Arizona Laws 45-334. Setting Colorado River water use fee
A. In setting Colorado River water use fees under this article:
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 45-334
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Consumptive use: means , for any water user for any program year, the consumptive use as recorded in the final accounting for the most recent calendar year for which a final accounting is available, or if none is recorded, the amount of diversions so recorded. See Arizona Laws 45-331
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Department: means the department of water resources. See Arizona Laws 45-101
- Director: means the director of water resources, who is also the director of the department. See Arizona Laws 45-101
- including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- program: means the cooperative effort among agencies of the federal government and agencies and political subdivisions of the states of Arizona, California and Nevada and other local public and private parties with a common interest in the water and related resources of the lower Colorado river, including the historic floodplain and reservoirs to the full pool elevations, to provide the basis for compliance with sections 7 and 10(a)(1)(B) of the endangered species act of 1973 (P. See Arizona Laws 45-331
- Program year: means the twelve month period beginning October 1 of any calendar year and ending September 30 of the following calendar year. See Arizona Laws 45-331
1. Not later than July 1 of each year, the director shall set the Colorado River water use fees for the following program year. The director shall consider the following in setting the amount of the fees:
(a) The consumptive use for that program year by the persons to whom the fee will be assessed.
(b) The payment obligations that apply to similar water users under agreements to fund the lower Colorado River multispecies conservation program.
(c) The amount of monies necessary to fund the lower Colorado River multispecies conservation program for that program year.
(d) The amount of monies expected to be available to fund the lower Colorado River multispecies conservation program during the program year from other sources.
2. The director may establish classes of water users for the purpose of assigning graduated fee rates to the respective classes.
3. The director shall consider the date of any contract or other right to use Colorado River water and the type of water use when assigning fee rates.
4. The director shall enter in the department‘s records a statement of the fees for the following program year and transmit a copy of the statement to the state treasurer.
5. Before setting the fees, the director shall consult with representatives of the water users which will be assessed for the fees. The director shall publish notice of the fees and provide a comment period of at least thirty days before setting the final fee amounts.
6. Within thirty days after the director sets fees for a program year, the director shall give written notice of the fees to each person with consumptive use.
7. The director shall calculate the total amount of the fee that a person must pay for the consumptive use of Colorado River water for a program year by multiplying the applicable annual fee for that program year by the consumptive use for the person for the program year. The director may reduce the amount of a person’s fee by the value of any services or tangible assets, including land or water, contributed by the person to, and accepted by, the federal government for use in the lower Colorado River multispecies conservation program.
B. The director shall give written notice of the total amount of the fee that a person must pay under this section no later than August 15 before the beginning of the program year.