Finance Team Perspectives

1. Finance Team Perspectives • Proud Of • Pioneered critical new dimension of the Water Plan • Reached consensus on a new method for crafting future finance policy • Created a common understanding of current conditions across diverse stakeholders • Reached consensus on Shared Values for Prioritizing Investment • Reached consensus on Attributes of Future Finance Discussions • Developed a new process for quantifying IWM expenditures • Analyzed existing and potentially new funding strategies • Surprises • The extent to which existing, often outdated, funding constructs drive water management planning and investment priorities • Lack of (and lack of consistency of) finance data • Had to recalibrate entire approach halfway through the process • Not a single stakeholder supports a State water user fee • Missteps • Underestimated need to discuss precursors such as scope of IWM and the role of State Government in IWM • Should have begun by identifying stakeholder values surrounding IWM (e.g. economic stability, enriching human experiences, sustaining ecosystems, etc.) • Spent too much time discussing State water user fees and GO bonds since these strategies can only help meet a small fraction of future IWM funding demands Team Members- Allan Highstreet-Lisa Beutler -Paul Massera - KamyarGuivetchi-Megan Fidell