Oregon
Water
Resources
Congress
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Testimony before the Joint Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Natural Resources House Bill 2101 March 22, 2007, 2007
Chair Devlin and members of the Committee,
I am Anita Winkler, the Executive Director of the Oregon Water Resources Congress.
The Oregon Water Resources Congress is a voluntary, state-wide trade association of primarily local governments specifically organized to deliver irrigation water. Our members include irrigation districts, water control districts, and improvement districts, as well as individual farming operations and businesses that irrigate, affiliated companies, and other associations. Close to half of all irrigation water rights in Oregon are delivered by districts.
I am testifying today in support of HB 2101, the Water Resources Department’s fee bill. Our support is based not on the particular amounts of the fee increases, but on three principals.
1. Several years ago, the Water Resources Department reached an agreement with its stakeholder groups to pursue fee increases on a regular basis instead of following its prior practice of seeking infrequent increases of 200% or more.
2. This fee increase reflects the Department’s increased costs of doing business and the costs of process different transactions. As noted in the Department’s testimony, these increases maintain the balance of 30% of the costs being covered by fees. OWRC is part of a coalition that worked in 2005 and is working this year to make sure the Department has adequate budget to carry out its duties. We support this fee increase in that same spirit – our interest that the Department will be able to process water rights transactions in a timely manner.
3. Finally, the proposed fee increase is applied across the board to all transactions. It is important to our members that all parties with interests in the Departments resource management share in supporting the Department’s ability to do its work.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I’ll be happy to answer questions.
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