ITEM: CONSENT CALENDAR
5.	RECEIVE REPORT ON A STRATEGY FOR DISTRIBUTION OF PROPOSITION 84 AND 1E BOND FUNDS TO THE CENTRAL COAST REGION
Meeting Date:		August 18, 2008	Budgeted:	N/A
From:		Darby W. Fuerst	Program/	N/A
		General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:		Larry Hampson	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Approval: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: N/A

SUMMARY: This item is to update the Board on the status of a three-year goal to enhance revenue from external sources. Since 2005, MPWMD has pursued grant funds from the Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) grant program, which is funded from Prop. 50, Prop. 84, and Prop. 1E bond funds. These bond funds include more than $3.5 billion in grant funding statewide for the IRWM program. Currently, approximately $52 million is allocated to the six IRWM planning regions in the Central Coast area (from Santa Cruz County to Santa Barbara County).

At present, no strategy to distribute these bond funds to individual planning regions has been developed by the Department of Water Resources (DWR), which is the state agency responsible for administering the remainder of the IRWM funds. However, representatives of the six IRWM planning areas along the Central Coast hold regular meetings to coordinate resources for the Central Coast. MPWMD represents the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel Bay, and Southern Monterey Bay area in meetings held with representatives of the six Central Coast planning areas. Recently, a working group was formed to identify common priorities among the six planning regions and to develop a recommendation for DWR and each of the IRWM planning regions to consider concerning distribution of funds.

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) reviewed the six IRWM Plans along the Central Coast, compared priorities, and identified a set of programs that may benefit the entire Central Coast or have some overlap between planning regions along the Central Coast. MBNMS then asked each planning region to rank the list of priorities as “high,” “medium,” or “low.” A ranked list of priorities submitted to MBNMS from the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel Bay, and Southern Monterey Bay area is attached as Exhibit 5-A. The ranking was based on the priorities identified in the IRWM Plan adopted for this region by the MPWMD Board in November 2007.

It should be noted that ranking priorities is a starting point for looking at programs and projects that benefit the Central Coast region as a whole and making recommendations about distributing funds. The Central Coast has not addressed the question of how projects that are specific to a planning region might be prioritized and/or funded. MPWMD staff believes that a final proposal to distribute funds is not likely to be completed until after Prop. 84 guidelines are released by DWR in late summer 2008. Staff anticipates that a funding distribution recommendation from the Central Coast area is not likely to be developed until late 2008 or early 2009.

BACKGROUND: In the April 14, 2008 update of the MPWMD six-month strategic objectives, the Board determined that the following action should be taken by staff as part of a three-year goal “Enhance revenue from external resources: Recommend to the Board for action a strategy for distribution of Prop 84 and 1E bond funds to the Central Coast region.” A date of August 1, 2008 was set for completing this action. MPWMD staff note that the schedule for completing this action is highly dependent on the actions of other local and state agencies.

Local Priorities

In 2006, MPWMD received a grant of $497,000 from DWR to complete the IRWM Plan for the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel Bay, and Southern Monterey Bay. The top five priorities identified in that plan are:

Ÿ Meet current replacement supply and future demand targets for water supply and support the Seaside Groundwater Basin Watermaster to implement the physical solution in the Basin

Ÿ Reduce the potential for flooding in Carmel Valley and at the Carmel River Lagoon

Ÿ Mitigate effects of storm water runoff throughout the region

Ÿ Address storm water discharges into ASBS

Ÿ Promote the steelhead run

These priorities, along with other documentation in the IRWM Plan, were used to evaluate the priorities proposed by MBNMS for the Central Coast.

EXHIBIT

5-A Regional Priorities based on MBNMS Comparative Analysis of the six Central Coast IRWMPs

U:\staff\word\boardpacket\2008\2008boardpackets\20080818\ConsentCal\05\item5.doc