the next time you flush it, you might say that’s FOURTEENER? only 6 ½ cents “down the drain,” but think about how many times you and your family flush it over a year, how many showers you take, loads of dishes and laundry you wash, and most importantly – how much water you spread on your lawn. Then, when you get your next water bill, you’ll have a better appreciation of where it all went.
Donala residents just completed the third summer of water rationing. Unfortunately, the climate in which we live, the resulting demand for water, and the associated high costs all lead to continuation of the policy – at least for the foreseeable future.
Donala is located in a semi-arid region of Colorado which makes water a very valuable commodity. As described in other articles and in previous newsletters, the Donala source of Denver Basin groundwater is depleting. The quest for renewable water is in high gear, but the expense is enormous. The obvious solution is to reduce the demand, thereby reducing the amount of water needed to purchase/lease and transmit.
The rationing program has had mixed results over the past few years. Fortunately we have had some strategically timed rainfall events in each of the past two irrigation seasons, allowing the Kentucky Bluegrass to thrive, even with irrigation rationing. In fact, in 2009 Donala residential customers used almost 20% less water during the June-September timeframe when compared to the same time last year. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that many customers still don’t get it. They either “double up” their watering on their rationed days, or they water late at night when no one is watching. They are easy to spot - even when everyone has a lush, green, rain-fed lawn – these folks also have a high volume water bill. We use 40,000 gallons a month as our “glutton” factor. Even customers using the Rainbird weather based irrigation system seldom use more than 40,000 gallons. That system is designed to provide the optimum water for Kentucky Bluegrass root structure – any more than that is a waste. Certainly there are exceptions – homes with large families or visitors, and other reasons might dictate usage of over 40,000 gallons. But in most cases we see the “gluttons” change their pattern soon after receiving their first water bill of the season. Unfortunately the “Bluegrass mentality” still thrives in Donala. Too many still believe that a lush, green lawn is not just a privilege, but a right. They are right – it is. But it is a right they will have to pay for – more and more every year. Sometime soon the rationing program and the cost of high volume usage will succeed in reducing demand, even without the help of strategic rainfall.
Rationing does do one major thing for us. Assuming the majority of our customers stick to their allotted watering days, it means our peak demand is not excessive in one day. If only half of the systems are watering, nearly half the peak is avoided. That means a lot to us on the extremely dry, hot summer days when our treatment plants and wells are working overtime to keep up. When that supply comes from the expensive source of Colorado Springs, it will be even more important.
Interestingly, in the phone survey that many of our customers took back in November, 89% agree that we should continue strict water rationing during the summer, and 88% believe there BONUS QUESTION: WHAT IS THE NAME OF DONALA'S SYSTEM OF DEEP AQUIFERS? will be another drought in our future. Suffice it to say that Donala will continue the rationing program and the graduated rate policy, whereby those “gluttons” who use more than they need, will pay more and more for it.
TO: DONALA WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS; RESIDENTS AND PROPERTY OWNERS WITH THE DISTRICT; OTHERS WHO MAY BE CONCERNED (C.R.S. 32-1-903). NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT ALL REGULARLY SCHEDULED BOARD MEETINGS FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 2010 OF THE DONALA WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICT WILL BE HELD ON THE DATES LISTED BELOW. ALL MEETINGS ARE SCHEDULED TO BE HELD AT: MEETING PLACE: DONALA WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICT 15850 HOLBEIN DRIVE COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO 80921 PHONE: (719) 488-3603
JANUARY 27TH 1:30 PM
FEBRUARY 24TH 1:30 PM
MARCH 17TH 1:30 PM
APRIL 21TH 1:30 PM
MAY 19TH 1:30 PM
JUNE 16TH 1:30 PM
JULY 21TH 1:30 PM
AUGUST 18TH 1:30 PM
SEPTEMBER 15TH 1:30 PM
OCTOBER 20ST 1:30 PM
DECEMBER 1ST 1:30 PM
DENNIS DAUGHERTY, PRESIDENT DONALA WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICT (12-2009)
AS PER SENATE BILL 09-87, THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS PROVIDED TO THE CONSTITUENTS OF THE DONALA WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICT. IN ADDITION TO THIS MAILING, THIS INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND ON THE DONALA WEBSITE AT WWW.DONALAWATER.ORG.
Principal Business Office: Donala W&S District, 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921 Phone: (719) 488-3603 FAX: (719) 488-3110
General Manager: Dana Duthie – 488-3603 Chief Administrator: Jackie Sipes - 488-3603
Board of Directors: President: Dennis Daugherty – Term Limited, May, 2010* Vice President: Tim Murphy – First Term. May, 2010* Secretary/Treasurer: Dale Schendzielos – Term Limited, May, 2012 Director: Richard Durham – First Term, May, 2010* Director: William George – First Term, May, 2012
* Note – Three Director Positions tentatively on ballot for May 4, 2010 Normal Board Meetings: Held third Wednesday of each month at 1:30 PM, at Donala Office, 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado. NOTE: Meeting schedule changes due to Director availability, and/or special circumstances. Meeting schedules are posted on the Donala website (www.donalawater.org), as well as three other places in the District. 1) Outside the Donala Office (15850 Holbein Drive); 2) Outside the Loaf-N-Jug (13854 Gleneagle) next to drop box; 3) Inside People’s National Bank (13725 Struthers Rd.). Current mill levy: 16.296 (all O&M). “Taxpayer’s Report published on website in February of each year, indicating what tax dollars were paid for and expected requirements for the coming year. Next Election: May 4, 2010, at District Office. By Mail Ballot. Results will be available at www.donalawater.org
Self-nomination forms to be a candidate for district board member may be obtained from Jackie Sipes, Designated Election Official (DEO) at 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs, CO, starting February 3, 2010 and the completed form must be returned no later than February 26, 2010 3:00 p.m. The DEO will be available Tuesday – Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to obtain the self-nomination form.
An application to request permanent mail-in voter status can be obtained from the El Paso County Clerk, or on-line from the Colorado Secretary of State (website), and can be returned to the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder.
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