Severance slashes $2M from budget amidst North Weld Water tap moratorium

SEVERANCE — A halt to new building permits spurred by the North Weld County Water District’s moratorium on new water taps prompted the town of Severance to slash almost $2 million from its 2022 budget.

The budget, adopted Nov. 23, cut spending for a variety of capital-improvement projects as the town seeks to adjust to lower — currently non-existent — building-permit and impact fees, as well as lower use taxes for building materials.

Severance in 2021 collected $1 million in building-permit fees, down from almost $1.8 million in 2020, according to town budget and financial documents. Use taxes on building materials generated $1.95 million through November of last year, down from $3.28 million in 2020.

Building-permit issuance plummeted from more than 600 in 2020 to about 400 in 2021 as the moratorium took effect in October, Severance town manager Nicholas Wharton told BizWest.

“Because we put the moratorium at the end of everything, it almost cut us in half,” Wharton said. “We only had just shy of 400 permits, and who knows what’s going to happen right now, because we have none.”

Wharton said the moratorium has prompted the town to reduce its budget, affecting a variety of capital projects.

“It’s all of our future stuff,” Wharton said. “Because the growth is not going on, we had to essentially cut all of our capital projects and focus only on the most important.”

Among the cuts:

• A plan to revamp the skateboard park in Lakeview Park.
• A program to put lights in all parks.
• A traffic signal at Weld County Roads 19 and 74.
• Delay of a plan to work with the University of Colorado Denver on construction of an amphitheater.

Severance imposed a moratorium on issuing new building permits in October as a response to a moratorium on new water taps issued by North Weld as the district grapples with potential delays in construction of a 5.3-mile pipeline extending from North Timberline Road in Fort Collins east into unincorporated Larimer County, as well as other capacity issues.

The Larimer County portion of the NEWT III pipeline has been delayed as the county reviews 1041 regulations to regulate water projects.

The North Weld County Water District imposed the moratorium in the fall, extended it to Dec. 13 and then extended it to May 31.

Eric Reckentine, district manager for the North Weld County Water District, told BizWest that the board will consider a partial lifting of the moratorium in February but will not fully lift it.

“I asked the board, at our last board meeting, based on our new analysis, to lift the moratorium for limited tap sales,” Reckentine said. “We’re putting a policy in place to do that, and I’m bringing it in front of the board.”

He said he did not yet know how many taps might be allowed under a new policy.

Reckentine added that district officials will meet with Larimer County in January to discuss the 1041 regulations and their potential impact on the NEWT III Pipeline.

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